'Pawn Stars' boss Rick Harrison lets a 200-year-old gold coin slip by as he won't offer $1,000 more

"Pawn Stars" boss Rick Harrison is known to be a tough negotiator who just won't budge except for items that he considers Hoy Grils. No matter how much he likes an object, he will still refuse to buy it if the guest doesn't lower expectations. That’s what happened in an earlier episode of “Pawn Stars” in which a guest turned up with a coin that was 200 years old. The guest was even willing to take a cheque instead of cash, which is very rare to see.

The coin brought to the store was made of gold and minted in 1809, when the United States of America was still figuring out how to best operate as a country. Therefore, the mints weren’t run very efficiently. A gold coin, such as this, would be a week’s wages for an individual. Today, however, it is worth thousands of dollars. Such coins have a huge collector’s market, and no one knows that better than Harrison.

The guest seemed to be quite knowledgeable about coins, and this one was already graded. Harrison, therefore, did not need to call in an expert to get it checked out. The pawn shop owner said that in the first couple of decades of their existence, US mints weren’t operated well. “Well, that’s what makes this coin so valuable. One of the first coins of the United States mint,” the guest responded.

Once both parties were done speaking about the history of the item, it was time for the negotiations to begin. The guest asked for a specific price of $31,510. Harrison knew that the coin could be worth that kind of money, but he needed to be absolutely sure. So, he went back to do some research about it and came up with his best price.

Harrison revealed that the coin was priced at a lot less than what the guest had asked for. “It’s listed on different sites as less,” he said. The guest claimed that a similar coin sold for $45,000 a couple of years before taping. “More than a couple of years ago, during the boom. Remember those days? It’s not those days,” he said.

Harrison finally made an offer, and it was a lot less than what the guest had asked for at $25,000. “I’ll take a cheque for $27,500 and not a dime less,” the guest said with conviction. Harrison went up to $26,000, the guest came down to $27,000, but neither of them could agree on a deal.

Ultimately, no deal was struck, and the most frustrating part was that it was over $1,000. “I totally respect it when someone sticks to their guns. But I just hate it when a great piece like this walks out of the door,” he said. Should not have haggled over a thousand bucks then, probably.

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