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[[File:pawn_stars_1892.jpg|frame]]
{{quote|
''Pawn Stars'' is a reality show on [[The History Channel]] about a three generation pawn store called the "Gold & Silver Pawn Shop" operating in Las Vegas (713 Las Vegas Boulevard South, if you're ever in town). It features historical and rare objects being bought and sold by a family of characters.
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{{tropelist}}
* [[Actually Pretty Funny]]: The Old Man tries to start in on a "walking two miles to school" story, and Corey teases him about needing to occasionally kill a raccoon and wear it on his feet since he probably didn't have shoes. The Old Man guffaws.
* [[Acquired Situational Narcissism]]: Whenever Chumlee gets to fire a gun at the shooting range, he quickly adapts to whatever character and/or situation described to him pertaining to the gun. It's often hilarious.
* [[All Animation Is Disney]]: A lady came in to sell a set of frosted glass Disney figurines. After remarking how much he loves Disney, Chumlee asked if she had any of [[Bugs Bunny]].
* [[All There in the Manual]]: A number of interviews Rick has given, both before and after the show began, give some insight into why the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop runs and functions the way it does. For example, the reason it has so many insanely antique and valuable items instead of just the usual collection of TVs and cameras and whatnot? Every other pawn shop in the area was bought by a single company that used a database for its offers... if something wasn't in the database, they referred the seller to a non-company pawn shop, and Rick's was the only one of those around.
** Rick's autobiography ''License To Pawn: My Life At The Gold & Silver Pawn Shop'' contains a lot of interesting background information, too. The book contains stories of high rollers who come in to pawn their valuables for gambling money, the [[Obstructive Bureaucrat
* [[Artistic License Economics]]:
** The team has to spell out why exactly they make offers significantly lower than market price way too often: There can be numerous additional costs to buying an item like overhead, storage, restoration, authentication, cataloging, etc. Not to mention that they have to buy items to sell them for profit and the market price is a best-case scenario that they likely will not be getting, or that an item may be difficult to sell and until they do that's money tied up into the item.
** When it comes to the stuff that Rick really wants to keep for himself, such as a stamp designed by [[Benjamin Franklin]], a [[Super Bowl]] ring and a boxing championship belt, he's said he likes having them in his shop so much that [[Invoked Trope|the only way he'd part with them is for far beyond their appraised worth]]. But he's not being completely irrational
** [[Defied Trope|On occasion, customers' asking prices are very reasonable]] and accepted by the Harrisons without even needing to haggle. Corey immediately agreed to pay one woman the $350 she wanted for a collection of 19th century railway bonds, since he'd be able to sell them all for a $750 profit. One time, when Rick agreed with the first price the customer put out, Chumlee was confused, as the policy was usually "Never take the first offer."
** Occasionally, when the seller offers a price much ''lower'' than the item is worth, the guys will offer a higher, fairer price. [[Subverted Trope|They're demonstrating a sound grasp of economics]]: having a reputation for honesty and fair dealing is far more valuable in the long run than making a few extra bucks from a poorly-informed seller. And that's true even when your business practices are ''not'' being shown worldwide to millions of people every week.
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*** When Chumlee bought a coin-operated kiddie ride, he set it up outside the store so they could make some extra money from customers to ride it while waiting in line.
** Some of the things customers try to sell, like art, can fetch high prices in shops that specialize in selling them. Unfortunately, since the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop buys and sells a wide variety of merchandise, it can't sell these things for prices as high as the specialty shops. Rick's had to tell more than one customer selling paintings or photographs that he doesn't get gallery prices for the art he sells, which is why he can't offer them as much money as a gallery would.
** To sum it all up: Rick and the others cannot be accused of not offering fair prices for goods, because a "fair price" is any mutually agreed-upon sum that will result in the voluntary exchange of goods. If the seller doesn't think the price is fair, he shouldn't sell it to them. If he does, he agreed that the price was fair, no matter what he [[Confession Cam]]s after.
* [[Artistic License Gun Safety]]: Usually averted, but there are exceptions:
** Corey had to reprimand one customer for pointing a gun he was selling at him. Granted it was actually a lighter, but it was made to look so much like a real gun, his concern is justifiable. (And as Rick's original pilot indicates, there are numerous guns under the counters ready to be used on anyone trying to rob the place.)
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** The Kount gets quite rightly pissed when anyone questions his knowledge of and passion for automobiles. It's more of a [[Tranquil Fury]] in his case, though.
