Pawn Stars: Julius Caesar Silver Roman Coin | History

RICK: How can I help you? Well, I have a coin here. It's a portrait coin of Julius Caesar from the month before he got assassinated. RICK: OK. ILYA: This coin is really interesting. RICK: Yeah, this is cool. Yes. I think I was actually Caesar in a different lifetime. [laughs] ILYA: I'm coming into the shop today because I have a portrait Julius Caesar coin that I want to sell. I believe it's a key piece to any historical coin collection. I'm hoping to sell it for $4,400. But I absolutely love it, so I'm not going to take any lowball offer for it. RICK: Yeah, this is cool. I mean, you have Caesar Dictator. One of the neat things is is where it says Dictator on the front of it-- that's a negative term nowadays. But back then, it wasn't. During times of war, they would assign a person the title Dictator. And a Dictator would do what was necessary to preserve the Republic. After Julius Caesar was assassinated, there was a real power vacuum in Rome. And it wasn't until Octavius that basically straightened everything out. The great thing about this is it's a 2000-year-old coin with Caesar's face on it. And I want it. So are you looking to sell it? ILYA: Yeah. - OK. How much were you looking to get out of it? I want $4,400 please. RICK: OK. There's a million variables, especially with ancient coins. And quite frankly, I don't know enough. I don't know if that's a good price or not. Do you mind if I have someone look at it? Sure. Please. All right. I'll be right back. ILYA: Thank you. I'm really excited that an expert is coming in to attest to its authenticity. RICK: Since the Roman Empire doesn't exist anymore, it's not illegal to fake these coins. And I have to find out if this is the real deal. So I called in Dave. This is the coin. DAVID VAGI: OK. Julius Caesar. Few names in history ring with the familiarity of Julius Caesar. You know, there's Napoleon. You know, a few of the people you can throw in. His murder inspired Shakespeare. - Yeah. DAVID VAGI: I mean, this is a serious bit of history. This particular coin was struck within 30 days prior to Julius Caesar's murder. Many historians believe that the fact that his portrait appeared on a coin was one of the things that led to his murder. RICK: So is it real? Do you mind if I take it out and look at it? Yeah. Sure. Go ahead. Examine it. DAVID VAGI: The strike is perfect. The style is correct. Everything is right. RICK: OK. DAVID VAGI: It's perfectly genuine. All right. So what do you think it's worth? DAVID VAGI: When you get a coin like this, there's no shortage of buyers. When they are in fantastic condition, the very best of these have brought in the neighborhood of $200,000 each. RICK: OK. DAVID VAGI: But there's a good amount of wear. It's circulated. And I think this is worth in the neighborhood of $1,500. RICK: Retail? - Retail. RICK: OK. ILYA: To me, it seems almost ridiculous that somebody would sell it that low, especially when they knew its history. DAVID VAGI: Well, I'm basing it on what I've seen them sell for in auctions in Europe and the United States. But the decision is yours. Thanks for coming in, man. All righty, man. One last question-- where can I get these for such low prices? ILYA: I understand why the seller is not happy with that. You know, the fact is these things are undervalued. And it's probably best that he holds onto it because the bottom line is it's difficult to replace for less than its current market value. RICK: Dave-- he's been in the coin business his entire life. And I'm gonna take his opinion. You know, I'd give you $1,000 for the coin. ILYA: Is this a real offer? Or-- RICK: That's a legitimate offer. Yeah. That's not a legitimate offer. You're just using your position here trying to buy something for below its market value. RICK: The way market value is determined is when two people agree on a price. If you don't like my price, you don't have to take it. - How about $4,000? - No. There's no money to be made. I have final offer for you. $3,500. And I'll take cash, 100 dollar bills. I guess we're not gonna make a deal, man. Your loss, my friend. - Thanks for coming in. - Thank you. Have a nice one. The offer of $1,000 is absolutely ridiculous. I'm going to hold onto the coin, and I'm going to try to sell it to someone else that could actually appreciate its true historical value.

Channel: HISTORY

Views: 865,743

Rating: 4.778574 out of 5

Keywords: history, history channel, history shows, history channel shows, Pawn Stars, Pawn Stars clips, Pawn Stars full episodes, pawn, las vegas, gold & silver pawn shop, gold and silver, pawn shop, rick harrison, corey harrison, Pawn Stars Season 12 Episode 34, Pawn Stars s12 e34, Pawn Stars 12X34, Delphian Course, pair of twins, hopes of splitting, splitting the profit, antique encyclopedia, antique auction, antique dealer, antique equipment, antique art, antique store

Id: BprXM4LGdxk

Length: 5min 0sec (300 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 17 2018