-How's it going?
-Good. How are you? [Corey] What is that? It's actually an old-school
antique police baton. But the plus side is, in case
that's not working for you, it can hold a whole canister
of tear gas. [Corey] Well, that's different.
Is it legal? I believe so. -I'm afraid to touch it.
-Really? I don't even want
my fingerprints on it. -[laughs]
-[siren whoops] [woman]<i> This baton is special
because it has so much history.</i> <i> They used it in all the police
departments.</i> <i> They used 'em in the prisons.</i> <i> I feel an antique collector
would love this piece.</i> I'm selling the baton today
for a thousand dollars. The least I will take is 600. [Corey] This is interesting.
Where'd you get it? At an army surplus store. [Corey] You've never fired it,
have you? -No.
-Okay. Some of these shoot shotgun shells,
some of 'em do tear gas. Are you for sure
this was just for tear gas? [Lisa] I did a little research
on it, but yeah. It's what they used
in the prisons and whatnot. It's pretty cool. [Corey] I'm a little hesitant because the ones that shoot
shotgun shells are illegal and you'd never, ever wanna
get caught with 'em. It's like 20 years in prison.
If it's a tear gas one, people actually collect 'em. But I'm still not sure
those are legal in this state. -Okay.
-[Corey]<i> The baton or billy club</i> <i> has been used by police
since there was police.</i> <i> They made all kinds of
versions of it,</i> some that shoot tear gas,
some that have stun guns <i> at the end of 'em,
but the original baton</i> is tried and true
and always will work. So, if it is legal, what are you looking
to sell it for? Kinda thinking about
a thousand dollars. [Corey] Let me have a friend
come take a look, 'cause I don't even know
if this is legal. Do I look like I'd bring you
something illegal? No. But you might have
bought something that you didn't know
was really, really illegal. So let me make a call and see
if I can get a buddy down here. Okay. <i> Kinda nervous
what the expert's gonna say.</i> I don't understand exactly why
there's so much hesitancy. I'm nervous. -Touch at your own risk.
-[laughing] -[Lisa] He's scared.
-[friend] You're worried? [Corey] It doesn't seem legit. I know they made
two different types. [friend] They did.
I think the concern is some were easily converted
to shoot shotgun shells. This was actually made
by a company called Federal Laboratories.
They were in Pennsylvania. And it's a tear gas billy club,
so it's two weapons at once. So in order to load it,
you break it in half. You'd insert the tear gun
canister on this side, and it would be held in
back here. You'd screw it back on. And now it's loaded
and ready to go with tear gas. Now, it has a safety,
so you could use it as a baton or a billy club,
and this was very popular. They made this for
law enforcement, used in prisons, asylums, even military police. -[Corey] Absolutely.<i>
-This tear gas billy club</i> is historically significant
because it's one of the first examples
of a nonlethal weapon. <i> Tear gas is much friendlier
to people than bullets,</i> <i> so if you can use that
to subdue them</i> <i>and the baton is a last resort,</i> then that's better
than shooting someone. [Corey] I'm really afraid
to even touch this thing. Is it legal? I'm not an attorney.
I have not had one myself -or tried to sell one.
-So just for argument's sake, it could be used
as a shotgun, right? Could you get a shotgun shell
in that and actually fire it? Maybe. And if you can
get off one round, ATF says it's a sawed-off
shotgun, essentially, which is so, so illegal. -[Corey laughs] Yeah.
-I just wouldn't take the risk. -Okay.
-[Alex] Sorry. -I appreciate you coming down.
-You're welcome. -Thank you very much.
-I'm really sorry. -Wipe fingerprints off this...
-Yeah, get mine off too, man. Yeah, unfortunately, it's just-- it's too gray of an area
to deal with. I'm gonna have to pass. All right.
I can debate it till I'm blue, but I understand
your point of view, so... Just don't get pulled over
on the way home. Thank you. <i> I don't wanna be carrying
around something illegal,</i> <i> so I'm gonna take it
to the police,</i> have them evaluate it.