* [[Betting Minigame]]:
** Sometimes, when Rick and a customer can't agree on a price, the customer will offer to settle the dispute by gambling with whatever it is they're trying to sell, with Rick paying the winner's price. Unfortunately, for all his skill as a pawnbroker, Rick has really shitty luck. Whether it's flipping a collectible coin, spinning an antique roulette wheel or playing a hand of blackjack on a gaming table, Rick always seems to lose. He even [[
** Rick and Corey have a habit of betting on Chumlee missing when they go to test out an antique firearm they had just purchased. This has come back to bite them more than once, as Chumlee's actually not a bad shot.
* [[Big Fun]]: Corey, and Chumlee. Just imagine those two on a see-saw together.
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** On the History official Youtube channel, he even does one of the How To segments regarding how to tell real gold jewelery from an imitation, so even if he is that goofy, he knows how to do his job.
** In an episode, he brought a broken RC car to full functionality, including rewiring it.
** Rick's book reveals that despite appearances, between Corey and Chumlee the one who's actually more reasonable and grounded is ''Chumlee''.
* [[The Cameo]]: George Stephanopolous (Good Morning America, This Week with George Stephanopolous) bought a first-edition of "For Whom The Bell Tolls" for $675 (though when they shook, Rick slipped in that offer; the original offer was $625).
* [[Casanova Wannabe]]: Rick and Chumlee visit a cute redheaded college student who wants to sell them her Baldwin piano. Rick decides against buying the piano because it'll take up too much space for too long a time in his shop, but the real entertainment is in watching Chumlee try (and fail) to ask the girl out.
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* [[Cassandra Truth]]: When customers are told that the items they're selling are fake or otherwise not worth anything, the typical reaction is [[Oh Crap]], as noted below. Some customers, though, simply refuse to believe whatever Rick or the other guys tell them. See [[Jerkass]], below.
** "I don't care what you say!"
** A customer comes in with a Bugs Bunny poster to sell. Chumlee says he doesn't really know much about Bugs, but that he was in ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]''. The customer snaps back "No, that was another rabbit", and Corey sighs and says "You never cease to amaze me, man" to emphasize him being an idiot (he's just identified Louis Armstrong as the first man on the moon). But as anyone who remembers the movie knows, Bugs is in fact in ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit''.<ref>
** Rick unwittingly invoked this trope with a customer who brought in a bar of gold that his grandfather found in the Caribbean. Rick jokingly asked if the customer's grandfather had found it on a sunken ship...and when they got the gold appraised, they found that it ''was'' from a sunken ship because of the coral that had grown on it.
* [[Catch Phrase]]: The guys have a bunch:
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** When the crew finally sees the restored helicopter (see [[Epic Fail]], below), Rick points out to the Old Man that it was going to work out after all. The Old Man shot back by pointing out that if it hadn't, he would have sold one of Rick's kidneys to make up the loss. Knowing the Old Man, he probably wasn't joking...
** Chumlee takes a bath on what turns out to be a bogus Mandolin made by Gibson. He loses $1500 on it, and Rick tells him he's gonna get him that money back. He turns to busking just outside the shop:
{{quote|
** Even when the Old Man just angrily yells at someone, whether it's Rick for his occasional money-losing purchases or Corey for his occasional irresponsible actions, it's frankly a little scary.
** This backfired spectacularly on the Old Man in one episode. After Corey bought the plastic head of a Stretch Serpent toy for $500, the Old Man popped a blood vessel and yelled at Corey for his apparently stupid purchase. They decided to settle the ensuing argument with a bet on whether or not Corey would be able to make a profit on the plastic head, with the loser cleaning all the display cases in the showroom. The toy expert they called in confirmed that the Stretch Serpent toy was so incredibly rare that one intact toy sold for a whopping $12,000 at an auction, and that the head alone was worth between $4,000-$5,000. The Old Man is completely stunned, and ends up eating crow when he loses the bet and had to clean the display cases.
** Cory bought an Evel Knievel-themed pinball machine that they were either going to lose money on, or at best break even. Rick refuses to let Cory sell the machine, and makes him set it up for customers to play. He also orders Cory to collect the quarters from the machine at the end of every shift, and turn them over to Rick. Once the machine makes $300, then Cory can sell it to break even. Being the manager, Cory's pissed off at having to do grunt work:
{{quote|
'''Cory''': A life lesson in what?
