Las Vegas is not in my top 100 dream destinations. But if I am unexpectedly there one day, I must and will pay a visit to the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop† This pawn shop is central to the reality series Pawn Starsof which a million seasons have now been made that will be repeated on RTL 7 until the end of time and long, long after. Concept: people come by who want to sell all kinds of stuff and the employees always offer much less than the seller asks.
The store is run by the Harrison family, who are all overgrown men, more American than McDonalds and megalomania. The late Richard Harrison, who passed away in 2018, was an old, taciturn man who was very reminiscent of Maarten van Rossem in appearance and willingness to smile. His son Rick is a tough bald guy with a beard who can stand very well with his arms folded. Corey is Rick’s son again, but you’d think it’s his father. And then there’s family friend Chumlee, who looks just like you’d imagine.
Basically Pawn Stars same attraction as Between Art and Kitsch: people come by with special objects and are curious what they can get for it. But where at Between Art and Kitsch the greed is often packaged with a veiled ‘oh no, I’m just curious what the story behind it is’, he admits Pawn Stars face to face: the people who stop by the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop are only interested in dollars. That clumsy superficiality must then be somewhat compensated with object-related facts that the men behind the counter miraculously always have ready, no matter how obscure the object in question is (this is of course scripted, but that pretentiousness is the icing on the cake).
In one of the episodes, a woman came by with a ship’s bell from a wrecked VOC ship. The museum piece was in great condition and would make anyone with a grain of cultural-historical awareness weak knees. The value was estimated by an expert at about 14 thousand euros. Afterwards, the woman was standing in the parking lot in front of the store. “I’m moving and this will cover all my expenses.” She beamed. “And I might be able to buy a big TV out of it.” I consoled myself with the thought that the ship’s bell is better off now.
Pawn Stars is on television every day – or better: it is always on television. Take a day like Tuesday. Four episodes will be broadcast in succession between 2:30 PM and 4:30 PM. Then until 5:50 PM there is an opportunity to refresh yourself and something to eat, and then until 8:30 PM you can plunge back into the feverish trip that is the American dream, six (!) consecutive episodes long. And actually that is still too little.