If I find out that it is legal, then I'm gonna bring it back
and try to sell it again. Got some badges, historical,
from Nevada. [Chumlee] Impersonating
an officer is illegal. [owner] Yes, it certainly is. [siren whooping] <i> I'm a retired law enforcement
officer,</i> <i> and I've been collecting
for about 40 years.</i> <i> I specialize in California.</i> <i> These particular badges were
really significant in Las Vegas</i> so they're probably gonna be
worth more money here than in California,
where I collect. [Rick] Do you know
what years these are? [Randy] I can't say exactly.
It could run anywhere from the 1940s
all the way up through the '60s. [Rick] The neat thing is
you got one from the police and one from
the sheriff's department. Most people don't realize,
like, the Strip is not technically in Las Vegas. Literally, the entire Strip
is in the unincorporated part of Clark County, Nevada. In the early 1970s, they merged
them into one organization, which is now the Las Vegas
Metropolitan Police Department. And we have an elected sheriff, so it's sort of a convoluted... -I guess it works. [laughs]
-[Randy] It works. Special Deputy Sheriff. [Randy] That's really
interesting. What I believe this badge is is what was called
a juice badge. [Rick] They would give these to
security guards at the casinos, some of the factories in town. -Exactly.
-They weren't actual cops. They weren't paid by the city
or anything, but they had power
through the sheriff's office. -Right.
-[Rick] If you got caught cheating at cards in a casino, the police didn't show up. Some guys with like bent noses
would come over and, uh, teach you a lesson
in card playing. [laughter] The history of law enforcement
in Las Vegas is pretty interesting. <i> In the 1940s,
they would give out badges</i> <i> to just about anybody
they felt like giving one to--</i> <i> security guards,
political supporters,</i> criminals.
[laughs] So who collects
this kinda stuff, Rick? You know I talk all the time
about it's a really, really, really small market,
some things? This is a pretty big
market. There's a lotta people
that collect vintage badges. It's a big enough market
for them to make some incredible fakes. [dramatic chords] How much you want for 'em? Like to get 850 for the pair. [punchy music plays] My big concerns are
they're fake. -They're definitely not fake.
-I run a pawn shop, and the day I start
trusting my customers is the day I probably
go outta business. I have a friend who knows
everything about these. Do you mind
if I see if he's available? No problem. <i> These badges are no way fake.</i> Anybody that knows anything
about badges is gonna be able to say, without
a doubt, they're authentic. -[friend] What do we got today?
-Las Vegas Police and Clark County Sheriff's
Department. -[friend] Oh, very nice.
-So is that the kind that security guards
at the casinos got? Well, in this case, no, I think
this was more advertising. [dramatic musical sting] G.F. Schenck
was a manufacturer of badges and would do these as promos, as ways of showing
what he could do. But, uh, the Special Deputy badge, these were juice badges. You know, that if you knew
a county commissioner, if you knew the sheriff. You were not a sworn officer. -[Rick] Okay.
-But if you had one of these and you were in a casino, you had some rights
that you would never give to security guards today. These guys were armed,
and if you got out of line, it was probably lucky
if you made it downtown. You know? <i> The Special Deputy badge
did have</i> some police powers, <i> but only within the business
in which they were working.</i> Once you walked outside,
the badge was no good. So what are your concerns
on them? Well, if 80 or 90 percent
of all badges are fake... -[laughs]
-Yeah. Well, they end up looking
at a number of different things. One, you wanna find out,
you know, is the seal right, is the way
it's put together right, are the colors right? It's got the right hallmark
on it. It's probably
made out of brass, and it's been polished, which is
very common at this point. So what do you think, Mark? From the standpoint
of whether this is real... [suspenseful music plays] -I think they're both good.