'''Old Man''': ''In not losing money!!!'' }}
** Chumlee broke a 200-year-old vase while goofing off in the warehouse with a [[Star Trek|Bat'leth]]. Rick emailed the security video to every employee of the shop to embarrass him. It backfires on Rick when [[Viral Marketing|the video "goes viral."]]
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* [[Cool Sword]]: The shop also has its share of weird and exotic swords.
* [[Creator Thumbprint]]: Rick is obviously in the pawn business to make money, but he also has a genuine passion for American history, culture and heritage, which he indulges with his work.
* [[Crisis Crossover]]: "The Pick, The Pawn and The Polish", an event wherein Rick asks the ''[[American Pickers]]'' to find an item which will then be fixed up by [[Name's the Same|Rick]] on the ''
** The July 2011 arc starts with Harrison calling the pickers to find a [[Cool Car|1957 Chevy]] to restore and give to the Old Man on his birthday. The ''Pickers'' episode ends with the sale and goes right into the ''Restoration'' episode which deals with Rick Dale's effort to restore the car. He also buys an old neon sign from Mike and Frank and partially restores it. The ''Restoration'' episode, in turn, leads into the ''Pawn Stars'' episode where Dale and his team finish the project and Harrison gives it to the old man. The kicker: It's estimated that it would take 6 to 8 months to restore the car. [[Impossible Task|Rick needed it in three]].
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Pretty much the entire core staff, except for Chumlee.
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** Even Chumlee gets his moments. When a man brings in an animatronic restaurant display installed on the back of a novelty firetruck, Rick doesn't make an offer because he doesn't think he'll be able to sell it. The display is so weird that it looks like something out of a [[Terry Gilliam]] film, and Chumlee quips that he could probably travel through time with it.
*** And then there was the time Chumlee and the Old Man were dealing with a woman who wanted to sell a collection of glass Disney figurines:
{{quote|
'''Old Man''': Thank you, Chumlee. Now shut up. }}
** Then there was the customer who brought in a collection of Atlanta sports championship rings. He admits that he's a fan of the Detroit Tigers and Lions, and Chumlee points out that he must be used to losing.
** Some of the customers can cross into this territory, too. Take the man who was haggling with the Old Man over a book owned by [[Sir Isaac Newton]]:
{{quote|
'''Customer''': You give me $7,000, and I'll ''buy'' you dinner.
'''Old Man''':...Sounds like a plan. }}
** Rick and Corey had Fat Back, one of the shop's mechanics, evaluate a car that they were considering buying. Fat Back takes the car for a test drive, and comes back to them with his verdict:
{{quote|
* [[Did Do the Research]]: Some customers take the time to research their items and what they might expect to get for them before they ever come into the shop:
{{quote|
* [[Did Not Do the Research]]: Rick's reliance on experts who ''have'' done the research (or doing his own research) makes the times where this happens all the more glaring. For example, when they go to see a reproduction Tim Burton movie [[Batman|Batmobile]], he not only avoids taking along the person most likely to know about it (Chumlee), but both he and the expert he ''does'' call in muse on how authentic it is. (Hint: It's not. Especially the Adam West-era phone with bat-symbol sticker on it.)
* [[Dirty Cop]]: When a customer brings in a 1930s-era Chicago police badge, Rick recounts how [[Al Capone]] had the entire Chicago police force on his payroll. You could be beaten up by the cops, and there wouldn't be anything you could do about it.
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* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: Rick likes this one. See also the "Rat Patrol" joke above,
** When someone brings in medical records of [[Elvis Presley]], he says this about him (and the circumstances behind his death)
{{quote|
'''Chumlee''': ...?
'''Rick''': ...until he died!
'''Chumlee''': [[Not So Different|This coming from a guy who eats fried food every day]]... }}
* [[Doom It Yourself]]: Several customers have ruined their items' value in one way or another:
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* [[Dueling Shows]]: TruTv's ''Hardcore Pawn'', though it deals more with the drama of a pawnshop rather than the items. Ironically, both shows now air on History Television in Canada.
