Rick Harrison SHOCKED After Seeing This Rare Gold Coin Collection!
Rick Harrison thought he’d seen everything—until a man walked into his shop with coins so rare, so tied to the very beginning of America, that even he stood frozen. These were fragments of forgotten history—worth more than most homes, and heavy with stories no textbook could ever tell. One wrong decision, and he could lose everything. This is the true story of how two coins nearly cracked the walls of the world’s most famous pawn shop.
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00:00So I'm at $16,000. It's worth $35,000 to $40,000. I think I did all right.
00:03But it's not for sale. I'm just putting it in the case.
00:06What do you mean it's not for sale?
00:08Not for sale.
00:09Rick Harrison thought he'd seen everything until a man walked into a shop with coins so rare,
00:15so tied to the very beginning of America, that even he stood frozen.
00:19These were fragments of forgotten history, worth more than most homes,
00:23and heavy with stories no textbook could ever tell.
00:26One wrong decision and he could lose everything.
00:29This is the true story of how two coins nearly cracked the walls of the world's most famous pawn shop,
00:35the coins that shook the shop.
00:37Rick Harrison has seen it all, or so he thought.
00:40But when a man walked into the gold and silver pawn shop carrying two gleaming coins
00:44wrapped in historical thunder, the room suddenly felt smaller, heavier.
00:49Not because of their size, but because of what they meant.
00:52These weren't just coins. They were time machines.
00:55And one reaction made one thing clear.
00:57Even legends can still be stunned.
01:00Before we dig any deeper, it's clear that what was uncovered goes far beyond rare coins,
01:06and this won't be the only thing that will leave you speechless.
01:09The first coin was the 1792 half-disma, a slice of metal that practically breathed with the birth of a nation.
01:17This wasn't just another relic from early American currency, it was the starting point.
01:22The very first official U.S. coin ever struck.
01:26The type of coin that could have sat in George Washington's pocket, literally.
01:30In fact, rumor has it that Martha Washington's silverware was melted down to help make it.
01:36Think about that.
01:37A first lady's forks and knives becoming the first currency of a newborn republic.
01:42When these 1792 half-dismes were being made, Thomas Jefferson actually bought $75 worth, which is about 1,500 of these, and he spent these on the way back to Monticello.
01:51Whether or not it's true almost doesn't matter.
01:54The story is baked into the metal.
01:56It's history you can hold, and someone did.
02:00The second coin was even more poetic, the Libertas Americana.
02:05Commissioned in France, shaped by the hands of Benjamin Franklin himself, and struck in 1781.
02:13A political statement as much as a coin.
02:15A roaring lion representing Britain, a crying baby symbolizing the vulnerable United States, and a strong woman, France, shielding that baby from the beast.
02:26This wasn't a coin made for commerce.
02:29It was propaganda.
02:30It was pride.
02:31It was proof that alliances weren't just ink on paper, but metal in hand.
02:36The shop's owner, who's made a career from separating hype from substance, wasn't just intrigued.
02:42He was taken aback.
02:43This wasn't some eBay find or garage sale score.
02:47This was rare American treasure, and the man selling them wanted a small fortune, $800,000 for the pair.
02:55Now pause and let that number settle in.
02:58$800,000.
02:59That's not pocket change.
03:01That's mansion money.
03:02It's the kind of figure that makes even seasoned buyers break a sweat, especially in a world where counterfeits and fakes float around like air.
03:10So the shop owner did what he always does when something smells too good, or too historic to be true.
03:17This is the Libertas Americana.
03:21This is absolutely great.
03:22He called an expert.
03:24Enter the coin appraiser, a man who looked like he hadn't blinked since the Nixon era.
03:29He examined the half-dismé with near religious focus.
03:32He traced the Libertas Americana like it was the Rosetta Stone, and then he gave what was needed, confirmation.
03:39Both were authentic, certified, graded, real, not just real, relevant.
03:45For the half-dismé, the appraiser estimated a market value in the range of $500,000 to $600,000, depending on the buyer.
