If I remember correctly someone found one of the original Declaration of Independence a few years ago on the back of a painting http://www.snopes.com/luck/declare.asp
Pawn stars lost my interest when the producers had the American Pickers "Danielle" looking for a 1955 Chevy for Rick to restore for the old man and they brought him a piece of junk.
I guess we can all watch Lady Hoggers for some real TV if we get sick of Storage Wars. Not sure if Lady Hoggers is carried by History TV.
Do you actually think people are so stupid as to place high valued items in a storage locker somewhere and forget about it knowing the contents would be auctioned off after 60 days of non-payment of the storage fees? Pawn Stars is staged. They put out a casting call for people to bring in their valuables and the most interesting ones go on the show. No way a pawn shop would have that many walking in with a lot of the junk you see on that show expecting 4 figures or more. Come on now!
I agree with BUnc... it doesn't take much internet research to discover these shows are 100% scripted.
Absolutely though it may not be just forgotten about. Service men/women sent overseas or transferred,jail, or died. I've been to many of these before the show was even thought of about 20 years ago. You never no what you will find
I am visiting family in Georgia for a couple of weeks. An article the other day in the Athens paper said 'American Pickers' is looking for locations to visit in Georgia. They will send scouts to check out potential locations. You didn't really think Frank & Mike stumbled across their treasure troves, did you? I don't watch American Pickers any more but one of the things that I always had to chuckle at was when Mike would open a door to a barn or a room - a door that has not been opened in decades - you would ALWAYS have a shot of him finally opening the door and see his expression of amazement at the treasures behind the door. But the camera that took those shots was already in the room before he opened the door. Too funny! Of course the show is scripted and staged. Just like Pawn Stars. Just like Storage Wars. These shows are entertainment and nothing more. Believe them at your own risk. [h=1]Reality shows looking for Georgia locations[/h]
Shows scripted, yes, but people dumb enough to put valuable stuff in storage and something happens where they never go back for them, payments stop, then it's auctioned off, happens all the time without the shows. Some people might not even know they have anything of value, perhaps forced to move or move the crap from an estate intending to sell but forget, etc.
OK, fair enough. But it seems to me that anybody that had a bunch of gold coins in storage, and they needed money - the first place they'd go would be that storage unit. And I dunno about you, but I've known a lot of rich folks in my life, a lot of poor folks, and a lot of in between folks - but none of them ever "forgot" $500,000 they just happened to have sitting around in a storage unit. 'Course I don't know of anybody that would ever put a bunch of silver and gold coins in a storage unit to begin with. Every storage unit I ever had was broken into at least once. But I'll admit, there is no limit to stupidity.
The coin that looks gold is actually patterned after a silver 8 reales coin (see the "8R" at 9:00 on that coin).
There is more than stupidity. There is Alzheimer's, hoarders that just lose track of everything, and what happens when you die? Now, the odds are not good for any one of these, but they are buying the ones that are against the odd to begin with. And to top that off, I will not debate just how much is real, but I will guarantee that you are not seeing even close to half the lockers filmed - and that is counting that most of what you do see are seeded or otherwise enhanced.
That's the problem, there are people dumb enough to maybe not realize the actual value for any reason or out of stupidity. I've known old folks that had gold coins sitting in their dresser drawer thinking they might be worth the face value on the coin itself. It's hard to imagine from our perspective as collectors that go by the actual value and demand from those that are truly just ignorant. It can go the other way as well. The collection I just inherited from my fathers estate, his ignorant girlfriend was trying to claim his coin collection was worth 50k or more (although it wasn't any of her business either), in reality after I got it was around 3k worth of coins from me determining the grades and values from the books and grey sheets.
If you want to watch a reality show that is not as staged as Pawn Stars, watch Hardcore Pawn on TruTV. The only thing really staged on that show is the conflict between Ashley, Seth, and Les. The customers, are real, along with their attitudes. I used to buy silver and clad(from proof and unc. mint sets) coins from American Jewelry & Loan.
Are you serious? I have seen the wireless microphone transmitter under the shirt in the small of the back of more than one customer. If the show is not scripted how is it that the customers are wired?
They may be wired for sound, but the way they act is not staged. Trust me when I tell you, I used to do quite a bit of business with them when I was in Detroit 10 years ago. The show is only a year old now I think. That area of Detroit, 8 Mile Rd. and Greenfield is a rough neighborhood. It was the setting for the movie 8 Mile, which was about Kid Rock's life in the hood. The customers act like that regardless of the cameras.