What is this? Well, I'm not 100% sure, but it looks like it could be like a really old and hopefully really expensive coin. It's, uh, George III. And... Resolution...
An adventure. Sailed from England, 17... 72. This is interesting.
Resolution and Adventure were Captain Cook's ships. Okay, you know who he was? Was he the pirate from Peter Pan or something?
Wrong dude. Okay. I was cleaning out my grandma's house and I found it in one of the boxes.
I had no idea that she was into like collecting things like that. Who knows where she got it? Like I have no idea.
I don't really have any use for the coin or I figured maybe a couple bucks would be great. Captain Cook worked his way in the annals of history to be one of the greatest ship captains ever. This is the guy who discovered Hawaii.
Wow. islands all over the Pacific. He mapped them all out.
He invented some really amazing mathematics that helped them navigate where they were going. Captain Cook was an amazing guy. Captain Cook was a naturally brilliant navigator.
The maps he made of New Finland in the 1750s were so good they were still using them in the 20th century. This has some relation to his world famous voyages. There's some value here.
I mean it looks like maybe it attached to a ribbon. Maybe it belonged to an officer for being on that journey? Cool.
Okay, I'm definitely intrigued, but I don't know if this was made in 1772 or if they sell these in the gift shop in England right next to all the old ships, okay? There's some odd things here. I mean, it's one of the most detailed medals I've ever seen from that time period. Oh.
And that's why I'm thinking it's a lot newer than that, but there's that little chance it's something. Okay. How much do you want for it?
Um, I'd be thrilled with 50 or 100 bucks. Can you wait around so I can get someone to look at it? I'm really, really interested. Okay, I definitely have the time, so thanks. I'm gonna call the Rain Man of Coins.
Okay. I should be able to get him down here in 15, 20 minutes. All right?
Awesome. Thank you very much. I started to see dollar signs when he was, like, really excited about it, pointing out all these awesome, cool things about it.
Yeah, I think the expert will let us know exactly what it is, what it's worth. I'm excited to hear what they have to say. It's a very interesting item. This is a resolution and adventure medal.
This journey lasted three years from 1772 to 1775. He went down past the bottom of the African continent. He circumnavigated the southern portion of South America. He went to Fiji, Tahiti, New Zealand, Easter Island. He went everywhere. Captain Cook is really one of the most important explorers in modern history.
In his third journey, Captain Cook tried to capture a Hawaiian. They objected and murdered him along with some of his top men. What do you think? This is really an historical item.
They made 2,000 of these, but all of these went to Captain Cook, every single one of them in a cask, and he carried them on his journey. Wow. He was to give them out to local chiefs as tokens of esteem.
So, I mean, so when he would land on an island, he would hand a few of these out, and, you know, everyone would ooh and ah, because a lot of these islands where he was landing at, the indigenous people... Haven't even discovered metalworking yet. Right. These were... These would have been extremely interesting to the recipients.
And so each one of these is pedigreed right back to Captain Cook. He handled every one of them. Whoa.
There may have been some left over. This may have been one that was presented and then handed down generations or found in the soil. Alright, so...
Did they ever re-strike these? They struck the original batch. Certainly people have tried to counterfeit them by casting them later.
But this is struck. And it has this loop on top. And all of them had that.
Okay. But it's... It's the real McCoy. This is...
I mean, so that was struck in 1772? Absolutely. To hear Dave say this is from the 1700s is amazing.
But the fact that this was actually in Captain Cook's hand, it's a real piece of history from one of the greatest explorers that ever lived. So what do you think it would go for at an auction? This one's actually in pretty good condition.
Very nice looking piece. Has some of the original lighter, brassy color to it. To me it's about a $7,500 to $8,500 item. That's amazing. $8,500, $7,500 to $8,500 for that?
Yes. Wow. Okay. Thank you very much.
Congratulations. Thank you very much. This was once owned and handled by Captain Cook, so it's far more than just a metal. It's a... It's an historical object with a fantastic pedigree, and collectors are willing to pay for that.
OK. Should have just gave you your $50. I think it's worth a couple more than $50.
I feel like I should ask for what it's worth. So $7,500? No.
You know what? I'm going to give you $5,000 for it. Hey, you know why I'm going to give you five grand for it?
Why? Because you owe it to me. Why do I owe it to you?
Because, remember, an hour ago, you wanted 50 bucks for it. Oh, yeah, that's true. It's, uh, you just owe it to me because I just made you all this money. Well, I guess that's true.
Think about it, think about it, okay? If it wasn't for me, you would have, if you walked in any other place on the planet, they would have gave you your 50 bucks and they would have left. So I think five grand is a deal.
