Eid Mar on Pawn Stars

I don't think it was our friend Buyblahblah this time:

 

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I watch this program from time to time, and it never ceases to amaze me why people think they will get their best price for ANY item by selling it at a pawn shop. Then I conclude it is only a TV show for entertainment, and it is quite likely that there is a resemblance to the WWE (and others), where everything is staged and rehearsed simply for the audience watching.

 

That's got to be it. The pawn shop owner just happens to be well-versed in the history of every item brought in? David Vagi just happens to be nearby enough that day to hop in his car when he hears there's an Eid Mar in the store? Somebody who owns an Eid Mar doesn't know the proper channels for selling an Eid Mar? It's a show.

 

The pawn shop was in business long before the TV show. There was/is enough business to support three families. Apparently there are enough people willing to sell their items at pawn shop prices to keep this business going. I think it is more about a quick sale than the best price. Having said that, I agree that the really good stuff that is shown on the show is staged and a better price could be obtained elsewhere. My two cents worth anyway!

 

And what good business owner would keep an 'employee' like ChumLee around, except for the entertainment (?) value he provides for the TV program. If I had an employee like that in a true working environment, he would be walking the streets within 5 minutes of pulling the crap that he does on the show.

 

Vegas is as good a place as any for a busy type or higher end and perceived higher end pawn shop, and doing a TV show can be entertaining as well as bringing in more dollars, and customers. It's Vegas and at times there will be plenty of people who have bling or fancy priced things they need to pawn because they are down in their luck.

 

I recall seeing a Viking coin on that show. The guy said it was in his family's for years and his dad bought it in England.

The coin had a distinctive toning and I thought it looked familiar.

I did a little looking and found it in a recent CNG auction.

It's a TV show, they like to play it up a little.

 

Interesting. My immediate thought was a concern for authenticity but Vagi walking in alleviates that. $140K isn't unfair at all in my eyes for a coin which is that complete (I paid much more for mine which was arguably not as nice, and sold it for more). He made the right decision to not sell there and was probably using Pawn Stars for marketing. They didn't mention the pedigree and I don't recognize the coin off-hand, but I hope it comes up for auction (or, my PM inbox is always available ;-) )

 

Unless you're desperate for cash, it's ludicrous to sell a genuine EID MAR denarius by any method other than a world-class auction (NAC, Triton, etc.). I agree with AncientJoe's assessment of the coin's potential auction value -- maybe $140K or more, depending on the bidders at that particular auction.

I've never watched this show, and plan on watching it at the same time I start using Twitter (i.e., never), but the whole thing seems phony and contrived.

 

There was an episode a while back where a lady was selling a guitar that was designed and autographed by Phil Collin of Def Leppard. She was showing it to Rick Harrison and while he was looking at it Phil Collin and Joe Elliot "just happened" to walk in.



The show is certainly entertaining, but to say that some of the scenes are concocted is generous.

 

Funny you say that--I wondered if you might be interested when I posted this.

 

Its just a simple marketing ploy. The show gets more traction with cool things to put on the air, and assuming the owner might be in the market he will get extra exposure for the coin when/if it does come for sale.

 

What is a eid mar. HELP

 

From the description of an Eid Mar denarius sold by NAC:



Perhaps no coin of antiquity is as familiar, or as important, as the ‘Eid Mar’ denarius of Brutus: its dagger-flanked liberty cap and explicit inscription are a simple and direct monument of one of the great events in western history. This type is so remarkable that, unlike the anonymous mass of ancient coinage, it elicited commentary from the ancient historian Dio Cassius (XLVII.25).

The murder of the dictator Julius Caesar in the Senate House on the Ides of March, 44 B.C., is one of the major turning points in western history. It is impossible to know how the Roman world would have changed had Caesar not been murdered on that day, but the prospect certainly taxes the imagination.

Caesar was a populist and an opportunist bent upon dismantling the traditional arrangement of senatorial authority that concentrated power in the hands of the ancient and elite families. In the minds of Brutus and his fellow conspirators, theirs was a struggle to maintain the traditional hold on power, and with that aim they struck down Caesar. This class struggle was couched in the terms of the ancient form of Republican government, and of Rome’s hatred for kings and autocrats; thus it is no surprise that the two leaders, Brutus and Cassius, follow the twin-symmetry of the two consuls, and even of Castor and Pollux, the mythical saviors of Rome.

The designs are worth visiting individually, in detail. The reverse testifies to the murder of Caesar by naming the date of the event, by showing daggers as the instruments of delivery, and by displaying the pileus, or freedman’s cap, which symbolizes the professed goal of the assassins’ work. Though dozens of men were involved in the plot against Caesar, all are represented by only two daggers – a clear allusion to Brutus and Cassius as leaders of the coup and, subsequently, of the armed opposition to Antony and Octavian.

The portrait is also of great interest and importance. The only securely identifiable portraits of Brutus occur on coins naming him imperator: the Eid Mar denarii of Plaetorius Cestianus and the aurei of Servilius Casca and Pedanius Costa. Indeed, all other portraits on coins or other media are identified based upon these three issues. S. Nodelman has made careful study of the Eid Mar series from the art-historical view, and H. A. Cahn has similarly done so from the numismatic perspective. The former has divided Brutus’ inscribed coin portraits into three main categories: a ‘baroque’ style portrait on the aurei of Casca, a ‘neoclassical’ style on the aurei of Costa, and a ‘realistic’ style on the Eid Mar denarii of Cestianus. Nodelman describes the Eid Mar portraits as "the soberest and most precise" of all, and he divides them into two distinct categories, ‘plastic’ and ‘linear’, suggesting both were derived from the same sculptural prototype. The portrait on this particular coin belongs to Nodelman’s ‘linear’ group.

 

My brother-in-law found an autographed photo of Marilyn Monroe. Just out of curiousity he took it pawn stars shop. None of the show cast were there. The guy who was there wanted to do a bit for the show on the photo. My brother-in-law was scheduled to come back in a few weeks for the filming. They don't film it in the real shop and none of the background people are real customers. The whole thing is staged and although those are who they say they are, what you see one the show is their alternate career as actors.

 

Thanks. Now that was worth. The question thaks again mooco.

 

The ridiculousness of such a coin appearing at a pawn shop aside, this is a very well pedigreed coin and certainly comes from a collection (strongly supporting the suggestions here that the thing is staged). This coin is Ex Balderston Collection, Stacks 1948, ex Waldeck Collection, Münzhandlung Basel 1936, ex Spencer-Churchill Collection, Navill 1928, and ex Horsky Collection, Hess 1917.

 

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I stopped by that shop a few years back when I was in town. As others have pointed out, it is all staged and phoney. Straight up entertainment. I expected to be extremely disappointed and I was rewarded amply.

People show up because they want to be on TV. Selling for a loss is the price they pay to get on the show. Others are called in to show things that Rick will never buy, but his buddy gets a free advertisement and gets on TV.

David V lost all credibility when he started "acting." For me, it exposed the fraud that the show is.....and that being a knowledageble dealer does not make mean much. He is pimping slabs and grading. I wonder how he keeps a straight face.

AND I spoke with local business owners. They have no love for the shop and they have stories to back them up. Scammers, was the word whispered by one. Everything I have seen and heard since then, seems to confirm that whisper.

I was going to also talk about Santa, but I'll save that for another time.

We now return you to your regular programming

 

The thought of such a coin in the hands of a pawnbroker is appalling to me on many levels. I feel ill just thinking about it.