* [[Dumb Blonde]]: Peaches is one of the few employees who gets some screen time besides Chumlee and the Harrisons. One episode centered around her constantly coming in late, with Rick and the Old Man giving her grief over it. This conversation sums it up well:
{{quote|
'''Peaches''':...Because I'm pretty? }}
* [[Early Installment Weirdness]]: Go look up the video pitch Rick made and submitted to History as the original show idea. It shows all three of the family members smoking like chimneys, footage of the guns kept under the counters with Corey announcing "Try to rob my shop and I ''will'' shoot you", and tried to play up the drama of people flipping out and actually having to be thrown out of the shop. History clearly decided to do a bit of a [[Retool]] to make it a little more low-key and (slightly) more family-friendly. Oddly enough, this is the angle ''[[Hardcore Pawn]]'' would eventually take.
** Another pitch focuses more on people affected by the economy who're coming in to pawn. This one lacks Chumlee, but features Rick's niece and a night shift pawnbroker named Charles Ingalls, who mans a drive-thru-style pawn window. Ingalls is later mentioned during the fifth season, when the decision is made to hire people for the night shift, and the pawn window is seen when Chumlee is training a new employee on the shift with him.
** The early episodes of the show itself also count. The very first episode features a guy pawning his table saw for $4,000, and we actually see Rick's moving crew come out to the guy's house and load the saw onto the truck. Another episode featured a couple who actually wanted to ''buy'' something, namely the "death clock" that Rick's shown polishing in the opening credits and that he keeps in one of the main display cases behind the front counter. Another bizarre inversion featured a ''customer'' in the role of [[Mr. Exposition]] when he gave Rick the lowdown on some of the jewelry he was selling. Rick even [[
** Not an early installment, but a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gvu6APT3JLY 2003 episode] of ''Insomniac with Dave Atell'' featured Rick and the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop before ''Pawn Stars'' aired in 2009.
* [[Epic Fail]]: Rarely, Rick and the others will lose money on a deal.
** Rick bought a Austin Healey car for $5000. The car didn't start, and he figured it just needed a battery and/or a tune-up. It cost over $6000 to fix. Rick's expert said it would be worth about $8000 when fixed. To add insult to injury, Rick bought the car ''right after it broke down''. The guy who sold it to him had actually used it to drive down to the pawn shop.
** Chumlee once bought a fake Gibson mandolin for $1500 without getting it appraised first, and was told by an expert that it was worth no more than $100.
** To say nothing about when Chumlee and Corey bought a $38,000 hot air balloon. You could almost see Rick's face red with rage throughout the rest of the episode; he even ordered them to do something he never asked
** Rick bought copy of [[Bob Dylan]]'s ''Self Portrait'' on vinyl with the intention of selling it for $75. But he realized Bob Dylan was in town doing a concert, and if he could get the record signed it would be far more valuable. Only he gave that particular duty to Chumlee. Big Hoss immediately objected, "You've got 40 other employees who ''won't screw this up;'' why are you giving this to [[The Millstone|Chumlee]]?" Incredibly, Chumlee actually finds Bob Dylan out on the Vegas Strip, and gets him to sign it. They allow you to think Chumlee's actually gonna do something right for a second, but then: "How do you want it signed?" "Have it say, 'To Chumlee.'" [[Face Palm]]. Rick was so pissed at him he just told Chumlee to keep it. Chumlee never even realized Rick was angry at him. "Cool, I've got my own signed Bob Dylan album."
*** The cynical viewer may consider the odds of just finding Dylan in town the way Chumlee did and suspect that this episode was, if not fully scripted, at least pointed in a direction to become a particularly hilarious [[Epic Fail]].
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*** Corey bought an antigue 1940s Belgian motorcycle for $4,000. The bike is so rare that he'll probably be able to sell it at a huge profit, right? Not so fast-as Rick points out, there are parts missing, and their car restoration guy says that replacement parts are so rare they'd probably cost as much as $25,000 to restore the bike. Naturally, Rick is pretty irritated. They end up taking the bike to sell at auction, which Rick hates doing because the entry fees and the auctioneer's cut will cut into his profit margin. The bike would have to sell for at least $5,200 for Corey to be able to profit on it, and in the end it's sold for over $7,000. Rick finally admits that it was a good buy and says he's proud of Corey, but once again it's clear that the Harrisons dodged a major bullet.
*** Another bullet was dodged when Rick bought a maritime navigational clock that didn't seem to be running. He decided to take a chance even though it seemed like it was broken, and called in a clock expert to see what it would cost to fix. The clock expert found that the clock was actually working fine, but its mechanisms were being held in place by special cork restraints so it wouldn't start ticking until the operator wanted it to. After removing the restraints, the clock starts up and is working fine. Rick expresses his relief that it wouldn't cost anything to fix the clock, [[Refuge in Audacity|and then the expert demands fifty bucks for getting it started.]]
