Greetings Earthlings! Sorry about the multi-month gap in posting. Truth is, we are very busy right now and blogging is rather low on the tasking hierarchy at RR HQ. That's not to say this blog's days are over. But the postings have clearly decreased, a reflection of our diminishing amount of free time and our diminishing enthusiasm about blogging in general. We're sure you understand completely. We're not going away for good though so please continue to check in on occasion!
Today's post is about World Famous Gold and Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas, home to the hit cable tv show Pawn Stars.
We've been a fan of the show since the first season, mainly because few television shows make history into something fun and exciting. The shop has since become something of a tourist attraction; we arrived around 11am and already a 100 or so people were lined up outside the front door. Antoinne, the tatted security guard often seen on the show, let in groups of ten every few minutes. Inside, the store was packed like sardines, a notable departure from what you see on tv. They must clear out the tourists on production days.
The shelves and cases contained many of the items discussed on the show. Like the death clock, seen here in the upper right corner, so named because the 19th century manufacturing process involved the use of mercury. Notice the antique dueling pistols in the case on the left (as seen on the Message in a bottle episode). It's items such as these that seperates World Famous Gold and Silver from the typical pawn broker; the peddler of used power tools and old stereos and whatever assorted junk comes their way.
How about this bronze Elvis piece. Or should we say 'Elvi' piece, as in plural: the skinny 1950's hip shaker from Tupelo on the left, and the fattened leisure suited Vegas act of the 1970's on the right. Both equally iconic in their own regard.
There were several original works of art from famous artists, like Picasso. There is another tv show (an inferior copy cat, in our opinion) about a pawn business in Detroit and they never have this kind of stuff. And frankly, there is nothing interesting about a business that sells used microwave ovens and old couches.
The cast have become something along the lines of rock stars, like Chumlee here. On the show, he's the affable doofus, fodder for ceaseless ribbing from the Old Man, Rick, and Corey. People now line up to get his autograph and a picture with him, probably several hundred times a day. All because he works at a very unique pawn shop.
