History Series / PawnStars

** Sometimes, when Rick or the Old Man and a customer are at an impasse, one of them will offer a straight-up trade as a means of sealing the deal. For instance, the guy who tried to sell Rick a Revolutionary War-era war bond drafted by Paul Revere wasn't very keen on Rick's $12,000 offer until he threw in the electric guitar the kid had originally wanted to get. Another customer who wanted to sell the Old Man a collectible poker chip finally agreed to his price if the Old Man also agreed to give him the figurines of some prominent Las Vegas entertainers. The Old Man later told the camera crew that the figurines were only priced at $300 and he paid only $100 for them, so it wasn't really a problem for him.

* BigScrewedUpFamily: Pick any episode - any episode. At least one of the Harrisons will be giving the others grief.

%% * BloodBrothers: Corey and Chumlee.

* ObviousBeta: The Pawn Stars game on Facebook. Yeesh.

* CoolGun: Antique firearms are some of the hottest selling items, so naturally the team always jumps on the opportunity to get some. Emphasis on the "antique", though, since as Rick points out, he can only buy and sell guns created before 1898 (somewhat unusually for a pawn shop, they don't have a federal firearms license on account of not wanting to deal with the paperwork and federal regulations involved), since that cutoff is the legal determination between "antique collectible" and "weapon".
* CoolOldGuy: Who do you think?
** The shop even had a limited run of collectible coins minted out of nearly pure silver, featuring his face and the phrase "In the Old Man we trust."

* AsideComment: When a customer brings in a autographed script of the series finale of ''[[Series/Seinfeld]]'', Rick comments that Seinfeld was the best TV show ever, then turns to camera and says, "Well, second best TV show ever".

* MistakenForGay: Possibly. When one guy brings in a fairly large assortment of MickeyMouse phones, after lining them up on the counter he says he's selling them because his girlfriend is moving in with him. Chumlee gives him a mildly surprised look and says "You have a girlfriend?" It's unclear whether he was invoking this trope; it's also possible that he may have acted surprised because NerdsAreVirgins.

---->'''Chumlee''': Too bad you don't have [[WesternAnimation/DuckTales Scrooge McDuck.]] He reminds me of the Old Man.\\

* DirtyOldMan: Subtle, but some fans have noted the Old Man using the kid gloves when haggling with attractive women. The most egregious case has Old Man talking Rick into paying $20 for an antique printing press that had rusted into scrap metal because "It's cool." The customer in question had some [[GagBoobs very interesting haggling techniques.]]

The 2022-2023 season, for the first time, saw some sweeping changes to the familiar format. Instead of following potential sellers who have come to Las Vegas to visit the pawn shop, the Pawn Stars themselves have hit the road, traveling to cities across the country in a Main/{{Retool} known as ''Pawn Stars [[ShoutOut Do]] [[WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead America.]]''

Also on the show is Rick's father and co-owner Richard, known as [[GrumpyOldMan "The Old Man"]]. His purpose is to reprimand workers for being lazy, be the butt of old jokes, and tell WhenIWasYourAge stories. Rick's son Corey, known as Big Hoss, also works at the store and is learning the business in order to someday inherit the store (as of season 6 he's given a 5% partnership) - which leads to some father/son conflict. The fourth main character is Austin "Chumlee" Russell, a longtime friend of Corey and the shop ButtMonkey, who is hinted to be smarter than he looks.

Rick has taken quite a lot of old stuff to another guy named Rick, Rick Dale, who runs a Las Vegas antique restoration company in order to have it fixed up. As a result, the spin-off ''Series/AmericanRestoration'' was created, which shows them restoring old things like toys, gas pumps and vending machines. The series premiered on October 25, 2010.

The popularity of ''Pawn Stars'' led to a second spin-off, ''Series/CajunPawnStars'', which is basically ''Pawn Stars'' [-[[RecycledInSpace IN THE SOUTH!]]-] Rick and Co. are reportedly [[http://www.tmz.com/2012/01/11/pawn-stars-cajun-history-channel-spin-off/#.Tw93roGuY70 not pleased]]. It premiered on January 8, 2012.

Yet another spin-off features the often-seen mechanic Danny "The Count" Koker as he and his team restore, customize and sell cars. ''Series/CountingCars'' premiered on August 13th, 2012. A GameShow spin-off, ''Pawnography'', premiered on July 10, 2014, giving players a chance to win cash and items from the Harrisons' shop and eventually go against Rick and the other cast as they barter. It was hosted by Creator/ChristopherTitus.

It has now launched a British version (which Rick seems to like as he appeared in the first episode): ''Series/PawnStarsUK'', which launched on that country's History Channel on August 26, 2013. This focuses on Regal Pawn in Chester, not too far from Liverpool. Another spin-off is ''Pawn Stars SA'' (South Africa).

Richard "The Old Man" Harrison died at the age of 77 on June 25, 2018.

!!This series provides examples of:

* TheConspiracy: When a guy brings in three letters signed by three different Kennedys, the expert determines the letters are examples of auto-pen signatures and not personally signed by the Kennedys themselves. Cue the guy going into [[BerserkButton full blown]] UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheory mode over how insulting elected officials are in doing this sort of method, and how if you can't trust what the elected officials are signing, what else could be going on?

* MaleGaze: The brief montage of customers perusing the shop that is shown between scenes often shows pretty female customers. Ones that are particularly [[BuxomIsBetter buxom]] and/or wearing clothes with low necklines usually have the camera aiming right at their assets.

* CrisisCrossover: "The Pick, The Pawn and The Polish", an event wherein Rick asks the ''Series/AmericanPickers'' to find an item which will then be fixed up by [[NamesTheSame Rick]] on the ''Pawn Stars'' SpinOff ''Series/AmericanRestoration''.

** Rick is a VERY good shot. He placed five shots within a target with an over one hundred year old gun while the other guys failed to place more than three with [[ATeamFiring thirty through FIFTY shots with modern firearms]], hit a silver dollar from 50 meters, and hit 7 clay pigeons in a row while everybody else only managed to hit once.

*** One guy brought in an old book, so Rick brings in Rebecca, his rare book expert. The first thing she says is the perfectly reasonable "Well, the first thing, the book has been rebound (had a new cover put on) that's going to affect the value". She doesn't even finish her sentence before the idiot cuts in "Well, that's ''your'' opinion." Cue the music stopping dead, Rebecca looking at him with her best "Are you kidding me?" face, and Rick looking like he wants to smack the guy. Rebecca even scolds him: "I'm an appraiser, so yes, you're brining me in for my opinion." Later, when Rick makes an offer that's lower than the guy wants, Rick asks "Would you just pull out $8400 for a book?" the guy responds "I would if it was a first edition Nintendo Power!" totally without irony.

** One of the items the shop gets is a gun shaped like a key. It worked great as a key, but not so great as a gun. Another item is a gun ''[[UpToEleven Desk]]''. Also, for a very literal case of BlingBlingBang, a Gun ''Ring''.