Fair enough. Okay. Thank you.
I'll beat you right over there. Thank you, sir. This is cool. I didn't know what I had walking in.
When he told me that this is what I'm gonna give you, I was pretty happy with it. You must own really large chickens. No, no, I have no chickens.
So what exactly is this? This is an elephant bird egg. Okay.
I bought it for my business. I sell fossils and other natural history things. I thought you were going to say you sell eggs. I'm here at the pawn shop today to try to sell my elephant bird egg. I'm hoping to get $2,500 for the egg.
I've had the egg for 15 years. I think it's about time that somebody else gets some enjoyment out of it. This is interesting.
So I know a little bit about the elephant bird. Basically, they were the biggest birds ever. It looked like an ostrich, but it weighed twice as much. It was like a foot taller. Right.
In fact, I have. A very old trading card, a picture of the elephant bird. This thing would be scary to be around. I mean, yeah, I think ostriches are scary. Ostriches are scary.
I know they dig these things up and they like piece them together from several eggshells. Yeah, from several eggs. Yeah, it's all these are little pieces. So this is made of all elephant bird eggshell, but not from one egg.
All right. Looks like they did a good job. It's really, really interesting. They're super collectible. As a matter of fact, fossils nowadays, they're sort of on fire.
People are really, really getting into it here lately. How much are you looking to get out of it? I'm thinking $2,500. Okay, um...
To tell you the truth, I have no idea if that's a good number or if it's even made out of eggshells. Okay. So if you don't mind, I do have a friend who's a paleontologist. If I can get him down here to take a look at it...
I think that's great. Okay, I'll be back here in a little bit. Alright. That's right, I'm calling in an egg-spert.
Wow, elephant bird. That's what she says. May I?
Absolutely. Wow. These are pretty rare. They're often faked too though. These fossils are often faked because they are rare and valuable.
Porcelain is something that's easily fakeable with these types of eggshells. They're large, they're heavy, and that's a material that can pass to a lot of untrained eyes. So elephant birds could get up to 10 feet tall and weigh as much as 1,600 pounds.
So obviously they laid a big egg. This is actually one of the larger eggs that I've seen. Some were smaller but this is well within range of what we would expect to see for an elephant bird. Okay, so is it real? It looks real, but we need to take a closer look.
Okay. I'd like to take a look at the surface texture. This lens is going to tell us all we need to know about the surface of the shell. Let's see here. Wow, there it is, Rick.
See those long grooves in the shell right there? That's what we'd expect to see from an elephant bird. Okay, so we have an actual elephant bird egg. We do have an actual elephant bird egg.
It is a composite. Who knows how many different eggs this thing is made of, but there is some condition issues that I'd like to point out. All of these abrasions here, that's where the pieces didn't quite fit together. So rather than taking the time to find pieces that fit better, they just kind of ground them into place. That's really going to affect the value.
So tell me, is it worth it? Elephant load of cash? I would appraise this egg $5,900 I think is a fair appraisal of this specimen. I like your paleontologist.
Okay. Okay. Thanks, appreciate it.
Thank you. All right, so you want $2,500 for it? Uh, well now I'm thinking $3,000.
It's a very small market, it's very weird, it will eventually sell. Tell you what, I'll give you $2,800 for it. It's more than a fair price.
Are you sure you can't do $3,000 on it? I'm offering you more than you were asking. I know, that's true. But your paleontologist really got my hopes up.
$2,800 is the best I could do. If it's really your best, fine. Okay. All right, sweet, we have a deal.
If you just go around the corner, do some paperwork, I'll get you paid. Okay. I think it's a fair enough price. It's more than I came in for, so I'm happy.
Hey, how's it going? Pretty good, how are you? What do we got?
I got a 1984 Olympic boxing ticket stub with a few autographs on it you might be interested in. And I know the signature's right off the bat. That's Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson. This is in 1984 and back then Holyfield had two.
I'm at the pawn shop today to try and sell my 1984 Olympic boxing ticket stub. Back in the day, I was a big fan of boxing, so I drove down to the arena every day and became friendly with the U.S. boxing team. The ticket does have a little sentimental value.
The time that I spent with the Olympic boxers was special to me. I'm looking to sell it because you can take the ticket with you, and you can do some good with the money. I'm hoping to get $500 for this ticket stub. This is definitely cool.
This was the 84 Olympic Games held in Los Angeles. How did you get him to sign it? Well, it was a day where the Olympic U.S. team had a bye.
They were all in their street clothes, so I was kind of hanging out with them. Mike's head was hanging low because he was just riding the pine. Yeah, Mike Tyson was there as an alternate.
