- What do we have here? [laughs] You want me to
explain the legal term? OK. An unorthodox taxidermy. Unorthodox taxidermy? Exactly. Dr. Seuss. They're really neat, OK? They really are. Thank you. And this is? Goo-Goo-Eyed
Tasmanian Wolghast. OK. This is a sawfish. I think it'd be really
hard for him to swim though. [laughs] Today I brought it
to the pawnshop my Dr. Seuss unorthodox taxidermy. I got the two
sculptures at gallery in Coronado, California. My husband would bring
home one at a time to save for our retirement. I want to sell these
today because I want to have the money
to go on a dude ranch next summer in Montana. I really like it. This is the mind of Dr. Seuss. [laughs] Dr. Seuss is a huge
part of American culture. He really is. I mean, he changed the way
children's books were done, the way children
read and he turned the whole Dr. Seuss thing
into a really big business. There was tons of
cartoons, tons of books, tons of merchandising. And he came up with that
whole bizarro Dr. Seuss style that I grew up with, and
my kids grew up with. And I even made my kids
green eggs and ham. You don't use old eggs. You just put a bell pepper
in the blender with the eggs. OK.
That's how you did it. You don't use food coloring. [laughs] Dr. Seuss is
one of the biggest names in children's literature. It's actually pretty hard to
believe but his first book was rejected by over
two dozen publishers because today he has
published over 40 books and sold over half
a billion copies. That's a lot of green
eggs and ham, said Sam. [laughs] So how much are you looking
to get out of these? Total of 6,000. 2,700 for this. 3,300 for this.
- OK. I have no idea. [laughs] Can I call someone
to take a look at it? Sure.
That would be fine. I'm going to go
give someone a call. OK.
Thanks. I'm glad he's
calling in an expert because I'm very
confident that these two pieces are worth the
money that I'm asking for. I have no idea
what these are worth, so I called in Chad
to help me out. These are great. This is Theodor Griz-- I can't pronounce it right. Theodor Geisel. Theodor Seuss Geisel. Dr. Seuss. Of course, he was a
doctor in the same way Dr. Dre is a doctor. [laughs] OK. But a very, very creative man. These are really interesting. These were originally sculpted
by Dr. Seuss in the mid '30s. Originally, these horns
and the sawfish bill would have actually
been from an animal. His father was
the superintendent of the Forest Park Zoo in
Springfield, Massachusetts. So he would give Dr. Seuss
the horns and the bills as the animal molted or when
they died of natural causes. And then he would
incorporate those pieces into these sculptures. So that's why he calls
them unorthodox taxidermy. Yeah. He was actually named
by "Look Magazine" right after he created these
as the preeminent authority on unheard of animals. OK. These sculptures are all
hand molded by commissioned artists by the Dr. Seuss group. After that, they're
cast in resin and then approved by the
publisher, Dr. Seuss. OK.
What are they worth? Dr. Seuss' work,
I'm sure as you know, is extremely collectible. So I would put this
one 3,300 to 3,500. OK. And I would put
this one about-- I'd put it right around 2,500. So, together, I'd say
they're worth about $6,000. OK. They're really great. You kept wonderful care of them. - Thank you.
- All right. Thanks, man.
- Yep. Appreciate it. I told you he knows
what he's talking about. [laughs] This is a very
good buy for the shop. Dr. Seuss work is
extremely easy to sell. Everyone knows Dr.
Seuss and most people have some kind of a
significant connection to him. What is the best price
you'll take for these? Well, I know you
need to make a profit. OK. So the minimum I could
take would be 4,500. No. I'll give you 3,500. 3,850? No, I mean, really
3,500 is all of it. I mean, I have expenses. 3,500 is it. - 3,500, I will take it.
- OK. Well, thanks.
- Thank you. Chumlee's going to love this. I've got an employee who's
going to die for this. [laughs]
- OK. Thanks.