** On the [https://web.archive.org/web/20130204003504/http://www.history.com/shows/pawn-stars/videos/playlists/how-to-be-a-pawn-star#biggest-bust Pawn Stars section of the History Television website], the boys describe their worst money losses. The Old Man took a $25,000-$30,000 bath when he spent a fortune on cubic zirconia, which he mistook for diamonds; Corey spent $4,000 on six fake Rolex watches in his first week of working the night shift at the store; and Rick laid out $40,000 for a pair of diamond earrings that were then confiscated by the police when it turned out they were stolen.
* [[Expository Theme Tune|Expository Opening Narration]]: ''I'm Rick Harrison, and this is my pawn shop. I work here with my Old Man and my son, Big Hoss. Everything in here has a price, and everything in here has a story. If there's one thing I've learned after twenty-one years, it's that you never know what's going to come through that door.''
* [[Even Evil Has Standards|Even Capitalists Have Standards]]: Rick always buys as low as he can, but also always makes sure that the customer makes an informed decision. One notable instance: A woman brings in a jeweled brooch in the shape of a spider, hoping to get $2,000 for it. Rick refuses that price... because "I have a conscience". The brooch is an ''authentic Faberge piece'' which he offers her $15,000 for. [[No Good Deed Goes Unpunished|She tries to haggle him up to $17,000.]]
{{quote|
** In another instance, a woman came into the shop with a classic Japanese musical monkey toy in mint condition. She did not know what it was worth, and was ready to sell it for $100. The Old Man insists on giving her $150 because he doesn't want her to be taken advantage of.
** Rick also mentions at one point that he dislikes everything about ivory and tries to avoid buying it. It helps the "ivory" was fraudulent.
* [[Eyes Always Shut]]: The Old Man...mostly. Chumlee even brings this up when discussing a collection of prosthetic eyeballs someone tries to sell:
{{quote|
'''Chumlee''': I can't tell, they're always closed.
''(Old Man opens his eyes unusually [for him] wide)''
'''Chumlee''': Oh; they're [[Blue Eyes|blue]]. }}
* [[Face Palm]]: The Old Man does these on a regular basis. Rick occasionally does them too, although usually more out of astonishment than frustration.
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** See Dueling Shows above as well.
* [[Four-Temperament Ensemble]]: Chumlee is sanguine, Corey is choleric, Old Man is melancholic, Rick is phlegmatic.
* [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]: The Old Man's favorite president.
* [[Genius Ditz]]: Rick buys a radio-controlled car for cheap because it's broken and won't run. He needs to get it fixed, and Chumlee immediately volunteers for the job. Believe it or not, Chumlee actually ''succeeds'', and Rick pays him $50 for getting the car running. The episode ends with Rick playing with the car with a big shit-eating grin on his face.
* [[Grail in the Garbage]]: Several customers have brought in items that turn out to be worth far more than they ever would have guessed:
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*** When someone comes in selling a 1st Edition of ''[[Walden]]'', Chumlee correctly summarizes the plot, flooring Hoss with what he knows ("In between ditching class, you read a book?"). Chum even admits its one of his favorite books.
*** An art dealer friend of Rick's brought in a painting of [[The Beatles|John Lennon]] by speed painter [[wikipedia:Denny Dent|Denny Dent]]. As Rick and the art dealer are discussing Dent's accomplishments and how they once saw him paint, Chumlee jumps in by pointing out how [[Bill Clinton]] invited Dent to paint him at the White House. Rick is rather surprised, and admits that he didn't know that.
** Rick himself may look and sound like any middle-aged nine-to-five blue collar nobody, but he's actually a math genius who used to work on solving ''cold fusion'' in his spare time for fun.
* [[Hypocritical Humor]]: The Old Man when counting the money from the swear jar. "Holy *bleep*, this is a lotta swearin'."
** Rick mocking Chumlee for his weight gain as recounted under [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]] above, even though Rick himself could easily pass for a real-life version of [[The Simpsons (animation)|Homer Simpson]].
** Rick's given Corey and Chumlee grief for buying things without getting them appraised, but he ended up making the same mistake when he bought a Native American vest for $1,300. He got it appraised ''after'' he'd already bought it, and the expert pointed out that it was a replica made for the tourist trade. You could practically see the steam coming out of the Old Man's ears when he found out.
