Pawn Stars fans are used to seeing rare and expensive items come into the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop. However, some are rarer and historically significant than others. For instance, a revolver owned by a Confederate colonel as well as the legendary Buffalo Bill once came across the counter. However, fans haven’t seen many things much rarer than this Mark Twain book.
During the eighth season of Pawn Stars, someone came in with a salesman’s copy of Tom Sawyer. It was an old time-worn book. However, it is one of the rarest Mark Twain books on the market and therefore worth some serious coin. The owner, Adam, came into the shop at the perfect time. Rick was already talking to his book expert Rebecca Romney. As a result, he didn’t even have to call someone in. She was already on the scene.
Adam explained the significance of his book. It is a salesman’s copy or a salesman’s prospectus. As the name implies, salesmen took the book from door to door ahead of the book’s release. It contained several binding options for those who wanted to purchase a copy. Additionally, the prospectus contained excerpts from the book that allowed prospective buyers to see what they were buying. While talking to the Pawn Stars crew, he likened the book to a movie trailer.
Then, Adam told the Pawn Stars team what made the book so rare. Salesmen or the publisher usually discarded these copies after they served their purpose. Their previous disposability has made them incredibly valuable. According to Adam, the Library of Congress doesn’t even have one of these.
The Heart of Any ‘Pawn Stars’ Episode: The Negotiation
Adam told Rick that he wanted to get $10,000 out of his Tom Sawyer prospectus. Pawn Stars fans know that Rick was ready with an infamously low counteroffer. However, before he could make one, Rebecca Romney stepped in. She said that while the book isn’t a first edition of Tom Sawyer and it was pretty beat up, Adam was spot on in his pricing. Romney said she’d put the book’s retail between $9,000 and $10,000.
Keeping with the Pawn Stars trend, Rick offered Adam $5,000 for the incredibly rare book. Adam couldn’t imagine letting the book go for that much. However, Rick wasn’t ready to go too much higher. Then, Adam suggested that they let Tom Sawyer lead the way. At the end of the book, Tom finds $6,000 in gold. Still, Rick wasn’t ready to pony up that kind of money.
In the end, they decided to meet halfway between Rick and Adam’s offer. The Pawn Stars boss got one of the rarest Mark Twain books available and Adam walked out with $5,500.
