97 Fun Facts About Pawn Stars

Critics and producers alike have called Pawn Stars an edgier version of which appraisal show?

Antiques Roadshow with attitude was the sell; as Rick put it, the shop is 'American Chopper one week, Antiques Roadshow the next week, Pimp My Ride the next'.

What kind of Las Vegas trip inspired Pawn Stars?

A bachelor party for producer Colby Gaines brought him and Leftfield Pictures' Brent Montgomery to town in 2008; struck by the city's seedy, eclectic pawn shops, they went looking for a family-run one to build a show around.

Rick's pawn licence needed Las Vegas to reach what?

250,000 residents was the bar a 1950s law set for one more pawn licence; even then the Harrisons needed a year-long court battle before a judge ordered the city to issue it.

Which laws keep the Pawn Stars off the shop counter?

Customer privacy laws: pawning has to stay confidential, and fans photograph the stars constantly, so Corey says he now meets sellers in a hallway instead.

In 2011, Pawn Stars was billed as television's No. 2 reality show, behind which MTV hit?

Jersey Shore alone out-rated it; within ten weeks of its 2009 debut, by Rick's account, Pawn Stars went from History's lowest-rated show to its No. 1.

What was the show's working title before a staffer suggested Pawn Stars?

Pawning History was the plan until someone at the production company threw out the name Pawn Stars, which the network found catchier.

Which network made a darker Pawn Stars pilot before History?

HBO pictured a Taxicab Confessions-style series about the bleaker side of pawning; the pilot turned out badly, and Rick had to sit out the rest of a year-long contract before pitching again.

Pawn Stars was picked up to balance History's diet of what?

Military documentaries were the brand, from battle anniversaries to Hitler films, and Nancy Dubuc arrived as president with a mission to add lighter original shows.

Which comedy series featured the shop and Rick in a 2003 Las Vegas episode?

Insomniac with Dave Attell toured cities after dark, and the 24-hour shop fit the bill; Rick then spent four years pitching a show of his own before a production company finally called him.

Which country got the first local version of Pawn Stars?

Britain's Pawn Stars UK ran for two seasons at Regal Pawn before the shop closed down in 2015, ending talk of a third; South Africa and Australia got their versions next.

What was the first Pawn Stars spin-off, starring metal artist Rick Dale?

American Restoration followed Dale's shop, which had revived old vending machines, gas pumps and barber chairs for the Harrisons; Rick said it should really be called Rick's Art.

Which auto expert, known as The Count, stars in the spin-off Counting Cars?

Danny Koker flips classic cars and motorcycles for a living in Las Vegas, and in 2013 he got ordained so he could conduct Rick's wedding himself.

Which comedian with a self-titled Fox sitcom hosted Pawnography?

Christopher Titus played referee while contestants took on Rick, Corey and Chumlee in trivia rounds, with cash and items from Rick's own collection at stake.

Which item does Rick say is pawned most often at his shop?

Jewelry, Rick said in a 2010 episode; the antiques seen on screen are the exception, and other pawnbrokers point out that the trade's typical loan is under $100.

Rick says many of the 1,000-plus daily visitors Pawn Stars brought in just want to buy what?

T-shirts: daily traffic jumped from about 70 people to more than 1,000, and Rick began letting fans design the shirts in online contests, paying each winner $250.

Which childhood condition kept Rick in bed for days at a time and made him a voracious reader?

Epilepsy brought grand-mal seizures from the age of eight; the family's one TV was in another room, so he read, building the knowledge he now reels off at the counter.

Which band recorded "Winning Isn't Everything" as the new Pawn Stars theme song in 2013?

Lynyrd Skynyrd recorded the custom song to launch the show's move to Thursday nights that May, with a 30-second cut playing over the new opening.

What role did Chumlee play at Rick's 2013 wedding in Laguna Beach?

Ring bearer was Chumlee's job in front of 180 guests, and he wasn't the only co-star on duty: the show's hot-rod expert conducted the ceremony as minister.

What nickname has Rick earned for his eye for rare items?

The Spotter was History's billing for Rick, earned by catching fakes such as a counterfeit Cartier watch; the shop's own website now calls him The Genius instead.

What does Rick say he was selling when he dropped out of high school?

Fake Gucci bags were bringing in $2,000 a week, by his account, when he quit school in tenth grade, money that later bought him into partnership with his father.

