'Pawn Stars' boss Rick Harrison offers $30,000 for a coin and it still wasn't enough for the seller
Rick Harrison is a shrewd negotiator with his eyes on the profits earned by getting valuable items out of sellers at low prices. Getting him to splurge 30,000 on anything is a major achievement for the other person, or it could simply be the significance of the item. This happened in one special episode when a guest named Mike brought an ancient Noah's Ark coin. While Harrison made a flying offer, the owner wasn't willing to settle for it, and the pawn shop boss had to let the item go.
In the episode, Mike brought the item to Harrison's table, telling him that it was a very special item. "I know it depicts Noah's Arc or a scene from Noah's Arc on one side of the coin and a Roman Emperor on the other side and it's from I think the third century AD," he told Harrison.
The pawn shop owner was instantly impressed as it was odd to see a Biblical image on a Roman coin. "That is definitely interesting because, in this period, there is very little coinage at all depicting anything Hebrew or Christian. I mean Christianity was becoming more popular at the time but still, it wasn't the official state religion of Rome," Harrison noted.
He then asked for the price of the coin, and Mike told him that he was looking to get $50,000 for the item. Hearing this, Harrison called in his expert, David Vagi, director of NGC Ancients, to authenticate the item and appraise it. He explained that the emperor on the coin is Philip the Third, who ruled from 244 to 249 AD. He noted that the coin showed Noah and his wife, and even the waves underneath the ark were visible. "It was struck in the city Apanea, which is in today's South Turkey," he noted. He added that it was a very cosmopolitan place with people from different cultures living together. Thus, the Roman rulers tried to incorporate local culture into their currency, which is why Noah's Ark appears on the coin.
Upon taking a closer look, Vagi confirmed that it was the real deal.
"Anything Biblical on a Roman coin is exceedingly rare, and there aren't more than maybe 20 or 25 pieces in existence," he claimed. After noting that similar coins had sold for $250,000 and over $100,000, Vagi told Harrison that the asking price of $50,000 was fair. Despite the appraisal, Harrison, being the way he is, did not want to pay out $50,000 for the coin. He started the negotiations with a low offer of $30,000, disappointing the owner. "After hearing all that, I am going to stick with $50,000," Mike responded. However, Rick reasoned that rare items go for uncertain amounts at auction, so the best he could do was $31,000. Mike shook his head and told Harrison that he couldn't go below $45,000.
In the end, with both parties unwilling to budge, the deal was called off. "If you change your mind, the offer's open. Unless there's like some world-changing event like a flood or something," Harrison joked in the end.
