It’s probably no surprise that Pawn Stars is one of my favorite shows. Each episode seems to contain items that are even more amazing than the last. Of course, the items that get me excited are the vintage pop culture toys, or posters, so here’s my list of the top 10 pop culture moments on the show:
10. A-Team promo (with the iconic 1987 GMC van)
9. R2-D2 Cooler (skip ahead to the 22:00 mark)
8. Vintage Pez Collection
(Bonus: this clip also includes a life-size Mighty Morphin’ Power Ranger!)
I’ve actually never seen this show before, but this post has inspired me to check it out (especially since there are apparently full episodes on YouTube)! There are so many pawn shows out there, I never knew which one would appeal to my interests. I tried watching Hollywood Treasure, but I just felt like they were pandering to me. Anyway, long story short: nice post!
Give it a shot, Will! I’ve probably learned more from this show than any other show when it comes to finding diamonds in the rust. There’s typically only one or two pop culture items per episode, but the other items are just as interesting (to me at least!).
Holy crap. Amazing. I need to watch this show more often.
I have that R2D2 cooler. One of my brother’s friends worked in a gas station and had it on their deck filled with beer. I got it from them for $35. However, that guy was insane to walk away from $500. You’d be lucky to get $200 real world for it.
I love that they were busting the Pez collector’s balls. And that Transformers collection is RIDICULOUS.
Chumley is awesome, btw.
No way! I can’t believe you have that cooler, So cool. (See what I did there?)
Chumlee really does make this show fun. After that Transformers episode, I put up a post and he actually sent me a tweet about it, which was pretty amazing.
You’ve done an excellent job assembling all the best pop culture bits from Pawn Stars. I LOVE the R2D2 cooler and transformers collections, it would be hard to sell those.
Thanks, Van! That Transformers collection was incredible. I’d love to know what happened to it.
My Wife DVRs it and makes me watch it all the time. In fact we just watched the one where they restored the Jaguar over Dinner last night.
I love watching alot of these items come in, even the historical and non-pop culture items. What always irritates me about these shows (the storage locker ones are the biggest culprits, American Picker is that way sometimes, too) is the insane numbers that they come up with and then become gospel.
For example on storage wars, they showed a boxed atari they found. A great piece, and a neat find, to be sure. But they throw out a value of $200.00, write it on the screen and then that’s that. A few weeks later, I have consignors coming to me with the same items and wanting me to sell them with a reserve of $250.00 (since there’s is in nicer condition – it’s always in nicer condition, even if they bring it to me on fire, with a dog currently biting it – and therefore should be worth more than the one they saw on TV). Realistically a piece like that brings in about $50.00.
In fact, a friend of mine had that same R2D2 cooler at a sale of his. The consignor demanded a $500.00 reserve. Suffice to say it didn’t sell, and that consignor blames the auctioneer that he wasn’t able to get it sold, despite that Star Wars sale being marketed and advertised for a full 6 months in advance.
Pawn Stars usually isn’t as bad, since they’ve been doing this a while and are out to make a profit, but I’d love to see more of their sales than their buys. All in all, though, a really fun show to watch.
I can imagine how these shows have made your job more difficult Chris! As someone who is on the other side, looking for the bargains, it’s made it rough for me as well. Everyone thinks their dog-chewed Star Wars figures ar worth hundreds of dollars!
i love watching Pawn Stars because it is full of great information, and believe it or not, I have actually learned quite a few negotiating tactics from them! (Always triple your starting asking price.)
I can’t even stomach watching Storage Wars because I am convinced that show is totally rigged. I’ve been to plenty of storage lien auctions and all I have ever seen in an abandoned storage facility is junk. The two guys on that show consistently pull out Stradivarious violins and Dom Perignon bottles. Consider me skeptical.
I can’t complain, really. For every downside, there is always an upside, and that is that these shows have introduced a lot of people to the auction industry that might otherwise have never gone to one. When we do Estate sales or Tailgate auctions, we tend to get more bidders and higher bids since a lot of people expect to find an original copy of the Constitution in every box of old TV Guides.
As a collector myself, though, I agree, although eBay is sometimes a bigger culprit. All the time I get quoted the *asking* price of the most expensive example someone can find in three minutes of research. So someone sees someone else asking $450.00 for a Boxed, complete G1 Scorponok and feels they’re offering me a good deal at $300.00 on a headless one, loose with no accessories, despite the fact that the $450.00 has been continuosly listed without a buyer for over 3 years. It’s a little frustrating sometimes.
Yeah, that storage wars is a little suspicious to me as well. I have a friend I went to school with that started doing these a while back and the very first one he had ended up being for one unit – inside was one green couch that sold for $7.00.
The funny thing is, though, he just interviewed not too long ago with the Storage Wars guys, who are looking at expanding the show to the Northeast. From what it sounds like, they set up the auctioneers with the units, so I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some shenanigans there.
The Transformers episode is epic. When i saw it first run my jaw dropped lol. I met that guy Johnny last time i was in Las Vegas. He’s a pretty cool guy and very knowledgeable.
I would have loved to have followed right behind Rick and Chumlee when they visited that guy with the Transformers (with cash in hand!).
Yeah, the storage shows seem iffy. I assumed they filmed them buying like 100 units and cut together like the best 10. But I didn’t even think about wheeling and dealing.
It does seem like everyone’s initial asking price is completely unreasonable. The guy with the Revenge of the Jedi poster, the R2 cooler, etc. Completely insane initial expectations.
I’m definitely starting to DVR Pawn Stars from now on.
Paxton- You don’t need to DVR Pawn Stars, it’s on a continuous loop on the History Channel! 😉