* [[I Can't Believe I'm Saying This]]: "The Count," who appraises vehicles when Rick might want to buy them, tells him to "pass" on a limo owned by Jackie Gleason. (It turned out that there was some barely noticeable rust damage on the car that would have raised the total cost too high after repairs were factored in.)
* [[I'm Going to Hell For This]]: Someone comes in trying to sell a relic<ref>"relic" means something that was part of the deceased, be it blood, skin, hair, the ashes from their cremated bodies, etc.; this [[Squick
{{quote|
'''Specialist''': Pretty much.
'''Old Man''': You're going to hell anyway. }}
* [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Incredibly Lame Pawn]]: The title.
* [[I Need a Freaking Drink]]: When Rick and Corey find an original Peter Lik panorama, "Beyond Paradise":
{{quote|
'''Corey''': No, but it makes me wanna have a beer. [http://www.artbrokerage.com/artthumb/likp_32597_2/850x600/Peter_Lik_Beyond_Paradise.jpg Under that umbrella.] }}
* [[Insane Troll Logic]]: Any customer that tries to argue Rick into increasing the offer for an item purely because of the customer's emotional attachment to it. Newsflash, people: if it meant so much to you that the sentiment alone should be worth extra money, ''you wouldn't be in a pawn shop selling it to a stranger''.
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** One of the shop's [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3_M6StbLx4 YouTube videos] has Rick showing off a katana, as well as explaining some of the finer details of valuing such an item.
** In a advertisement for the show, Rick is showing off one of his antique katanas and notes that if he took it to Japan, it would be confiscated as a national treasure.
* [[Kayfabe]]: The show and most interviews and such continue to act like Rick and the others still work the store normally. In fact, they can no longer actually see customers in the store because they're too famous and get too much attention, which would violate the confidentiality of their customers; the guys who star in the show really only come out of the back office to occasionally greet customers and sign autographs, or when the Discovery Channel crew has arranged a customer for them to haggle with (and thus cleared out most of the rest of the store).
* [[Know When to Fold'Em]]: Rick and his customers are sometimes confronted by this when they can't agree on a price. Either Rick draws a line in the sand and refuses to go any higher, or the customer has to decide whether to accept Rick's final offer or simply break off the discussion and just keep the item.
* [[Laser-Guided Karma]]: Though we don't see it happen, more than a few of the above-mentioned jerks who groused and snarled and finally accepted a fairly generous price for their items then announced something along the lines of "Now it's off to the blackjack tables!" Considering the odds of actually winning or even breaking even, a lot of that money isn't going home with them.
* [[Lethal Chef]]: When Rick buys a glass decanter than can be used to store and pour four separate drinks at once, Chumlee uses it to try and brew his own homemade alcoholic beverage. He gets the other guys to try it, and they all (except the Old Man cause he could handle the stuff) think it's disgusting, although Chum himself still enjoys it.
** Chumlee had more luck with a coffeemaker that Corey later bought. The Old Man actually really enjoyed the coffee Chumlee served him.
** Chumlee tried his luck with making his own wine in another episode. Everyone hated
** Corey and Chumlee purchased a turn-of-the-century waffle iron. When Rick couldn't close a deal on a very rare cannon he wanted, Chumlee cooked up some waffles. The waffles ended up a little softer than usual, which Rick points out (Chumlee added too much water to the mix), but Old Man liked them.
* [[Let's Get Dangerous]]: In one episode, Big Hoss buys a classic Harley-Davidson motorcycle for $7,000. Chumlee falls in love with the bike, and asks to be put on the company payment plan so he can buy it himself. The Old Man refuses to do it unless Chumlee can come up with a $3,000 down payment. We then see a series of clips that shows Chumlee working hard and selling items left and right, including the previously mentioned ''[[Kill Bill]]'' katana, using the money he gets on commission for the down payment. The Old Man even [[
* [[Licensed Game]]: There's a ''Pawn Stars'' Facebook game.
* [[Like Father, Like Son]]: Present with all three generations of Harrisons. Rick has inherited the Old Man's occasional willingness to offer customers higher prices than what they were asking for, while Corey has begun using his father's [[Catch Phrase]] of only wanting something if he can get it "for the right price." All three of them are also master [[Deadpan Snarker
* [[Loads and Loads of Characters]]: Rick knows many different people who are experts at appraising or restoring almost anything he can bring them. Some of them have almost become regulars on the show themselves with the number of times Rick and the boys have called them for assistance.