03:53As for the Libertas, around $200,000.
03:57The seller's ask wasn't far off.
04:00That didn't make it easier.
04:01Because here's the thing most people don't realize about Rick Harrison.
04:05He's not just some guy tossing stacks of cash around for the cameras.
04:09Every big buy is a gamble.
04:10Tying up nearly a million dollars in two coins is like walking a tightrope with a blindfold and no safety net.
04:17If they don't sell, he's not just out of money, he's out of business.
04:21So the decision was made like any smart gambler would.
04:24The riskiest bet was left behind.
04:26The half-dismé, though jaw-dropping, was just too big a bite.
04:30But the Libertas Americana?
04:31That was different.
04:33There were buyers.
04:34There was history.
04:35There was leverage.
04:36An offer was made.
04:38$140,000.
04:39The seller pushed back.
04:42He wanted $180,000.
04:43The counteroffer held firm.
04:45$150,000 was as high as it would go.
04:47It was tense.
04:48But then it happened.
04:50The seller caved.
04:51Deal.
04:52They shook on it.
04:53One coin stayed.
04:55One walked.
04:56And the buyer walked away with what might be one of the most symbolic coins in American history.
05:01Paying less than market price and holding a future payday in his palm.
05:05But just when it seemed the shop could breathe again, the doors opened.
05:09And a new shock walked in.
05:12This time it was a coin from 1797.
05:15A United States half dollar.
05:17But not just any half dollar.
05:19This one was dripping with rarity.
05:21Only a few hundred known to exist.
05:23I've wanted suckered treasure.
05:25And this is the mother loan.
05:27I mean, I've had a few individual coins come in, but nothing like this.
05:31The shop owner stared at it like he was watching history pulse under a microscope.
05:36The eagle on the back looked awkward.
05:39Almost cartoonish.
05:40It was from a time before the Mint figured out how to make their national bird look majestic.
05:45The auction that changed everything.
05:48Rick Harrison was still catching his breath from back-to-back rare coin acquisitions when the next blow landed.
05:55But this wasn't just another seller walking in.
05:58This was a relic storm packaged in a clump of ancient silver straight out of the ocean and into the shop.
06:04And it didn't walk.
06:06It crashed.
06:07A collector arrived carrying what looked like a twisted lump of metal.
06:11But it wasn't junk.
06:12It was treasure.
06:13Literally.
06:14These were silver rupees from the early 18th century pulled from a shipwreck known as the Taj Mahal treasure.
06:21Not some poetic nickname, but a true link to the legacy of the Mughal dynasty in India.
06:26These coins were minted in 1702 by Muhyiddin Muhammad Al-Rangzeb Alamgir, son of the man who built the Taj Mahal.
06:35Now, think about that.
06:37Coins created by an emperor lost in a typhoon discovered centuries later by legendary writer-diver Arthur C. Clarke
06:45and now sitting in a pawn shop glowing like a history book on fire.
06:49But this wasn't just treasure.
06:51It was authenticated, documented, and sealed with Clarke's own signature.
06:56The seller had done a documentary with Clarke in the early 90s.
06:59The coins were real.
07:01Their history was real.
07:02And the price?
07:04$700,000.
07:05The shop owner's heart skipped.
07:08His brain lit up.
07:09His instincts shouted,
07:10This is the find of a lifetime.
07:13But then his business mind kicked in.
07:15Because here's the catch.
07:17High-end treasure like this doesn't sell overnight.
07:20It takes time.
07:21Sometimes years.
07:22And time is money.
07:24Money you can't use if it's locked up in a glittering silver clump.
07:27The dilemma was brutally clear.
07:29Buy the treasure and risk tying up three quarters of a million dollars or let it go and possibly miss out on one of the greatest scores of his career.
07:39He made the call that most wouldn't.
07:41He passed and you could see the pain in his face as he did it.
07:44He wanted it.
07:45Bad.
07:46But one wrong move and that treasure wouldn't just sink again.
