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I believe that sometimes people bring items to Pawn Stars not to actually sell, but to get them and their item on TV and hope it'll raise the value and awareness more. This guy with his comic book is the perfect example.
It’s not the people doing it, it’s the producers seeking out people and asking them if they want to appear on the show, regardless if they want to sell. PattheNESPunk was on the show with his Nintendo Carts and had no intention of selling, he talks about how it all happens. If this is surprising to anyone who watches this show, I’m not sure what to tell ya, lol.
@@kevinbolds6899 Thats pretty much the whole point of the show it would be pretty stupid if they just came in did the negotiation and left without saying anything about what it is they're buying 😂😂
@@samuelrussell7003 But that is his point, they should let the owner talk it. Espicaly if the owner isn't camera shy. Like it makes no sence for them to pretend they know all about it, but still have to call in an expert..?
@@mallackey3676 Yeah I suppose but not all of the people who are selling the stuff actually know much about it other than what they seen on Google before they came in but I get what you mean it is patronising when the customer comes in and knows everything about the item and they just repeat everything they say
Maybe if it was someone who inherited it and just wanted to unload it. But especially not a collector who already paid $210k for the thing, meaning he knows exactly what it's worth and how to properly sell it.
So that guy is a gentleman by the name of Steve Houston. He's the vice president and head grader at at Torpedo Comics. He's also an adviser for the Overstreet price guide. Great guy and an amazing wealth of knowledge.
He's clearly advertising that comic and had no attention of selling it to a pawn shop. He said he's willing to sell it for $250,000 because that's the starting bid. He knows people will reach out to him and the highest bid will win. This is actually a good idea since auctions take a percentage from your winning item. Doing it like this, you keep all the money.
Plus the expert came in and gave a run down on what the grading meant and kinda hand waved away the decrease in value, basically saying that it would be like buying a good investment in a dip rather than a depreciating asset. I'm not saying that isn't correct, but it was essentially a sales pitch.
Steve asking the seller what he's asking for it prior to his assessment was inappropriate. This makes it seem that the book was never meant to be sold on the show and this was just content.
@@alexander1485 yes, they actually are. They are done prior to being aired so everyone allready knows how the negotiations are going to unfold before the cameras start rolling
If this was Rick it would go like this. Rick: what do we have here / what is it ??? Also Rick : proceeds with five minutes of insane details and history Also Rick: calls a friend who knows about these things Also Rick: proceeds to explain why he can only offer $4.50 because it needs to be framed, he's taking all the risk, Its going to sit on a shelf for a long time
Quite frankly, I believe this is one of those cases where either the seller just wanted to show off, or the producers of the show asked him to come in and show it off. The interaction just feels too simple after the valuation. "It's too expensive for me" "K, tx, bye."
That guy who owns this and says he bought it a year ago from auction and claims to be a golden age comic collector definitely knows that the pawn shop is the last place to sell this kind of book. This episode is probably either a sponsored partnership with CGC or was intentionally written into an episode so that Pawn Stars can draw in comic collectors (especially new collectors that came out during the pandemic) to their show.
Why would Pawn Stars be the last place to sell the book? Pawn Stars is a huge show, watched and known world wide, and they have millions of dollars to buy stuff with. Sounds like a good place to sell it to me.
You would have to be desperate to see that book at a pawn shop. It should be sold to a comic shop or go back to auction and start the bidding at $250,000
“We’ve never had anything like this walk into the shop before.” Yeah. Never mind the $20 million dollar Pokémon collection that “walked in” where the guy was asking $600,000. Those kinds of opportunities NEVER present themselves to you guys.
Other than being a Celebrity PawnStar, I'd love to know what kind of work someone that age does to be able to comfortable enough to spend $210,000 on a comic book.
Plenty of tech and finance jobs, or success in your own business. The guy would be mid to late 30s at best so he isn't that young for that amount of money
Jason Boston There are people in this world who think of spending $210000 the same way you or I would think of spending $10. Not saying the seller in this case is one of those people, just pointing out that $210000 is chump change to a lot of people.
Maybe the guy cashed in his childhood card/comic collections or some he got from his parents. I inherited all my uncles baseball cards. He was born in the early 40's. You can only imagine what I am sitting on..... and yes they will stay in the safe deposit box till I retire or start planning it.
Yep. Sadly this show is being used by sellers to advertise high end stuff they are trying to sell. They know pawnshops are only going to pay around 60% of what they hope to actually sell it for.
I'm always wary when people bring ultra-rare comics to pawn, especially if they take it to a general pawn shop and not a Comic Specialty buyer, they're easy to forge and have many reprints that aren't worth that much, I've seen more than a few try to pass copies off as the real deal.
