- Hey, how's it going, man? Good, good. I have something you might
be interested in here. What do you got? I have a really old coin. That is cool, and
that is not a coin. This is a Benjamin
Franklin terracotta plaque. These were really popular in
France back in the late 1700s. It's a coin to me. [laughter] I got this through my
grandfather's estate. It was in a really
nice fancy box, and I figured it's gotta
be worth something. I'm coming down here
looking for $10,000. $10,000 is going to buy
me a lot of textbooks. I'm a broke college kid. It might even pay for some beer. Ben Franklin in
1777 goes to France because we need some money. When this guy
shows up in France, he's hanging out
with French royalty. Everyone wanted
to meet this guy. Everyone wanted
to be around him. People loved him
so much, a company started making these plaques,
and they were hanging them on their wall because
everyone loved him because he was such a rock star. Ben Franklin is arguably the
most loved founding father, but that doesn't mean
everything associated with him is collectible. And even though this
terracotta medallion is really, really
cool, I have no idea what this thing is worth. It's in really,
really good shape. I'm assuming it was
put in this box later, you know, years down the road
and they glued it to the back, so I don't know if that's
going to be a big deal. How much are you looking
to get out of it? I think it's worth $10,000. You know, quite
frankly, I have no idea. I've seen one of
these before, but it's been over 20 years ago,
and to tell you the truth, I can't remember what
it was worth back then. But I know they're worth money. What exactly that
money is, I don't know if it's $500 or $10,000. But I do have a buddy who
lives and breathes this kind of weird stuff, and he'll know. So if you don't mind hanging
out for a little bit, I can get him down here. - I have some time.
- OK. Cool, man. I'll be right back. Let's do it. I'm excited to see
what the expert has to say about my piece
and shed some light on what the value might be. Ben Franklin terracotta
thingy I remember from, like, 20 years ago, but I'm not
exactly sure what I remember. This is fantastic. It is a Ben Franklin terracotta
medal made by an artist named Jean-Baptiste Nini. It's right from the
most important part of the American
Revolution in some sense. 1778, he signed the
agreement with France which turned the tide of the war. So it's an incredible
historical object. Ben Franklin was
quite a celebrity, and he was a natural
subject for an object like this which was intended to
be sold to the general public. What do you think? Does it really hurt the value
the glue on the back of it? Well, it doesn't
actually hurt the value. It's a uniface medallion. What's important is
the front of the piece. OK. So what did these things go for? These are not very
common, and this one's actually in very good shape. You know, they're worth, to a
collector, $1,500 to $2,000, in that range. All right. Yeah. I thought the thing
was worth 10 grand. You know, they were never
worth quite that much, but there was a time that this
might have been worth $5,000. Well, thanks man. I appreciate it. Hey, not a problem. This piece is
actually quite rare. If you wanted to go out and
buy 20 of them in six months, it would be
absolutely impossible. So obviously you're not
going to get $10,000 for it. Make me an offer. I'll give you $1,200 for it. No. I'll take $2,000 for it. No. I'm assuming I'm going
to get that for it. $1,800. No. 1,200 bucks. $1,800. All right, well,
have a nice day. I mean-- You sure you don't want it? I don't want it for that. I mean, you know, you
have to look at my-- I've got a business here. I'll come down. I'll sell it for $1,400
to you right now. Otherwise, I'm leaving with it. You know what? You got a deal. All right. Thanks, man. I'll meet you right over there. I'll have one of
my guys grab it. I'll meet you right over there.
We'll do some paperwork. All right, let's do it. $1,400 I feel is fair. It's going to go towards
my student loans. I need some new tires
for my truck too.
