'Pawn Stars' boss Rick Harrison sweetly pays $1,000 more than what the guest wanted for a sword

Rick Harrison in "Pawn Stars" is a shrewd negotiator known to convince people to sell items for a significantly lower price than the appraisal. But he goes into fanboy mode for iconic guitars, and has a soft spot for Japanese swords. Harrison once paid more money from his own pocket to get one that was owned by the Imperial Family. The guest, who modified her ask to $5,000, was pleasantly surprised when Harrison agreed to pay $1000 more just for the history behind the item. 

In the episode, the guest, Debbie Jo, brought in an old Japanese Katana which she believed was once used to behead Christians. The 16th-century Ceremonial Sword was given to the guest by her father-in-law, who brought it back from World War 2 when he was stationed in Japan. "It's a great piece of history during World War Two, there was this whole thing called the spoils of war, and war prizes might sound a little strange now, but it just goes back from thousands of years," the guest explained. She added that her father-in-law asked a Japanese kid to translate the writings on the sword and was told that it was used for "beheading Christians."

However, Harrison was a little apprehensive about that as he had never heard of anything like that. Upon taking a closer look, Harrison was amused by the wear and tear on the sword and believed it could be authentic. When the guest told him that she was looking to get $10,000 for the sword, Harrison confessed that he had no idea if that was right. Thus, he called in his expert, Mike Yamasaki, appraiser and curator at Tetsugendo.

After examining the sword, Yamasaki confirmed that it did have roots in Imperial Japan. "It's got some writing on the blade, which is actually very interesting," Yamasaki said. He confirmed that the blade was made in the 1800s during a great rebellion and a civil war, when manufacturers were trying to take over Japan. "This blade was made in 1863 by Naga Hiro and was given to the Lord of Choshu to protect Japan against enemies of the Emperor the imperial family and especially against the Tokugawa or the military leader. So this is quite an important sort historically," the expert said.

However, he too wasn't sure if it was used to harm Christians but he was sure that it was used by a Samurai to fight the enemies of the Imperial family. "There is a term called joy that's written on the tang which means protecting or reverence to the imperial family," Yamasaki said. Coming to the appraisal, the expert estimated that the sword was probably worth about $10,000, given its history and condition. The guest was pleasantly surprised by the appraisal as she didn't expect her ask to be right on the mark. However, Harrison told her that he couldn't pay $10,000 as he needed to make money off the item. "I'll take $5,000. Could you make money on that?" the guest said in response, modifying her ask.

But Harrison was feeling a little generous. "I don't take advantage of people, five thousand is just too low. I will give you six thousand dollars for it. I would go more but this is a multi-year project here most likely," he said. The guest gladly accepted the deal and walked away with the cash.

The sword later made a second appearance on the show when UFC boss, Dana White came in looking to buy Japanese Katanas for his private weapons room. White bought swords worth nearly $70,000 from Harrison and he paid $9,000 for the 18th century Japanese Katana.

This meant that Harrison made a cool $3,000 profit on it in the end.