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  • What do you got here?

  • I've got some of these bills from the 19th century.

  • RICK HARRISON: Do you know anything about them?

  • VINCE: I really don't.

  • RICK HARRISON: What you have here is education money.

  • VINCE: To, like, fund education, or?

  • No, it was just to educate people

  • about beautiful works of art.

  • For the time, that was really risqu

  • to put bare breasts on bills.

  • Yeah, I can see.

  • Hm, check that out there.

  • RICK HARRISON: [chuckles]

  • [whistling]

  • VINCE: I decided to come to the pawn shop

  • today to sell some old currency.

  • I'm kind of scared because I'm supposed

  • to be getting married in a month,

  • and I spent $7,500 on this.

  • If I don't get my money back, I'm going

  • to have one pissed-off fiancee.

  • RICK HARRISON: We have a Bolton, inventor of the steamboat.

  • And that's Morse right there.

  • Morse code.

  • And it's one of the few bills where

  • Martha Washington's on it.

  • In 1896, the US government issued silver certificates

  • that were educational notes.

  • The reason they did this is because, if you

  • lived in a rural community, you would never get to see art.

  • There were no nearby museums.

  • So they figured, hey, let's put them on money.

  • So where in the world did you get these?

  • VINCE: I was in an estate sale.

  • I got caught up in this auction, and man, I just really hope

  • I can make something out of it.

  • Do you mind telling me what you paid for them?

  • $7,500.

  • I'm always getting into some type of trouble.

  • Yeah.

  • Happens all the time.

  • RICK HARRISON: This money is just-- it's beautiful.

  • I mean, it's the prettiest paper money

  • the United States ever made.

  • And arguably, some of the prettiest paper money

  • ever made in any country.

  • Is the artwork, you know, have anything

  • to do with the value of it?

  • RICK HARRISON: Well, that's one of the reasons

  • why these are so collectible.

  • But paper money is weird the way it's graded.

  • There's 70 different grades of a piece of paper money.

  • And the grade on these things is so important.

  • The difference between a 50 and a 55

  • is thousands of dollars on a bill like this.

  • Wow.

  • This was worth anywhere from $200 to $25,000.

  • Really?

  • Depending on the grade.

  • RICK HARRISON: Depending on the condition of it.

  • Wow.

  • RICK HARRISON: And when we start talking money like that,

  • I have to have someone look at it.

  • Let me call up a buddy of mine.

  • He knows everything about this stuff,

  • so we can get a better understanding

  • of the grade of them.

  • No problem.

  • It sounds good.

  • RICK HARRISON: This guy is out of pocket

  • $7,500, which makes him either a genius or an idiot.

  • So I'm going to get my buddy Leonard in here

  • to have a closer look, and hopefully,

  • he'll have some good news.

  • These are some important banknotes.

  • These are silver certificates from 1896.

  • This is what we call the educational series.

  • So they all mean something.

  • They all mean something.

  • This one is the $1 note.

  • This is History educating youth.

  • You know, young country.

  • History's going to educate us.

  • On the back, George and Martha.

  • The $2 note, we've got Science, Electricity, and Steam.

  • On the back, we've got Robert Fulton, Samuel Morse.

  • And Science is presenting Electricity and Steam

  • to Commerce and Industry.

  • In this one, we've got Civil War heroes Grant, Sheridan.

  • And this note shows electricity is the dominant force

  • in the universe.

  • This is 1896, they figured that out.

  • VINCE: And I thought this was just a bunch

  • of naked women on a bill.

  • [chuckles]

  • The grading of these notes is what's important

  • as far as their value.

  • Were the notes used?

  • How much were they used?

  • Are they folded?

  • Are they stained?

  • Are they crisp?

  • Are they nice and bright?

  • Here's what we got here.

  • The $1 note, we got a center fold right here.

  • Slight-- it's hard to see, but it's there.

  • This note's worth $700.

  • $2 note's got a horizontal fold, three vertical folds.

  • This note's $2,500.

  • Make you feel a little better?

  • Oh, that's a little better.

  • LEONARD: This note's got a very light center fold.

  • It's the most desirable note of the three.

  • This note is worth, um, $7,500.

  • A little over $10,000 for the lot.

  • Thanks, Leonard.

  • Any time.

  • Take care, buddy.

  • RICK HARRISON: $7,500 turned out to be a decent gamble

  • for this guy, because most notes I've seen

  • like this are beat to hell.

  • They've been circulated.

  • But these are in amazing shape.

  • There's no question I want them.

  • So now I let you know what they're worth,

  • how much you want for them?

  • I'm thinking $10,000.

  • I'm thinking $8,000.

  • I just spent $7,500 on these, and the risk I took

  • is just worth more to me than $500.

  • I'll let you make $1,000 off me and not a dime more.

  • So $8,500?

  • $8,500 is it period.

  • You got to think, man, $1,000 is a good profit

  • on a complete gamble.

  • You know what, for $1,000, all right.

  • $8,500.

  • Corey, you want to write him up?

  • Yeah, let's go do some paperwork.

  • RICK HARRISON: I'm so glad I kept my poker face.

  • When he started to grab them, I thought he was out the door.

What do you got here?

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