-Well, thank you for confirming my 40 years of experience
in collecting. [Mark]<i> I am a badge collector
myself.</i> I actually collect
museum guard badges. <i> I like seeing local history
material,</i> and because of
my interest in badges, they were just doubly neat. [Randy] Your expert has
confirmed that they're real. I think 850 is a fair price
to you. [suspenseful music plays] -They're worth that.
-I-I have to resell these. I have to make a little money. Um... 500's a better price. I'm sure that would be better, but it's not better for me. Tell you what. If you make it 700,
I'll let you have it. [Rick] Special Deputy,
really cool, but a lot of them were produced. Let me get 'em for 650. I think 650's more than
a fair price. You know... I'll let you have it
for that price. Okay. Go right over there and
I'll have someone write you up. [Randy]<i> I'm not real thrilled
about taking the 650,</i> but I'd rather sell them
to get more stuff for my California collection. -What can I help you with?
-I've got some, uh, rare whistles here. [Rick] Okay. You been collecting these
for a long time? Yeah. Seriously about 10 years. Now I have about a thousand. What's this one here you got? [toot toot] Sounds like a train. -[toot toot]
-I hear it, Chum. That's definitely
a train whistle. [train whistle toots] [owner]<i> The whistles
I'm bringing in today</i> <i> is a cross section
of very rare whistles.</i> <i> All of them, except one,
predate 1900.</i> <i> I've bought and sold
and traded for years.</i> <i> These are extras.
I'm looking to get 4,500.</i> I'd like to sell the whistles
because I'd like to have some money for a vacation. [Chumlee] This is a cool
collection of whistles. [Rick] They are neat inventions
if you think about it. The most we see whistles now
is probably sports games, but back in the day, they were
really important for police. You could hear them much farther
than someone could yell, and, uh, they used to use these
things on the battlefield. Whistles made of bone, wood,
reeds <i> have been made for thousands
and thousands of years.</i> In the 1800s, whistles started
being used for everything from trains to factories,
to know when you're supposed to go to work
and when you got off. This is cool. [Len] That's a World War I
gunner's whistle for a torpedo boat. [Rick] Okay. Is this a whistle revolver? Uh, no, that's a 1845 whistle. That one's the rarest.
That one's extremely rare. [shrill whistle] I like that one the best so far. So... what do you want
for all of 'em? Well, I'm looking to get
the whole collection sold, so I'm looking for 4,500. And how'd you come up with
that price? Uh, rarity.
They're all extremely rare. [Rick] I mean, they're cool,
I mean, they just, um... I know they fake a lot of
these things nowadays. -Some of these, anyway.
-Uh-huh. So if you don't mind,
I want someone to look at 'em, make sure everything's cool
here. Let me have him get down here,
make sure all these are real, then we'll talk price, okay? Yeah. You bet. [Len]<i> I'm not quite sure
why they're bringing</i> <i> a whistle expert in because,
frankly speaking,</i> there aren't that many experts
in the US, so, uh, I know these whistles
are genuine. -How's it going?
-How you doing? [both] These are the whistles. Well, I hoped that among these
there would be one of the general service
whistles, and there is. I thought I would bring along something that goes along
with that. [Chumlee] Whoa! [Mark] When the first
police force was created, the Bobbies, they started
out carrying a nightstick, and this is one of the original
ones from the 1830s, and they would carry
a wooden clacker. The problem with the wooden
clacker was if somebody took that,
they could hit you with it. That was a bad thing and, um, so by the 1880s, they started
looking at what could we use to replace the clacker? And they actually
ended up with this one, the one that we still think of as the standard Bobby whistle. [Rick] Cool. So what's your concern
on 'em, Rick? Um, my big concern is
are they real? [Mark] Absolutely. In any field, it's amazing
how good the fakes can get. That's nice. An extractor. That's nice. [Chumlee] That's my favorite
one. [Mark] This was a big deal
in the late 19th century. Let's see what we've got here. That's beautiful. [Len] That one's the rarest. [Mark] In looking at all
of these, I don't see anything on them
that has been massively replaced,
they haven't been refinished. So... ...I think all of these
are absolutely original. It's a nice little collection
of early whistles. -Okay, thanks, man.