All the negotiations are done prior to filming. People who don’t reach an agreement with the show still come on because it’s a good opportunity to advertise/promote their item.
If he actually wanted to sell it, he'd take it to an auction-house, not a pawn shop, even a famous one on TV which (very) occasionally buys big-ticket items. It's a publicity stunt. The producers probably found him and paid him to bring his item on just for show.
@@zacharias7284 Yes, the filming is a dramatic recreation basically, but that doesn't mean the expert didn't lowball them. Whether they lowball them live on TV or over email it's the same thing.
He knew what that exact comic sold for the last 3 times, and that the seller was the one that bought it at 210. There is a site, that I cant remember at the moment that lists sales of CGC rated comics off ebay and other sites.
The show is sort of a dramatic recreation. They negotiate off camera beforehand, the expert might've shafted them over email instead which might be worse
@@Jeffmtbr yes, but they only sell every few years. There are only 14 copies graded at 5.5 and some of them haven't ever been for sale. A lower graded copy sold for 510k last month.
The "Expert" made a cardinal sin. I've watched Pawn Stars for years, and this is the first expert that's ever asked the customer what he wants for it first, instead of telling him how much it's worth. I dunno why he would do that. That would set off sirens if I was selling.
Robin looks a lot younger in the early years, no doubt to capture the imaginations of 7/8 yo's. Looks as if modern times screwed that up. Very handy to see that they have a minimum of at least two cameramen + director there to capture these unexpected walk in's.
First appearance of the Joker and Catwoman. and Batmans first headlining Title. Huge book! Dude should have that book chained to him for safe keeping. thats one you dont want to lose.
That guy who owned the comic book looks like he didn't need to sell it, he just wanted a minute of fame in television in regards that he bought a single comic book at $210,000 worth.
@@carlosfer2201 They will offer to buy it, but if they don't accept the price then they will film it like this. One of the people who came on the show says they asked for a way too high price specifically so they could get on the show without selling it
DC just released the NFT version of this comic book, fully readable and yours to own only 5k editions exist with different grade rarities selling from $100-3k each and mint price was 20 bucks.
*almost never. I recall once or twice that they bought a big-ticket item (on the show, I have no idea what they've bought off-air, but I'm sure it wasn't before the show, otherwise they'd show it), but yes, they rarely buy anything more than about $50,000.
Currently on eBay, there is a 6.5 and a 7.5 Batman No. 1 selling for $105K and $198K, respectively. There is a 9.6 selling for $549K! Corey was smart to pass on this one.
Awhile back, someone was trying to sell 1st issue appearances of Superman & Batman for a very high price; bidding was very high until someone pointed out that DC Comics had reprinted these books in the 1970s with cardboard covers & notices that these books are reprints inside the covers. The person withdrew the books soon after.
I'd like them to ramp up the illusion of reality in their episodes from time to time. Maybe like "hey, the expert who is supposed to appraise your item happens to be out of state, would you be willing to come back in 2 weeks?" Or the expert saying "you know what, I like this item - just sell it to me instead if you can't get your asking price" and the Rick and the expert will then go on bidding on the item 😂🤣
Corey on Batman @0:44: "One of the biggest reasons that people liked Batman is [sic] he didn't come from outer space, he wasn't bitten by a radioactive spider... this was just a rich guy that wanted to fight crime." What he says at some point in the future when someone brings in Action Comics #1 / the first issue of Superman: "One of the biggest reasons that people liked Superman was because he *came* from outer space, he wasn't bitten by a radioactive spider... this was just a guy *who wasn't rich* who wanted to fight crime."
Does anyone have a theory that every "friend" the pawn star guys ask to come in to appraise it will intentionally lowball the estimate so that the pawn stars can get a good deal? I mean every single time the "experts" appraise it way lower. What's to stop the pawn stars from offering their "friends" a commission for every sucker they under estimate.
most of them don't lowball, they use real world facts based on what items ACTUALLY sell for on a day to day basis, the main reason why so much people think they're being lowballed is because they do their research based on delusional sellers on ebay or they assume there's some rich guy on every block that would pay stupid amounts of money for anything old
I also luckily found a one piece of each batman no.1 and supergirl no.1 STICKER from a old postal envelope in our office files when we are trying to dispose all of it from 1962-1998 old papers.
Just a little bit of history on the comic. It sold at Heritage Auctions on 5/16/2019, with $210,000.00 being with the buyer's premium added in. With the new Batman movie out, and being successful money wise, $250,000.00 might be realized at an auction house. if not surpassing that price.
"He didn't come from outer space, he wasn't bitten by a radioactive spider, he was just a regular guy." You know, just a regular guy, with billions of dollars in the bank. Like we all have. Just a regular guy.