Which honour did the pawn trade's national association give Rick in 2010?

Pawnbroker of the Year went to Rick at a Caesars Palace ceremony; the association told him he had done more for the trade's image in one year than its media team had in thirty.

What do the Harrisons call Chumlee, a label he embraces?

Our village idiot is the Harrisons' phrase for him, and Chumlee plays up to it: 'Even 6-year-old kids can feel smarter than me,' he says. 'It's my part.'

What was the Old Man's full name?

Richard Benjamin Harrison, a Junior named for his handyman father, reached Las Vegas all but broke and turned a $10,000 stake into a multimillion-dollar pawn business.

In which branch of the military did the Old Man serve before going into business?

The U.S. Navy kept him for two decades; at 71 he said that after 'twenty-one years in the Navy, thirty years in the pawnshop' he was ready to quit, until television made it 'too much fun'.

Which failed family business sent the Harrisons to Las Vegas in 1981?

Real estate in San Diego went well for the Harrisons until interest rates soared; the Old Man lost a million dollars and said he 'should have declared bankruptcy in '81'.

Which classic car did Rick and Corey secretly have restored as a gift for the Old Man?

The 1966 Chrysler Imperial had taken him fifteen years to coax from its owner; to hide the surprise, Rick and Corey told him they had sold it for $1,000 to be made into a lowrider.

What did the Old Man drive for pay as a teenager growing up in Lexington, North Carolina?

A school bus: he parked it at home each night and collected the other children every morning for five or six dollars a week, and his yearbook pictures him among the bus drivers.

What did the Harrisons open in Las Vegas in 1981, before the pawn business?

A coin store of just 300 square feet came first; for years it could trade only as a second-hand shop, because the city tightly rationed its pawn licences.

What is Corey Harrison's nickname on Pawn Stars?

Big Hoss fits less well than it did: after lap-band surgery in 2010 Corey shed well over 100 pounds, and the shop's own website says the office staff now call him Skinny.

What prompted Corey's weight-loss surgery in 2010?

A diabetes warning did it: put on preventative medication at 402 pounds, he says he drove directly from the doctor to the lap-band centre and had the operation almost at once.

Corey threatened to quit unless he got what?

A partnership stake of 10% was his price; he settled for a raise and 5%, with the promise of more to come.

What is Chumlee's real first name?

Austin Lee Russell, Corey's friend since boyhood, was hired to load, test and ticket items, then became the breakout star: the one fans most often ask for a photo with.

Chumlee's nickname comes from a walrus on which cartoon?

Tennessee Tuxedo's slow-witted walrus sidekick was called Chumley; school friends, or in another telling a friend's father, pinned the name on him, and it plays on his middle name, Lee.

What did Chumlee say he had a couple of hundred pairs of in 2013?

Sneakers, mostly Nikes and Jordans: he had more than 150 pairs by 2011, and when a new Jordan comes out he sends his assistant to stand in the queue for him.

Which of these did Chumlee prove expert on in season two of Pawn Stars?

Pinball machines were his answer to the jokes about his brains: in the episode 'Pinball Wizards' he helped Corey size up a dismantled 1973 Bally table.

On which platform did History launch Pawn Stars: The Game in 2011?

Facebook was already the shop's favourite tool: Rick ran T-shirt design contests there, paying each winner $250, and reckoned it had saved him more than $100,000 on designers.

What kind of business did Chumlee open a few steps from the pawn shop in 2017?

A candy store called Chumlee's Candy on the Boulevard: it holds only 10 to 15 customers at a time, so he expected to need a rope line at the door, just like the pawn shop's.

In Chumlee's retro Nintendo-style video game, what is he fighting to find?

His dog Pinky, a real Pomeranian, is the prize in Chumlee's Adventure: The Quest for Pinky, which he modelled on Nintendo's Kung Fu and funded with pre-orders from fans.

What is the 2022 spin-off in which Rick, Corey and Chumlee travel the country buying from fans?

Pawn Stars Do America turned the usual deal around: after more than 600 episodes of sellers coming to Las Vegas, the trio spent the first season in eight cities, where finds included a handwritten George Washington letter.

On which Nickelodeon sitcom did Rick, Corey and Chumlee appear as themselves?

iCarly sent its gang to Las Vegas to bail Sam's mother out of jail by pawning their prized possessions at the shop; the sitcom's creator and his wife were fans of the Pawn Stars.