** Restorer Rick Dale, who fixed up a lot of the shop's "americana" purchases, even got his own [[Spin-Off]], ''[[American Restoration (TV)|American Restoration]]''.
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* [[Merchandise-Driven]]: Needless to say, our heroes have played up this trope for all it's worth. You can buy everything from T-shirts to bobblehead dolls to DVDs. One shirt in particular advocates Chumlee for President, which would probably put the Old Man in his grave if it ever really happened.
* [[The Millstone]]: Chumlee, so very much. One [[Eyecatch]] reveals that he once broke a $15,000 Bass violin. He's gotten more competent as the show has gone on, though.
* [[
* [[Missed Moment of Awesome]]: Several of them:
** A customer brings in a figurine of the ancient Greek hero Perseus, and goes crazy when Rick tells him it's a fake. This prompts Rick's security guard [[Scary Black Man|Antwaun]] to come marching up, ready to lay down the law...and Rick waves him off.
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* [[Nostalgia Filter]]: The Old Man has a very, very thick one.
* [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]: While Chumlee's reputation is fairly earned, he'd almost ''have'' to be smarter than he looks on the show. It's pretty clear that at least some of the time, he's purposely playing the fool, either for the cameras or for his coworkers. He also shows occasional surprising flashes of expertise or competence when he actually puts his mind to something.
** In his chapter in ''License to Pawn'' he specifically refers to the way he seems on-camera as "my character on the show".
* [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]]: In his autobiography, Rick describes the hoops he and the Old Man had to go through to set up the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop. These ranged from corrupt city bureaucrats who were trying to keep Rick from horning in on the sales territories of the "good old boys" network to crooked city politicians who demanded campaign contributions in exchange for supporting their efforts to open their shop to a city mayor who came up with some pie-in-the-sky idea of making all the pawn shops in town gather on one street, and eventually in one large building.
* [[Obvious Beta]]: The Pawn Stars game on Facebook. Yeesh.
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* [[Scary Black Man]]: Antwaun, the greeter/bodyguard. 6'5" and gigantic. And carries a gun in a holster, as permitted for a security guard.
* [[Seinfeldian Conversation]]: Occasionally crops up either during the stingers or lulls in the buying and selling action. During an intermission when they were waiting on their resident toy appraiser to look at a very fancy stuffed teddy bear, the conversation devolves into seeing [[Cool Versus Awesome|who would win in a fight between a lion and a bear]]:
{{quote|
'''Rick''': Because bears don't live in the jungle!
'''Old Man''': [[Lampshade Hanging|Why are we having this dumb conversation]]?! }}
* [[Serial Escalation]]: So what kind of weird antiques are customers going to bring in today?
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* [[Sharp-Dressed Man]]: Everyone else in the store wears the typical black Polo with the company logo on it. Old Man on the other hand always wears a black dress shirt, tie and vest.
* [[Skewed Priorities]]: [[Played for Laughs]] when demonstrating the homemade mortar cannon. Chumlee is tasked with lighting the fuse. Rick is worried about the cannon misfiring and/or blowing up, citing he doesn't want another workman's compensation claim on his business.
* [[Snark
{{quote|
'''Old Man''': At least I have hair! }}
* [[Spin-Off]]: Rick will take certain antiques to be restored by one of his buddies, Rick Dale. Dale recently got his own show, ''American Restoration'', which focuses on his work restoring things such as bicycles, refrigerators and candy machines. In one of the first episodes, he restores a 1950s-era golf cart for the Old Man.
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*** Which is odd given [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gvu6APT3JLY Rick didn't seemed too wary] of profiting off a "Broke Nazi" in the past (as Dave Attell of Insomniac fame would joke when shown some old daggers identified by rick as being "Nazi stuff.").
** Another time, an "artist" brought in pieces of gold he himself cast. In addition to [[Doom It Yourself|painting them black]] and thereby defeating the purpose of the gold pieces, one of them incorporated the leg from a roadkilled owl.
{{quote|
'''[[Deadpan Snarker|Rick]]''': "They're pieces of something."
'''Artist''': ''*[[Death Glare]]*'' }}
** Rick has also mentioned that he doesn't like taking in ivory items since he doesn't like how ivory is obtained nor does he like the politics behind it.
