<p> So, some Baby Boomer waltzes into Gold & Silver Pawn Shop, the setting for the popular “Pawn Stars” series, and expects to be handed $2,100 for the “Butchers” album, the notorious suppressed LP cover for the Beatles\' <em>Yesterday and Today</em>. Where's he getting his number? He saw it on some Internet sale site. “That's what they're asking or that's what they're <em>getting</em>?” demands Gold & Silver's indomitable owner, Rick Harrison, who laughs with benign firmness at the befuddled Beatles fan who never appreciated such distinctions. In the real world, Gold & Silver is prepared to offer no more than $1,250. They shake hands and seal the deal. After all, the seller claims he picked the album up for $800 at a collectors' show and he's still turning a profit. </p> <p>If “Antiques Roadshow” encourages everyone to think they have treasure in their attic, “Pawn Stars” is here to say: Curb your expectations, pal. Seldom does anyone leave Gold & Silver with what they asked for. Sometimes, they leave with nothing but the item they came in with. </p> <p>Couple of cases in point from the recently released DVD “Pawn Stars: Volume 4”: the woman with the 48-star flag big enough to have flown from the mast of a battleship. She expects it's worth several hundred clams but as Harrison's laconic dad points out, there's no way to say if it flew from the hilltop at Iwo Jima or decorated the rooftop of an insurance company. “I'll give you $100.” She took it. </p> <p>The showstopper is the guy who brings in Colonel Sanders' white suit and confidently expects $40,000-$50,000. Sure enough, the label is authentic, it all checks out and yetthe market for the Colonel's chicken is much greater than for his clothes. Some deluded franchise owner in Shanghai might be dumb enough to pay $50,000 for the Colonel's suit, but the Harrison clan doesn't have time to find him. “It's neat, but it's not 40 grand neat,” Rick insists with a smile. And somehow you just know not to argue with a bunch of guys who look like they could take you down in a bar fight. </p>
More Pawn Stars
The Man with the Colonel Sanders Suit?
