The Dinosaur Leg That Fetched Thousands Of Dollars On Pawn Stars
The "Pawn Stars" guys specialize in buying old things, but it's rare that they buy anything as old — or as expensive — as the dinosaur leg Rick Harrison bought in the Season 16 episode "A Presidential Pawn." In the clip, which can be seen on YouTube, a seller named Allison brings an enormous fossil of an entire, intact dinosaur leg into the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop. She says it belonged to her grandfather, and she isn't sure if it's even a real dinosaur bone. If she gets a good deal, she's going to get a "mommy makeover" and take a trip to Hawaii.
Rick is immediately blown away by the fossil, which is taller than him. He asks Allison how much she wants for it, and she says $40,000. Rick says he doesn't even know what kind of dinosaur the fossil comes from, and also that very often fossils like this will have one real bone and the rest will be plaster casts. He's not a fossil expert — as he demonstrates by accidentally knocking a toe bone off the leg while inspecting it — so he needs some help to determine its authenticity.
Jurassic Pawn
The expert who arrives is Andre Lujan, a young man with a shaved head and a goatee who you would never know by looking at him is the executive director of the Texas Through Time Museum, which makes him the perfect "Pawn Stars" dinosaur expert. He explains that the leg comes from a Camarasaurus, a long-necked quadrupedal dinosaur that lived in the late Jurassic period. According to an on-screen info card, it weighed 20 tons and was between 24 and 64 feet tall. Lujan inspects the fossil for cast pieces, which he can tell by the weight. He immediately discovers that some of the toes are cast, but that's not a huge deal, especially because the foot bones are real. But those are all less important than the big ol' leg bones, which require some closer inspection. He pulls out his iPhone, which has a microscope attachment on it, and he sees that there's some calcite on the bone. "It's definitely real," he confirms, which makes Allison smile with delight.
Rick, of course, wants to know how much this bone will set him back. "If this thing came into my museum, I'd be very comfortable appraising it at $25,000," Lujan said. Allison knows her $40,000 ask is too high, but asks Rick about $21,000. "I'll give you $15 grand for it," Rick quickly replies. "How about 20?" she counters. "I'll tell you what," Rick says. "I'll give you $18,000, not a penny more. That's my top dollar." Allison makes that deal. So now Rick Harrison is the proud owner of a dinosaur leg – which was at one point listed for the low price of $25,000 on gspawn.com.