I mean, he really didn't have anything to do unless somebody got injured or hurt, right? Yeah. I knew he was young and didn't have any money, and probably didn't have any money. First time on an airplane, so I took him to lunch. I just wanted to kind of lift his spirits a little bit.
Came back, they were still hanging out. The guy we kind of sat next to was Evander, and that's when I got Evander Holyfield. Holyfield won the bronze medal for the light heavyweight division.
After these games, both these guys were huge. I mean, they both went pro immediately after that. By 1988, they were both the creme de la creme of heavyweight boxing.
Tyson and Holyfield fought in 1996. I mean, I mean, I'm sorry, he just wasn't prepared to fight Holyfield. The second time, in 1997, Tyson said he was sick of getting head butted, so he decided to, for whatever reason, bite off Holyfield's ear. So is history. It's definitely cool, so what are you looking to do with it?
I think I'm ready to sell it. Any idea what you're looking to get? I think 500 bucks is a fair price.
Okay. You know, you got something really interesting here. I've never seen anything like this.
You know, if you just brought me a Mike Tyson signature, I would have just said, you know, they're not really that much money. same thing with Evander Holyfield, but the fact that they're on the same thing at an event that they were both at long before they were really famous or anything like that, I mean, I think it's kind of cool. I think it's kind of interesting. I think it could be worth some money.
Do you mind if I have a guy come in and take a look at the signatures? Please do. All right, I'll be back in a few. My one concern with the expert coming in to validate the signatures is the rarity. He's probably not seen many adolescent signatures from the last year.
those boxers back in the day, so that concerns me. Hey, what's up, Steve? Hey, Cory, how you doing? I'm doing good, man.
He's got his ticket stub from the 84 Olympics signed by Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson. Really? I have to be honest with you.
Don't really see that too often. The two of them together from that period, because no one was really asking these guys when they were amateurs. It'd be pretty rare. You know, these guys were both kids back then. Yeah, and I mean, you have to think about it.
Tyson was just, you know, an amateur. I think he was 17 years old, something like that, right in that range. He just turned 18. And Holyfield was a couple years older than him.
Both came out of kind of rough areas, you know, and they had tough kids, some great fighters. I mean, Steve, obviously it's a weird item. I mean, are these their autographs?
I've only seen, I think, one other ticket signed by them. That's it. So it's pretty scarce to have them on an item together, especially an Olympic ticket. So the first thing, obviously, I want to do is take a look at the ink on this thing and kind of just see what we're dealing with, Corey. And it looks like a ballpoint pen on Tyson.
And same thing for Evander Holyfield. So it's a blue ballpoint pen. Both are live on there, no problems with that. Tyson, very difficult to find any kind of signature from him from that period.
I've seen just so few of them. This is from one of the only I've ever seen signed, and it's literally the same type of signature. The Holyfield autograph, very basic, very neat, and he takes his time with it.
So I'll tell you the truth, he got a winner here. OK. So what would something like this go for? Well, you know, with the two of them together, I think it's significant. Their history together kind of makes it worth more money.
And these are two of the most iconic boxers of all time. This one is special. And in today's marketplace, you're looking at about $2,000.
Oh, wow. My kids told me it was going to be a big hit, but I thought not that big of a hit. I'd say it's one of the neatest Olympic items from 84 I've ever seen. Wow.
All right, man. Steve, thanks for coming by. Yep, good luck with that.
Take care. All right, so deal, 500. Wow, you shouldn't have brought him in. What do you take for it?
1,500. I'll double what you came in asking for and give you 1,000. It's more than fair, but knowing how rare it is now, I think I'll stay at 1,500.
You know, me having to sell this thing, you know, I might get somebody coming in offering me a 1700 bucks for it. I don't know exactly what I'm gonna get So I'm just gonna have to stick at a thousand. I Think after holding it for 37 years I can hold on for a couple more. Well Well, my offer will stand, so if you ever want to come back, please do, okay?
I appreciate that. Take care. Thanks.
You tried to hook me for $1,000. Based on the rarity, I think I'm going to pass. Take it home, put it in an ice frame, and let everybody see it. Okay.
So what exactly do you got here? It's a World War II ammunition handcart. All right, do you know much about it? It's a rusty old car with broken down tires.
What else do you need to know? Believe it or not, I got it out of the... out of a garbage pile. It looks like it belongs in a garbage pile.
I really don't know a lot about it. Thought it would make a cool flower pot, but then when I saw the placard on it with the date, I was thinking maybe this thing's worth some money. So how would this work? Would you like hook it up to a horse? I imagine there was a handle right there, but.