-Not a problem. -Good to see ya, Chum.
-Yep. Very good to meet you.
Thank you. -[shrill whistle blows]
-Ouch. All of these whistles
are genuine whistles. <i> If Rick can buy these,</i> <i> I think he will do fine
with them.</i> It would be a great talking item for people coming into the shop
saying, "What is that?" [Rick] So they're all legit. What do you want for them? Forty-five hundred. I'm not looking at
quite that high. Okay? Um... I mean, y-you got some good
stuff here, you do. But I have to resell these,
and I don't think I'm gonna get those numbers
out of 'em. So that's why I'm thinking
like 1,200 bucks. Well, take this one
outta the equation, and 1,200 would work. [tense music plays] I'll give you a thousand
without that one. I'm sorry, 1,200's as low
as I can go. That's a killer deal. I'll go 1,100.
That's the best I can do. -Okay.
-Sweet! -Deal.
-Go write him up, and leave them here. [Chumlee]
I'll meet you right up there. Sounds great. <i> I'm taking $1,100 for it.</i> It's close to the 12,
and I do wanna get some money together for
a vacation, so it's reasonable. -[Rick]<i> How's it going?</i>
-[man]<i> All right.</i> I want you guys to take a look
at this thing here. You know, I can neither confirm
nor deny what it is, but I have this old Russian
friend. I brought it to him, I go,
"What can you tell me about this Russian scope?"
and he goes, back in the Cold War era,
it was developed by the Russian government as
a way to detect ghosts, okay? [laughs] You ever seen
a ghost detector? [Chumlee] No. -But I seen a ghost now.
-[man laughs] <i> I've had the scope
for almost a year now,</i> <i> I got it through partial trade
for a restored Coke machine</i> <i> I was selling to somebody.
Figure I'll start at 500 bucks,</i> <i> 'cause I don't know
anything about it.</i> <i> I tried it to see
if it turned off and on,</i> but I don't really wanna use it because I don't really
wanna see any ghosts. [Rick] It's really neat
technology. I don't think...
it was ever designed to be a ghost detector. It's a 1950s Russian
night vision scope, and the United States and
the Russians came up with it. They were rudimentary, at best. If you use the thing, you see it
doesn't really work that great. You have a really,
really distorted picture. You can literally see between
30 and 50 feet away. After that,
you can't see anything. [Scott] Yeah. [Rick]<i> Night vision devices
came out in the 1930s.</i> They really improved it
by the Vietnam War, and today, the stuff is
generations ahead <i> of what this is.</i> I don't think they got the
ghost-hunting thing down yet. [laughs] -Does it work?
-It works. Look through there.
You notice how it's like green. [Rick] There's Chum. This is what you look like
in night vision. This is what I look like
at night, too. [laughs] -How much you want for it?
-Well, I was thinking like 500 bucks. -Where're you at now?
-I'm at 40 bucks. Oh, no, you're kidding.
Forty bucks? I'll be lucky if I can sell it
for 75 bucks. -Really?
-There was tons of this stuff sitting in warehouses
that they didn't use anymore, and that's what this is. So, all this stuff started
showing up in the '90s. Tell you what.
Give me 60 bucks for it. I'm at 45 bucks.
I'm gonna sell this for $75. [Scott] Solid at forty-five. -All right, let's do 45.
-Sweet. All right, man. Enjoy it. -Go write him up, Chum.
-All right. Come on. -Okay.<i>
-I'm taking $45 because</i> <i> I figure, you know, any
money's better than no money.</i> At least I'll go have
lunch or something. [laughs] -Hey, how's it going?
