'Pawn Stars' boss Rick Harrison comes across a dinosaur bone and ends up paying a fortune for it
The shop featured on "Pawn Stars" isn't just a place where people turn up to sell collectibles and jewelry, but almost anything can be seen changing hands on the show. On one occasion, someone carried an entire dinosaur bone to the show and ended up getting about $18,000 for it, which was half of what she initially wanted.
The seller named Allison brought the giant item to Harrison's shop, unannounced. After it grabbed Harrison's attention, she told him that she had no idea about what dinosaur the bone belonged to. "It was my grandfather's. I have no idea. I just know that it's a dinosaur bone. It's a big dinosaur," she said. In her interview, she shared that her grandfather was an art enthusiast and the bone was just one of the things he had on display. "I'm not even sure if it's just a piece of art, or if it's a real dinosaur bone," Allison said.
Harrison admitted that he was baffled by the bone and the incredible history of fossil discoveries that date back to the 1800s. He then asked the owner how much she wanted for the item, and she told him that $40,000 was the asking price. Hearing this, Harrison decided to call in his expert, Andre Lujan, to come take a look at it.
Upon looking at the item, Lujan revealed that it was the leg of a dinosaur called Camarasaurus. "Camarasaurus was a long-necked dinosaur that lived in the Jurassic period. It's a quadrupedal dinosaur that walked on four legs," he explained. He then closely examined the pieces to check if any of them were cast. "Weight is going to be the first indicator. That definitely feels like a cast toe. That's not that big a deal. Looks like these little toes, well there, we're starting to get into some real bones. These metacarpals, these are real," he added.
He then explained that many parts of the leg, including the humerus, the radius, and the ulna, which were large, were real as they showed bone cell structure and weighed a lot. Adding that real bones are quite valuable, Lujan said, "I'd be very comfortable appraising it at 25,000," he told Harrison at the end of his analysis. While the expert nearly cut the asking price of Allison in half, she was still hopeful of making a good deal. She expressed that she was happy to know that most parts of the leg were real dinosaur bones.
When Harrison asked for an updated price, Allison told him she would take $21,000. However, Harrison wasn't willing to pay that much, so he countered with $15,000. After some haggling, the pawn boss went up to $18,000 and refused to budge. Allison hesitantly accepted the offer, and they closed a deal for the fossil.
"Sweet. I just bought a dinosaur leg. Guess there's a first for everything," Harrison said in the end after becoming the owner of the item.