Which mayor, a former mob lawyer, gave the Pawn Stars the key to Las Vegas in 2010?

Oscar Goodman dropped by the shop to hand over the key, and the Pawn Stars repaid him in kind, with a set of collectible American coins.

What is the title of Rick's 2011 autobiography?

License to Pawn put a tenth-grade dropout on The New York Times best-seller list in June 2011, sharing the chart with Shania Twain's memoir.

In 2012 the four Pawn Stars served as grand marshals for a race in which motorsport series?

NASCAR's History 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway carried their own network's name, and two fans won the chance to watch the race alongside the four of them.

What did Rick open in the shop's own plaza in 2015?

A barbecue restaurant, Rick's Rollin Smoke BBQ & Tavern, opened in Pawn Plaza beside the shop that October, and Rick took the odd shift pouring the drinks.

What did the Hanson Brothers from Slap Shot try to sell Rick in a 2011 NHL Awards sketch?

The Stanley Cup had been won by the Boston Bruins only days earlier, so the spoof of the Hansons hawking it at the pawn shop played to a crowd that had just cheered the real thing.

The shop lent a museum the Senate chair of which Nevada senator, whose name Las Vegas's airport carried until 2021?

Patrick McCarran used the chair from 1933 to 1954; the Old Man lent it on the day Clark County honoured the show, and the museum's administrator said he 'needed a drool cloth' on seeing it.

Which truTV series, set in a Detroit pawn shop, is called a Pawn Stars imitator?

Hardcore Pawn, set at a family shop on Detroit's 8 Mile, arrived a year after Pawn Stars and traded on showdowns at the counter rather than the history of the items.

Which music legend signed an album on Pawn Stars but made it out to Chumlee instead of Rick?

Bob Dylan was performing in town when Rick sent Chumlee out with a 1970s vinyl copy of Self Portrait, and the autograph he brought back disappointed his boss.

Which star of The Office visited the Pawn Stars shop to buy a World War II diver's knife?

Steve Carell turned up in the 2013 episode "Hello, Goodbye", the same episode in which Rick had the shop's classic rock vinyl records moved into the showroom.

Which president's cigar box, still holding unsmoked cigars, did Rick Harrison buy for $60,000?

John F. Kennedy kept the box at the White House, and Rick later sold it for $75,000, using the money for a staff party bus trip to the Hoover Dam.

What job did Chumlee perform at Rick Harrison's 2013 wedding in Laguna Beach, California?

Ring bearer was Chumlee's part in the July 2013 ceremony, while the show's car expert, the Count, became an ordained minister so that he could officiate.

People magazine described Pawn Stars as which appraisal show, "but with neon and far more tattoos"?

Antiques Roadshow is the comparison critics keep reaching for: another reviewer called Pawn Stars a version of it hijacked by the Teutul family of American Chopper.

What appears on screen before a Pawn Stars commercial break, with the answer revealed after the ads?

A trivia question about the shop, the cast or a featured item appears in multiple-choice form, so viewers can guess during the ads before the show gives the answer.

On which social network was Pawn Stars: The Game launched for fans to play in 2011?

Facebook hosted the game, and the shop also ran fan design contests there to create its merchandise, sparing the Harrisons the cost of professional designers.

What does Pawn Stars expert Rebecca Romney, co-founder of the firm Type Punch Matrix, appraise?

Rare books, manuscripts and documents from the 15th century onward are her field, and she managed a Las Vegas gallery for a rare-book dealer before starting her own firm.

Which World War II device ranks beside a Shelby Mustang among the priciest items on Pawn Stars?

An Enigma machine made the "Priciest Pawns" retrospective, sharing the list with a 1942 AT-6 Texan plane and a Hotchkiss revolving cannon.

Which Hollywood star and racer once owned the 1940 Indian motorcycle seen on Pawn Stars in 2011?

Steve McQueen's Indian shared its episode with a 1745 book printed by Benjamin Franklin, and the bike later made a retrospective of items the cast wanted for themselves.

A ticket to Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp let Rick Harrison perform with which member of The Who?

Roger Daltrey shared the stage with Rick in the 2013 episode "Rick 'n' Roll", after the Old Man, Corey and Chumlee tricked him into thinking they had forgotten his birthday.