You would hook it up to a jeep if you needed to. Just moving stuff around. The thing's built like a tank. I mean, obviously it was built so it could be shot. Do you know which company made it or anything like that?
There's a placard on it that just tells what area it came from. Okay, we got a hand cart and Rock Island arsenal. It's from World War II, I imagine.
Basically, every bit of industry was making something for the war. You know, most people don't realize this. During World War II, there was no cars made for personal use.
The saying was, stop making what you're making, start making stuff for the war. During World War II, America's policy was basically... all hands on deck. Everyone was expected to help with the war effort.
And a cart like this was an important piece of equipment. It could haul ammo, food, medical supplies. And in a pinch, you could throw a wounded soldier on it and bring him back from the battlefield. Fully restored, these things can fetch a pretty penny.
So how much you want for this thing? I actually had it in a paper for sale with zero research. I put it in for $500. So obviously it didn't sell for $500. No, not yet.
All right. Yeah, I mean, the one great thing you do have is it's all here. I mean, it looks neat.
It looks interesting. There's a lot of collectors for stuff from World War II. My problem is I don't even know if it'd be worth fixing up. Do you mind if I call someone?
I got a one. ...who knows about this stuff, and if it's not worth restoring, he might buy it off you for parts. All right.
All right? Pretty nervous. If it turns out to be a piece of crap, I guess I have a new flower pot.
It's a rare find, because most of them went to Europe during World War II. They were used to carry everything from food to a.50 caliber machine gun. Even mortars were put in these things.
This was probably made in the early 40s. And they were pretty useful. As a matter of fact, in the 1962 movie The Longest Day, when the Duke got wounded, they put him in here and carried him into battle.
It is just really cool, and they're friggin'hard to find. Good news for me, I guess. When I walked in, I knew it was a handcart from World War II. Everything was carried in them.
I felt sorry for the guys that had to pull them, but these things went all over Europe, and they pulled a lot of things and put a lot of miles on them. Really, it's not in bad shape. You got all the original castings and everything. Original wheels and bearings, which is hard to find.
So how much is this thing worth the way it sits? Well, these were selling for $1,500 to $2,000 in this condition. Really?
Because I thought it was a complete piece of s*** myself. In a restored condition, you could almost double that. Because they want it. If it looks like the real thing, they're happy with it.
All right, so tell me, how much would it cost to restore it? Probably talking about $1,200 to $1,400. Okay. Thanks, man. I really appreciate it.
Thank you. For a serious collector, this is a must-have. If this guy is not totally crazy with his ass... I'm gonna try and get it.
Honestly, I didn't think it was worth that much either. I'm still sort of, like, baffled. I'll tell you what, I'll give you 400 bucks for it.
I know he said it was worth a lot more, but I give you 400 bucks, I pay him 1,200 to 1,400 to restore it. Before you know it, I'm in this thing close to $2,000. It takes up space in my shop.
That's not too far off of what I was asking in the paper, so I'll take 400 if you'll take a picture of it when you finish it. Yeah, I'll send you a picture when I finish it. That'd be cool. All right. All right, 400 bucks, man.
Thanks. I love it when there's no haggle, but I'm still a little worried about this one. If there's any problems with this piece and the restoration goes over budget, there goes my profit.
Hopefully, it all pans out. So what do you guys think? Well? This thing looks pretty good. It does look cool.
Looks straight out of G.I. Joe the movie. Well, hey, we'll grab our rifles, we'll grab our guns, and we'll join. It doesn't look anything what it looked like.
Well, it took a lot of work. Actually, this little small thing was so intense. to get it done.
It was pretty tough. What'd you have to do? Well, um, I ripped the floor out and I actually made new ribs for it.
I put all the original holes where they're supposed to be. So that way, if you want to mount a.50 caliber, here you can. Okay. I think it came out pretty good.
Yeah, I mean, I was absolutely shocked that it looks like this thing right here, because when I gave it to you, it looked like hell. You got to realize, this thing went through World War II. You know, it was just a tough, tough life this thing had.
You were telling me before, these stuff were like $2,500? I'll be honest with you. I would start at $2,800 and feel where you're comfortable from there. I wouldn't let it go for a dime less, because the collectors that go for these, you know, it's got to be original. And with the numbers on there, it pops.
So what do the numbers mean? I don't know. It's the sixth vehicle, headquarters, third division. So you should be able to get a good price for it. Big question, how much are you?
Well, like I said, I told you $1,400 and that's it. Okay, let me go pay ya. Let me see what it gets like with a little weight in here.
