Additional Coverage:
- ‘Pawn Stars’ guest brings Andy Warhol’s Superman poster and Rick Harrison gets it for a small fortune (marketrealist.com)
“Pawn Stars” Rick Harrison Encounters Warhol Superman Poster
Rick Harrison, the ever-discerning eye behind the “Pawn Stars” counter, has seen his share of comic book collectibles. But a recent episode featured a piece of superhero memorabilia with a particularly artistic pedigree: an Andy Warhol Superman poster.
Seller Josh hoped to walk away with a cool $12,000 for the piece, which he explained he’d received as payment for a job in Los Angeles. He claimed the poster, kept carefully encased, was from a 1989 exhibition.
While acknowledging Warhol’s impact on pop art and the comic book art world, Harrison admitted a personal preference for Batman over the Man of Steel. Ever the shrewd negotiator, he called in expert Chad Sampson for an appraisal.
Sampson deemed the poster – a 1960 print predating Warhol’s iconic Campbell Soup cans – an important piece. He shared a fascinating tidbit: a young Warhol, bedridden with scarlet fever, imagined himself as Superman.
Sampson’s market valuation? $4,000.
Negotiations began with Harrison’s lowball offer of $2,000, quickly countered by Josh’s $3,000. Chumlee, Harrison’s right-hand man, urged him to up the offer to $2,500 – “Come on, it’s Superman, Rick!”
After a brief back-and-forth, the deal closed at $2,500, a price both men found agreeable. Harrison, ever the jokester, quipped he would have paid $3,000 if it had been a Batman poster.