With Pawn Stars or American Pickers, you soon get the idea that they are contemptuos of the people they buy from, especially Pawn Stars and Hardcore Pawn (set in Detroit).
I actually have first hand experience with Pawn Stars. Once again, what actually happens and how it's presented on TV is not the same. That doesn't take anything away from the items, IMO. The items are real, but the story behind it and how the shop operates is not real, it's TV.
My friend is the drummer for Judas Priest. In 2013, he decide to sell his 2004 Ozzfest tour drumkit that Tama built for him. Now, you're probably wonder why would he sell a kit, is he broke? No, not at all. You see, famous artists are signed by music vendors. In his case, he was a Tama artist for 25 years or so, but he switched in 2009 to DW Drums. He is not allowed to play his Tama set anymore..ever. So the kit was just sitting in storage doing nothing but taking up space (and drums take up a LOT of space).
So we set the drumkit up in my dining room to take photos and video, and the original thought was to sell the kit on eBay. I have attached a photo.
But while sitting around, we got the idea to sell the kit on Pawn Stars. So he made a few phone calls, and the producers of the show called him back. They asked him about the kit, the history, etc and how much he wanted. They said Rick is on vacation, but we'll give him the information and call you back.
Meanwhile, I came up the idea that I would walk into the store to sell the kit and when they asked where it was, we would walk out back with the kit on a flatbed truck with him playing drums. We thought it was cool.
A day or two later..it wasn't long, the producers called back. They said we told Rick about it, and he said he wasn't interested. That was that.
The kit was eventually sold to the Hard Rock Cafe. They put rock memorabilia in their restaurants....so it's probably hanging on a wall somewhere or sitting in a warehouse. Who knows.
I have actually been to the store. They do not film in the actual store. They have a replica next door that they film the show. Rick, his son and Chumlee don't actually work in the pawn store, they are legally not allowed to by Nevada law because you aren't allowed to film people trying to pawn items. If they were actually in the store, people would take pictures and videos all day, and people would unintentionally filmed against the law. So they just show up on set, and film the show. So all the banter and stuff about Chumlee being lazy and not working, is all just part of the entertainment of the show.
The items on the show are legit, but definitely not people just walking in out of the blue with a copy of the declaration of independence. That would be impossible to film. Hours and hours of filming junk would be very expensive. So like any show, it's all set up in advance, crew, catering, etc are all ready with items pre-vetted and then they film an episode.