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** At times Hoss isn't much less of a liability than Chumlee. While Chumlee as mentioned is a [[Genius Ditz]], Hoss is often plain clueless on the true value of items people bring in, and thus makes them offers far below what the item is actually worth and what he could make selling it because he doesn't know any better. He also often makes deals without consulting experts or discussing it with Rick or the Old Man, and the two usually get furious when he does.
** The guy who, unable to deal with the fact that he'd ruined his Porsche engine by being too big of an idiot to store it properly, kept insisting the Count was wrong and that Rick should call in a "real" or "professional" mechanic. He was lucky that the Count is either a lot nicer than he looks or that the cameras were on him. The tension in the air when he says it makes it look like Rick's wondering why the Count hasn't beaten the crap out of him already.
* [[Took a Level
* [[Trademark Favorite Food]]: Old Man loves him some chicken wings.
* [[Trophy Room]]: In a way, the entire shop. There are a select few items that Rick is proud of owning and will not sell them unless it's for absurd amounts of money, like his prized Patriots Super Bowl ring. Sometimes Rick is also tempted to keep choice items for himself, such as a jukebox that he could sell at a $1,400 profit but that plays some of his favorite music.
** Another such item is a stamp crafted by Benjamin Franklin that he bought and stuck an enormous price to it to keep people from buying it.
** In one of the videos posted on the shop's [[YouTube]] page, the Old Man mentions that he's got a collection of several classic cars and trucks, some of which he no doubt acquired from customers.
* [[Unsatisfiable Customer]]: The boys make an effort to avoid this trope. On the [https://web.archive.org/web/20130204003504/http://www.history.com/shows/pawn-stars/videos/playlists/how-to-be-a-pawn-star Pawn Stars section of the History Television website], there are a number of videos filmed by the cast that explain many of the ins and outs of the pawn industry. In one of the videos, Rick and the Old Man point out that if you really want to get a good deal from a pawnbroker, you should be polite. Being a [[Jerkass]] won't get you anywhere.
* [[Waistcoat of Style]]: The Old Man is never seen at work without one.
* [[The Watson]]: Chumley often plays this role accompanying Rick when he makes deals.
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** Rick bought four posters about movies dealing with pawn shops. Rick intends to keep them to decorate the shop, and sends Corey to get them framed ''[[What an Idiot!|without telling Corey that he wanted to keep them.]]'' Corey ends up selling one of the posters to the owner of the frame shop in exchange for $1,400 in cash and framing the other three posters for free. Rick is furious with Corey when he comes back, even though Corey not only sold one of the posters at a $1,000 profit but also saved the shop a fair amount of money in getting the framing done for free. [[No Good Deed Goes Unpunished|Corey ends up being yelled at and forced to go back to the frame shop to buy the fourth poster back]], but how was he supposed to know that Rick wanted to keep the posters and not sell them?
** Came close to being invoked by name in ''Blaze of Glory'':
{{quote|
Rick: "I ain't sayin' it." }}
** One time, Corey buys a program from the 1932 NFL Playoff Game for $2,750, giving justifiable reasons for ''why'' it's worth it. Rick and the Old Man both chew him out for it until he gets it looked at by an expert who reveals it's worth $10,000 for pretty much the same reasons Corey thought it was valuable (it's extremely rare, there only being around four in existence, one of which is in the Football Hall of Fame and in ''worse'' condition than the one he bought). When Corey, reasonably, asks for an apology, they chew him out ''again'' even though he was completely right about it.
*** Though this was part of a rather obviously scripted and forced plotline where Corey was heavily considering leaving the shop if he wasn't made a partner. It was a bit of a [[Dork Age]] for the series and thankfully discarded after a handful of episodes.
* [[What Happened to the Mouse?]]: Rick buys a 1950s arcade bowling game. Later in the show, Chumlee goes into the back room, picks up one of the balls and [[What an Idiot!|flings it into the glass covering the upright portion, shattering it.]] He sneaks away and ... ''the episode ends.'' It's not known if Rick finds out or what happens when he does.<ref>Presumably, he does find out about it. It was broadcast on national TV, after all.</ref>
* [[Who Would Want to Watch Us?]]: Once when a customer brought in four movie posters about pawn shops, Chumlee remarks that a movie should be made about them. Rick replies with "No one's going to want to see us." [[Hypocritical Humor|As they're being filmed for their TV show]].
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[[Category:The History Channel]]
[[Category:Pawn Stars]]
[[Category:TV Series]]
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