-Good. Got a pie plate badge. It's produced in 1930s
in Chicago. Al Capone's group, in the St. Valentine's Day
Massacre, wore badges
very similar to this. I'm not saying it was this one. [laughter] -[gunfire]
-[siren whooping] [owner]<i> Coming down
to the pawn shop today</i> <i> to sell my pie plate badge.</i> <i> It's just been sticking around
in my desk drawer for years.</i> I'd like to get about $400, but I would take probably
a minimum of 300. Well, it's definitely cool. Where in the world
did you get this? Well, my father gave it to me
in the '60s. I mean, it is neat
if it's 1930s Chicago police because they really
weren't a police force. They were all on
Al Capone's payroll. The federal government
actually considered going in and replacing the police
department in Chicago. In Prohibition-era Chicago,
mobster Al Capone ran the city. <i> This badge is tied to a really
interesting period</i> <i> in Chicago history.</i> If it's real, I'll have
no problem selling it. You would not believe
how many badges are faked,
and you can't blame someone. This little piece of metal
creates a lot of power for a person,
because in 1930s Chicago, the cops could beat the hell
out of you, and you could do nothing. There was 20 fakes
for every real one. -How much were you lookin' for?
-I was hoping to get around three for it. Let me get someone here to
take a look, if you don't mind. I wanna make sure it's real,
everything's legit, and I got one guy who knows
everything about these. That would be good.
Very good. <i> I'm happy to have
an expert come in</i> because I'm certain it's gonna
be found to be authentic. -Hey, Rick.
-Hey, Mark, how's it going? I'm the administrator of
the Clark County Museum system. Well, what have we got? The interesting thing about
the pie plate style is they used this for 50 years
in Chicago. [Larry] Isn't it true
that Al Capone used fake badges -similar to this?
-Everybody used fake badges similar to this. Most of the badges that you see
are probably fakes. In terms of this
particular badge... C.H. Hanson is the correct
hallmark on it. It's a good hallmark. Copper numbers--
very common on these. That's the way they made them. The pin is the correct pin. It is... and isn't real. [Rick laughs] Okay. [Mark] The problem is
it's not Chicago PD. This is a badge
that would have been worn by the private security hired by the Armour packing house. Armour was one of the largest
packing houses at the Chicago stockyards. Each of the major packing houses
had their own security force. If you were a security guard, you were a deputy sheriff
at the same time. That gave you a certain level
of police powers, but you only had those powers
within the confines of the business
that you were working for. It's not a particularly
rare badge. Thanks, Mark. So how much do you want
for it now that we found out it's only sort of
a police badge? Um... I think 300 is a fair price -for some collector.
-I'm thinking probably around
a hundred and a quarter. -Ooh.
-It's not actually PD, so... [sighs] Uh, I might take 175 for it. I'll meet you in the middle
at 150. Couldn't go to 160? No. 150 would be tops. That's it. I'm done with it. [lightly edgy music plays] Okay. 150. It's a deal. -Okay. Let's go write it up.
-Thank you. Meet you right over there. [Larry]<i> I was pleased to find
out that it was authentic,</i> <i> and I think $150
was a good offer.</i> I'm happy with that.
I think we both win. -What's going on?
-It's not a bird house. Oh, no, I know
it's not a bird house. [owner] Chicago police
call box. [Corey] Cool. So where'd
you get it at? A friend of mine had a bet
on a game. He lost.
He didn't really have the cash. Here's what I got. I hope he didn't owe ya
a lotta money. -[rotary dial clicking]
-[phone rings] [owner]<i> I decided to come
to the pawn shop today</i> <i> to sell my 1930
Chicago call box.</i> <i> I need the cash for
my own wedding</i> which is coming up
in a couple of days here. [Corey] I mean, just imagine
being in Chicago during the '30s which is like the peak of,
you know, the bootlegging gangster days. And you're a lowly policeman, and Al Capone's guy's
chasing you down. And you actually have to
run down the street, get your keys out,
unlock the box, pick up the phone and,
you know... Oh, [bleep], I dialed the wrong
number--hold on, hold on. It was the only thing
they had, so... -Better than just whistling.