Which game show booked the Pawn Stars trio in 2010, sparking a Chumlee dream about its host?

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire invited Rick, Corey and Chumlee to play, and host Meredith Vieira made a cameo in Chumlee's dream in the episode "Chumdog Millionaire".

Stars of which other reality series helped give the Old Man of Pawn Stars a 1957 Chevy sedan?

American Pickers stars joined the casts of two Pawn Stars spin-offs to hand over the 1957 Chevy, a fitting gift for a man who was passionate about automobiles.

Pawn Stars antique sword expert David Baker is also a judge on which weapons competition series?

Forged in Fire pits four bladesmiths against each other for a $10,000 prize, and Baker, a Hollywood prop maker, sits on its three-judge panel.

Original illustrations from which Maurice Sendak picture book were appraised on Pawn Stars in 2018?

Where the Wild Things Are drawings came in during "Can't Pawn Me Love", an episode that also featured a Princess Leia action figure signed by Carrie Fisher.

What does Chumlee of Pawn Stars collect so keenly that he owns more than 200 pairs?

Shoes are his passion, and the knowledge pays off at work: he surprised his colleagues with how much he knew about a pair of 1990 Air Jordan V sneakers brought into the shop.

Which childhood condition kept Rick Harrison in bed and sparked his lifelong love of reading?

Epilepsy brought on seizures from the age of eight, and the bedridden Rick fell for The Great Brain, a book series about a ten-year-old Utah con artist.

Which illness led to the death of the Old Man, patriarch of Pawn Stars, in June 2018?

Parkinson's disease was the cause; he left his wife Joanne, three sons, ten grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, with Rick named to handle his affairs.

Which teenage offense led a judge to offer the Old Man of Pawn Stars prison or the military?

Stealing a car put him before the judge; he chose to enlist in October 1958, and what began as a way out of a cell turned into a 20-year career.

Which vehicle did the Old Man of Pawn Stars drive for a few dollars a week when he was only 14?

A school bus was his first paying job: he parked it at home each night in Lexington, North Carolina, and rose early to collect the children for five or six dollars a week.

The collapse of which family business sent the Harrisons of Pawn Stars to Las Vegas with $5,000?

A real estate office run by Rick's mother Joanne failed when interest rates climbed as high as 18 percent, costing the family about $1 million.

Which night job did Rick Harrison hold while working days at his father's first Las Vegas shop?

Repossessing cars filled his nights while the family ran a 300-square-foot secondhand store on Las Vegas Boulevard South, years before they held a pawn license.

The Harrisons kept calling a Las Vegas statistician until which figure allowed a new pawn license?

The city's population had to reach 250,000, because a 1955 Las Vegas law rationed pawn licenses by head count, and the Harrisons applied as soon as it did.

Brock Williams's 2001 Super Bowl ring, a prized Gold & Silver Pawn Shop item, came from which team?

New England Patriots cornerback Brock Williams's ring helped the shop build a reputation, by 2006, for sports items with unusual histories.

Which TV journalist paid Rick Harrison $12,000 for a framed aphorism signed by Mark Twain?

Katie Couric bought the 1900 Twain piece on a visit to the shop, handing Rick a healthy profit on the $8,500 he had paid for it.

Which museum administrator and frequent Pawn Stars expert is nicknamed the Beard of Knowledge?

Mark Hall-Patton never puts a price on anything, in line with museum ethics codes; he only confirms whether an item is authentic and why it matters.

Besides the UK and Australia, which country got its own local version of Pawn Stars in 2014?

South Africa got Pawn Stars SA in October 2014, the second international version after the British one and a year ahead of the Australian series.

In which city is Happy Hockers, the pawn chain run by the brothers who star in Pawn Stars Australia?

Sydney was home to all five Happy Hockers stores when the series aired in 2015, though it was filmed almost entirely at the chain's Bondi Beach branch.

Which guitarist authenticated his own jacket on Pawn Stars, then offered $40,000 to buy it back?

Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top wanted the jacket for a blues museum in Texas and proposed splitting the $40,000 cost with Rick.

Which award did Rick Harrison buy for $2,350, only to learn he could not legally sell it?

A Grammy awarded to Ron Dunbar and General Johnson for 1970's Best Rhythm and Blues Song had to go back to Dunbar's family once Rick learned the truth.

