What A Signed Presidential Cabinet Card Was Worth On Pawn Stars
Benjamin Harrison may be one of the more obscure American presidents, but he still managed to help a seller on History's hit reality series "Pawn Stars" get an unexpectedly high payout from Rick Harrison.
In the Season 8 episode "Free Agent," a seller named Carol came into Gold & Silver Pawn Shop and handed Rick a photo of a serious-faced old man from the 1800s. Rick being Rick, he immediately knew it was Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd President, who served from 1889 to 1893. But Rick doesn't just have a historical interest in this particular POTUS because he claims to be distantly related to him – at least, that's what his grandparents told him. If you look at the Harrisons side by side, you can definitely kind of see a resemblance.
Anyway, the seller explained that the signed photo of Benjamin Harrison had belonged to her father and had been in her family for about 70 years. The photo was something called a "cabinet card." These used to be popular household items, so called because they were large enough that if you were sitting on your couch in your parlor looking at your china cabinet the image would be visible. They were often photos of presidents.
Carol wanted $500 for it. But before Rick would commit to buying it, he needed to verify that Harrison had actually signed it. "If it's not his signature, it's worth like 10 bucks," he said. So he called in historical document expert Stuart Lutz.
Benjamin Harri$on
Lutz compared the inked signature on the card to Harrison's confirmed signature and found that it looked authentic. However, since the photo wasn't a first-generation but rather a photo of the original photo that had been reprinted, it was going to be worth a little less than it would have been otherwise. But it was still very valuable. According to Lutz, the retail value of the signed Benjamin Harrison cabinet card was about $1250.
"Wow!" Carol exclaimed, putting her hand to her chest. Rick and Corey Harrison looked at Stuart like "come on, man, why you gotta do us like that?" Stuart only appeared in Season 8, and this deal is probably why. "500 bucks, no problem," Rick said to Carol, jokingly lowballing her. "Can you go a little bit higher?" she asked, making Rick laugh.
He said the best he could do was $700. Carol was persistent, though, and countered with $800. He wouldn't go for that, because he had to put it in a frame and everything. But when she asked him for $750, he gave in. Carol managed to get Rick Harrison to pay more than what she originally wanted, which doesn't happen very often. Good for her!