Additional Coverage:
- ‘Pawn Stars’ boss Rick Harrison pays a fortune for two books signed by British royalty (marketrealist.com)
Royalty, Books, and Bargains on Pawn Stars
A recent episode of “Pawn Stars” featured a unique piece of British royal history: two signed books, one by King Edward VIII titled “A King’s Story” and the other by Wallis Simpson, the American divorcée for whom he abdicated the throne, titled “The Heart Has Its Reasons.” The seller, hoping for $5,000, presented the books to Rick Harrison.
While the books weren’t in pristine condition, Harrison consulted an expert, Rebecca, who acknowledged the significance of the signatures. She valued Simpson’s book at $700, but Edward’s, bearing the signature of a former king, at a much higher $2,500.
Despite the seller’s belief that a stronger economy would have yielded a higher price, he ultimately accepted Harrison’s offer of $2,000 for the pair.
This wasn’t the only brush with British royalty for the Pawn Stars crew. A previous episode featured a coronation stool from the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
Initially priced at $5,000, Harrison, after consulting an expert to verify its authenticity, purchased the stool for $1,100, a price negotiated up from his initial offer of $800. The stool itself has a unique connection to royal history: Queen Elizabeth requested stools similar in design to those used during her father, George VI’s, coronation, a poignant reminder of the line of succession altered by Edward VIII’s abdication.