-Yeah. <i> Police call boxes were used
from the late 1800s</i> <i> all the way up to the 1970s</i> <i> until they got phased out
by police radios.</i> This is the kinda thing I can
see somebody getting restored <i> and using as the phone
in their house.</i> It could be a great project. It's in fairly good condition. You know,
they were built strong, 'cause the police didn't want
people breaking into 'em, making phone calls, messing with
the police department. So, I mean, they're built
almost like a safe. Any idea what you want for it? I'll take a thousand, for sure. You're not getting
anywhere close to a thousand. -Not worth that, huh?
-[laughs] Not in the least. [sighs] You're more in the $200 range,
my friend. Chicago's a major city. New York, Boston. Everywhere they had a big city,
they had to have these. So they're not that uncommon. I mean, uh,
from my point of view it has, you know,
some character to it and sorta has an attitude. Could we maybe go 250? I'll tell you what, man.
We'll... we'll do 225. That'll--that'll pay for
the limo. -I guess I can do that.
-All right, man. -Okay. Good.
-Let's go write it up. [Larry]<i> Got 225 in the pocket.
I'm good with that.</i> And, uh, it'll keep myself
and the bride happy for the wedding, so I'm good. -What can I help you with?
-I have here a beautiful piece of American history.
It's a pedal car. It sorta looks like your car
out in the parking lot. [laughter] -[car horn honks]
-[owner]<i> I came to the pawn shop</i> <i> to sell my vintage pedal car.</i> <i> I want to sell it because</i> <i> it's been collecting dust
in my garage.</i> <i> I'm hoping to get around
a thousand dollars.</i> I probably will go down
to as low as maybe 500. -[Rick] Where did you get this?
-[William] A garage sale. Some old gentleman
had had it for years. Pedal cars are really cool.
Some pedal cars are worth tens of thousands of dollars. [William] From what
I've researched, I know the more contemporary
pedal cars are plastic. [Rick] Yeah, they're made
of plastic and they're ugly. -[laughs]
-Well, this is actually, as you can tell,
is made out of metal. [Rick] Yeah. All solid steel. Pedal cars are actually
a good piece of Americana. Made to last forever. [Rick]<i> Steel pedal cars
go all the way back</i> <i> to the 1890s.</i> <i> A lot of craftsmanship went
into making classic models.</i> <i> And if a kid
was lucky enough to have one,</i> it was probably
his favorite toy. I really like the pedal cars. I had a metal fire engine
back in 1969. And most pedal cars,
you can date them just by the design of
the front end of the car. See how this looks like
late '50s, early '60s, -something like that?
-Yeah. What were you looking to get? Thousand dollars. [Rick] Usually, in one this
good a shape from late '40s, even the '50s,
I'd probably pay that. But the problem is... this is from the 2000s. -Um...
-They make these-- They still make these.
It's a company called InStep, and they still make
metal pedal cars. Old pedal cars
are super collectible, <i> and I pay good money
for ones in terrible shape.</i> But unfortunately,
this is just a modern toy that someone did a great job
making it look like a classic. Yeah, these things are like
150 bucks new. -Come on.
-If it didn't say InStep there, if it said Murray or one of the
other old pedal car makers, I woulda jumped
all over this thing because it is in
beautiful shape. -Right.
-But the reason it's in beautiful shape
is it's new. -How much did you pay for it?
-Now that you're telling me this bad news, I'm happy
that I didn't pay too much. I bought it from the gentleman
for $25. I'll give you 50 bucks and give
it to one of my grandkids. [laughter] All right. Gimme 75. I'll give you 60 bucks. All right, 65. [laughing] All right. -Thank you.
-You wanna write him up, Pops? -No.
-Right. You don't do that. [William]<i> Would I be more
careful in the future? Yes.</i> <i> But, really,
what have I Iost today?</i> I'm walking out with
my pockets full, so it's a good day.