07:49It'd drag his entire business down with it.
07:51The heartbreak didn't stop there.
07:53Soon after, a package arrived.
07:56At first glance, it looked like fan mail or some basic mail order delivery.
08:00But the name on the label read Richard Harrison.
08:02And inside was no ordinary delivery.
08:05It was a coin.
08:06A coin with myth stamped into its core.
08:09The 1879 Stella.
08:11For collectors, this is the $4 gold piece that dreams are made of.
08:15Never released to the public.
08:17Struck as a test for a global currency concept that never materialized.
08:22Only around 400 ever made.
08:24Each one handed out to congressmen to test support for the idea.
08:28They voted no.
08:29The project died.
08:31But the coins, those rare coins, survived.
08:34And this one?
08:35This one had history etched into every dent and surface.
08:39A little worn, yes.
08:40But that wear made it more desirable.
08:42It wasn't some untouched museum piece.
08:45It was a coin that lived.
08:48A video call was made to the go-to coin dealer, Jeff.
08:51The connection was smooth.
08:53The pitch smoother.
08:54Jeff explained that most Stellas in pristine condition start north of $200,000.
09:00But this one?
09:01More affordable.
09:02Just $95,000.
09:04A counter was offered.
09:05$92,000.
09:06Jeff agreed.
09:08Just like that, another historic coin was added.
09:11Another heavy hitter.
09:12And with each acquisition, the stakes rose higher.
09:15Every coin was another gamble.
09:18Another bet that the buyers would be just as interested and just as ready to pay top dollar.
09:24But before paperwork could even be finished, someone else walked in.
09:28A new face.
09:29A new tail.
09:30A new test.
09:31This time, it was a coin from the Spanish Empire.
09:34An 8 Escudo gold coin from Lima, Peru.
09:37Minted with blood, sweat, and conquest.
09:40These coins weren't just hard to find.
09:42They were brutal to make.
09:44Mined by slaves in horrific conditions.
09:46Smelted in hellish furnaces.
09:48And stamped by a monarchy obsessed with wealth.
09:51These weren't just coins.
09:53They were relics of cruelty.
09:55Currency forged in pain.
09:56The flawlessness was instantly spotted.
10:00Too flawless.
10:01Counterfeits were common.
10:03And this one looked too good to be true.
10:05So, as always, an expert was called in.
10:08Carl, a Spanish colonial coin guru, showed up and started inspecting.
10:12Every symbol, every marking, every scratch was scrutinized.
10:16And then came the verdict.
10:17It was real.
10:18Genuine.
10:20Authenticated.
10:21And worth around $18,000.
10:23The seller, he had no clue what he had.
10:26He walked in hoping for two grand.
10:29An offer of ten was made.
10:30The seller pushed.
10:32Eleven was his minimum.
10:33The shop owner sighed, hesitated, and then gave in.
10:37$11,000 exchanged hands for a piece of Latin American history.
10:41And now yet another thread in the global tapestry of rare coins was secured.
10:46But just when the waves seemed to settle, another storm broke.
10:50The $50 Gamble.
10:51After passing on one of the rarest shipwreck treasures and narrowly dodging a half-million-dollar counterfeit,
10:57Rick Harrison thought he might have a moment to regroup.
11:00He didn't.
11:01Because sometimes the rarest pieces don't come in with a spotlight.
11:05Sometimes they just show up in the mail.
11:07He was attending one of the biggest coin auctions of the year down in Florida.
11:11These events weren't just a marketplace.
11:13They were battlegrounds.
11:14High rollers, dealers, collectors, and investors circled like sharks, ready to pounce the moment a rare specimen appeared.
11:22But he wasn't there for fun.
11:23He was hunting a very specific beast.
11:26A 1915 Pan Pacific $50 gold piece.
11:30This wasn't your average coin.
11:31It was thick, heavy, and shaped like an octagon, an oddity among U.S. currency.
11:37In 1915, the Panama Pacific International Exposition was held in San Francisco to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal.