A 1546 book by Georgius Agricola, bought on Pawn Stars, was once owned by which scientist?

Isaac Newton may even have written in it: after buying the book, Rick noticed annotations that could be in the scientist's own handwriting.

Which Hemingway novel's first edition did Rick Harrison sell to George Stephanopoulos for $675?

For Whom the Bell Tolls came in with a framed Hemingway autograph that proved to be a forgery, so Rick paid just $500 for the book alone.

Which singer's boots caught Rick Harrison's eye in the episode that set up Pawn Stars UK?

Elton John's boots sat near a piece of the Titanic's hull in his friend Mark Manning's shop, and they later featured in a special on the show's great negotiations.

A 1941 Gibson J-200 among the priciest Pawn Stars items once belonged to which folk-rock star?

Stephen Stills of Crosby, Stills and Nash owned the guitar, which reached the shop in the same episode as an 1884 detective camera.

In which ABC sitcom did Rick Harrison of Pawn Stars play an antique store owner in 2012?

The Middle cast him in the episode "The Safe", which aired just four days after he had played himself on a Nickelodeon comedy.

Which magazine's annual list of influential people nominated Rick Harrison and his father in 2012?

Time put the two pawnbrokers up for its Time 100, in the same year that the Old Man was handed the key to his hometown of Lexington, North Carolina.

At which kind of sporting event did the Pawn Stars cast serve as grand marshals in May 2012?

A NASCAR race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, sponsored by the show's own network, gave all four stars the honorary job.

In which Nevada city, a neighbor of Las Vegas, was Chumlee of Pawn Stars born in 1982?

Henderson is where Chumlee was born on September 8, 1982, and he grew up as a childhood friend of Corey Harrison long before joining the shop.

Which unusual vehicle, bought on Pawn Stars, could Chumlee finally ride after losing 75 pounds?

A hovercraft he had bought earlier in the series carried a 250-pound weight limit, so a year of exercise and a better diet finally put him aboard.

What is the nickname of Danielle Rainey, the Pawn Stars employee punished for habitual lateness?

Peaches was put on the graveyard shift with Chumlee as her punishment in the first-season episode "Rope a Dope".

Recurring Pawn Stars expert Murray SawChuck earns his living as which kind of entertainer?

Magician Murray SawChuck is also a magic historian, which makes him the Harrisons' authority when conjuring memorabilia comes into the shop.

Which broadcaster featured the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop in a 2001 documentary, before Pawn Stars?

PBS profiled the shop in 2001, and by the time producers found it Rick had spent four years trying without success to pitch a series of his own.

The first network offered Pawn Stars wanted a night-window show modeled on which documentary series?

Taxicab Confessions was the template that network had in mind, with the cameras trained on the Gold & Silver's night window rather than on the family.

Which 1986 car did Chumlee of Pawn Stars customize with hydraulic lifts on the front and back?

Buick Regal was the model: Chumlee took an odd liking to one brought into the shop in the season 4 episode "Missile Attack", alongside a Cold War missile guidance system.

Rick Harrison also appears on which 2014 series about artifacts used at pivotal moments in the past?

United Stuff of America, from the Pawn Stars producers, examined objects such as the cane Andrew Jackson used to fend off an assassin and the axe Abraham Lincoln swung as a rail splitter.

Which Las Vegas road was home to the Harrisons' store for two years before they lost the lease?

Fremont Street housed the family's business from 1986, and after losing that lease the Harrisons moved into a new building on Las Vegas Boulevard.

What happens to the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop's showroom while Pawn Stars is being filmed?

It closes to the public, with only a handful of vetted customers let in. The stars work the counter only on those days, since fans' cameras would expose pawn customers whose identities the law keeps confidential.

Which night-shift recruit did Chumlee volunteer to train after she joined Pawn Stars in season 5?

Olivia Black impressed Corey and Chumlee when they screened applicants, though Rick and the Old Man worried that the double shifts Chumlee took on to train her were too much for him.

To which California city did Rick Harrison's family move when he was two years old?

San Diego was his father's new posting in 1967, and the family stayed until a failed business sent them on to Las Vegas in 1981.

What kind of eatery did Rick Harrison open in the Pawn Stars shop's plaza in 2015?

A barbecue tavern opened beside the shop that year, and Rick has occasionally worked behind its bar himself.