So you can pull 185 pounds? Yeah, but you're more like 240. Chum looked like a real soldier pulling Rick around. I'm surprised Rick even got in the car. Slow down, Chum.
Slow down. What do we have here? I have a photo of and letter by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Now, that's cool. Longfellow, he was the biggest there was. Unfortunately, today, I would say close to 99% of Americans can't even name a poet. Probably not. I got this in the mid-'70s.
I went to an auction. There was this table just full of what looked to me to be junk. In that group of stuff was this letter and photograph, already framed.
I bid $20 on it. My kids aren't interested in it, so you may as well see what I can get for it here at the pawn shop. Is it a poem? No, it's basically a letter. I think this dear madam, whoever she was, wrote to him for a photograph and some autographs to use in a fair.
And he's sending that to make some money for the fair. Okay, that is definitely cool. We live in such a different society now.
In the 19th century, poetry was so important. It really was. I mean, the guy who wrote poems was as big as a huge author or a really big actor.
Exactly. And he really was a superstar back then. This is the guy who, when he passed away, they put a statue or a bust or something like that in Westminster Abbey in England.
In the Poets'Corner, yeah. And I think he was the only American ever put in there. Up to that point.
There might be some now, but I think up to that point, he was the only one there. Yeah. And if you know how snooty the English were, especially back then, they still hadn't forgiven us for beating them in two wars.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was the most popular poet in the United States in the 19th century. Almost every kid in school in this country has learned about the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. That poem created the legend of Paul Revere. Longfellow really was that influential.
I am assuming this is all real. I mean, the ink looks like from the period. How much were you looking to get? I was hoping to get like 300 bucks for it. A big concern I have here is, this is one of the most famous men in the United States.
Yeah. Okay. It wouldn't surprise me if this guy got hundreds of letters every day. I don't know if he could respond to every one of them.
Sometimes they would have a secretary write the letter, or he might have done the whole thing himself. This might have been, went to a secretary, you take care of those. Give me a couple.
I'll take care of those myself. Cool. I am a writer. I guess we'll never know, will we?
Okay, no, there is a way. If you can hang out for a little bit here, I would like to get my friend down here to take a look at it. I have a friend that's a handwriting expert.
He's one of the most respected people in this field. Hang out a few minutes, I'm gonna go give him a call, and we'll get this figured out. Cool, thanks. I'm sort of hyped about him bringing in an expert. It may surprise me, it may make me go back in my car and cry.
I don't know, we'll see. Steve! What's up, Rick? Good to see you. Everything in this world is great.
I like hearing that. How you doing? Hey there, how are you?
This is it. This is what I called you about. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
You know, in terms of what this is, it's got great potential. In all honesty, this guy's really sought after. This is really neat, you know, if it checks out.
I love it. So don't get your hopes up yet. Back when Longfellow was alive, poets were very popular. And that's why he kind of had that rock star status.
He'd get paid a lot of money. Just for one poem, he could get paid at that time up to $3,000. What I want to do is take a look at the ink on here. And there's going to be several indicators, especially how the ink kind of adheres to the paper. So I'm going to follow the signature along here.
And it kind of looks like it starts off pretty strong. Okay? But the more I'm moving along here, you see how it gets very faint towards the end. So he's using a quill to write with it.
As the ink's running out. And the ink's running out of the quilt. How cool is that? Wow.
No doubt about the ink on here. So that's one good sign, okay? The next thing I want to do is I want to pull up the examples that I have on file here.
And on this example, yours very truly. We see yours very truly. I mean, we're looking at live ink. Okay, so it's all legit.
Absolutely. There's no question about it. So, what do you think it's worth? The value on this piece, especially with a beautiful signature on there, the photograph, the framing, everything included, right around $1,500.
Cool. Cool? Good luck. Good to see you. Thanks, man.
Yep. Thanks a bunch. You bet, man.
Take care. Well, you know, there's a lot of different collectors that would kind of tap into this piece. And I think an autograph collector, first and foremost, would want someone asking for his autograph in 1881. I think that's about as cool as it gets. What'd you want for this? 300 bucks?
That's in the past. I have a little more information now. I don't think $300 is gonna do it for me. I would sure like to see 900 bucks for it.
I'll tell you what. I'll give you 700 bucks. Okay, you walked in here wanting $300.
I had your stuff authenticated for you. Yeah. And I'm offering you more than double what you were asking.
Okay? I think it's more than fair of me for $700. Yeah, let's do 700. Sweet! Thank you, sir.
I will meet you right over there, and I will get you some cash. Oh, I like that. 700 isn't 900, but, you know, it's okay. It's a whole lot more than 300. I may go back home and dig through the closets again, see what I can find.