The Interesting Trade-Off The Pawn Stars Made For This Sword
The pawnbrokers of History's "Pawn Stars" sure do love them some swords. Whether they're replicas or the real deal, the Harrison dynasty will pay good money for a blade if it stands to make them a sizable profit. So when the car dealer Davey Deals brought in a Japanese samurai sword that he traded one of his cars for in the Season 8 episode "The Amazing Chumlee," Rick Harrison couldn't help but get excited. (Based on Davey Deals' Instagram, it seems that the two are actually real-life friends, so that probably also had something to do with Rick's demeanor during their negotiations.)
Davey tells Rick that he's not sure if his samurai sword is real — he just took the guy who traded it to him at his word — but he nonetheless wants $18,000 for it, a price that Rick is not too keen on paying. Before the two salesmen can get into negotiations, they have to see whether or not the thing's legit — and from there, the process deviates quite a bit from your standard "Pawn Stars" transaction.
Davey Deals' samurai sword is worth a lot, but Rick's not buying for $18,000
Neither Rick Harrison nor Davey Deals knows how to unsheathe Davey's samurai sword, so Rick calls over his resident weapons expert, Rocco, to get the thing open and verify its authenticity. In order to tell if it's real, Rocco must take off the sword's handle to reveal the base of the blade, where the craftsman would have etched in his signature. He tells Rick and Davey that the sword was in fact manufactured by a 1500s-era sword maker — so it is real — and is in excellent condition, making it worth a whopping $15,000 to $20,000. Davey is thrilled that he wasn't deceived by the feigned innocence of an elderly scam artist, but the burning question remains: How much is Rick willing to pay for his samurai sword?
The answer? Definitely not $18,000. Immediately after Rick dismisses Rocco, he lowballs Davey, saying, "So, I'll give you 10 grand for it." Davey holds fast, countering with his original $18,000 asking price, to which Rick repeats his own initial offer of $10,000. This is clearly going nowhere, so Davey backs down a bit, countering with $15,000. Recognizing the magnitude of the car dealer's willingness to lower his asking price, Rick generously raises his offer to $12,000 to match. But that's not enough for Davey, so he switches tactics, throwing out a casual, "Well let's trade something," instead of doing just a cash deal. After all, he had gotten lucky with the trade that landed him this samurai sword.
Another round of negotiations for Rick Harrison and Davey Deals
It soon becomes clear that a trade may have been Davey's desired endgame. He tells Rick that he's had his eye on an electric blue four-seater sandrail ever since the pawn shop obtained it, but Rick doesn't seem too eager to part ways with the vehicle. In his pre-deal interview, Rick tells the camera that he initially paid $18,000 for it, then put hours of work into it, even having its transmission overhauled, making his total investment a little over $20,000. He agrees to take Davey to the warehouse and show him the sandrail, and once he revs it up, Davey's enamored.
After Davey has a taste of the excitement that the sandrail could bring to his life, Rick pounces on the opportunity to negotiate a deal that works in his favor. He offers Davey the sandrail for the samurai sword and $10,000. Davey counters by offering to give him the sword plus $3,000, to which Rick protests that he's not in business to break even. Rick then lies and says that he spent $4,000 on the new transmission, so Davey offers to bring the cash payment up to $5,000. Rick says that the lowest he'll accept for the sandrail is the samurai sword and $8,000 cash ... and it's a deal. Both parties happily walk back into the shop to do the requisite paperwork.
In his post-deal interview, Davey laughs, "I walked in here trying to get $18,000 cash in my pocket; I ended up giving them $8,000 cash out of my pocket. I don't know how they do this to me ... I guess he is the better salesman."
No doubt it's negotiations like this that got Rick to be worth an estimated $8 million.