11:45As part of the celebration, the U.S. Mint released a special line of commemorative coins.
11:50This one, the $50 gold piece, was the crown jewel.
11:54Big, rare, expensive.
11:57A customer back in Vegas was waiting for one.
12:00A serious collector with serious money.
12:02So this wasn't just about picking up another cool coin.
12:06This was a precision mission.
12:08Buy low, sell high, flip fast, no risk, no emotion.
12:12He scoped out two sellers.
12:14The first had a near-perfect specimen.
12:16Beautiful condition, crisp edges, and all the gleam of a century-old golden relic.
12:21The seller wanted $70,000.
12:24He sighed.
12:25The client was willing to pay exactly that amount.
12:28No wiggle room.
12:29No margin for profit.
12:31If the purchase went through at $70,000, it was a break-even.
12:34Best case scenario.
12:36So he walked.
12:37The second seller had a similar coin.
12:39Same year, same design.
12:41But this one had a catch.
12:43It had been improperly cleaned.
12:45For collectors, that's a red flag.
12:48Cleaning a coin the wrong way doesn't make it shiny.
12:51It makes it suspicious.
12:53The value drops.
12:54The trust drops.
12:56The price?
12:57$48,000?
12:58He stared at it.
13:00It was a bargain, but the client back home was picky.
13:03Obsessive.
13:04The type who'd spot one tiny imperfection and walk away.
13:07And in this business, when one buyer backs out, you might wait years for another.
13:11So he passed again, and circled back to the original seller.
13:15This time, he didn't play coy.
13:17He didn't try to act casual.
13:20He came in with an offer.
13:21$66,000.
13:23A reasonable drop.
13:24Enough to carve a sliver of profit without insulting the value.
13:29The seller bit back.
13:30$67,500.
13:31No lower.
13:33There was a pause.
13:34A long pause.
13:36This wasn't some low-stakes haggling over a $20 item.
13:39This was serious wait.
13:41Everything was calculated in his head.
13:43The buyer back home.
13:45The time he'd need to ship.
13:46The chance of it falling through.
13:48And then he nodded.
13:50Deal.
13:51Just like that, he made $2,500.
13:54Not a windfall, but in the coin world, that was a clean hit.
13:57The customer would get what he wanted, the seller made his price, and the buyer walked
14:02out with more money than he walked in with.
14:04Mission complete.
14:06But he didn't head straight back to Vegas.
14:08Not yet.
14:09The auction still had a few hidden gems, and one of them might just blow the roof off the
14:14entire business.
14:15And then came the next shock.
14:17It wasn't an old Spanish gold coin.
14:19It wasn't a shipwreck relic or a $4 Stella.
14:22It was something even simpler.
14:24A cent.
14:25Or rather, what someone thought was a cent.
14:28A seller brought in what he believed was a 1791 American penny.
14:33Correction came immediately.
14:35The United States never made pennies.
14:37That was British currency.
14:38What Americans made were cents.
14:41But even that didn't tell the whole story.
14:43But no matter how many coins he bought or deals he struck, there was always one truth
14:48that hung over every transaction like a shadow.
14:50The coin that nearly broke him.
14:54For all the rare coins that had passed through Rick Harrison's hands, some he bought, some
14:58he passed on, nothing prepared him for what came next.
15:01This wasn't a surprise package or a planned auction.
15:05This was something different.
15:06Something with weight.
15:08Not just physical, but emotional.
15:10Something that whispered risk in his ear while flashing gold in his face.
15:14The coin was an 1879 Stella, but not the same one Rick had seen before.
15:19This was a second piece.
15:21A new example.
15:23The real deal.
15:24Another $4 gold coin with a checkered backstory and limited numbers.
15:29Most of them had been handled gently, tucked away in velvet-lined drawers and vaults.
15:33But this one came through the front door of the shop like it had something to prove.
15:38Rick's eyes locked onto it instantly.
15:40The star on the back.
15:42The Latin inscriptions.
15:43The unique heft that only a true Stella possessed.
15:47He wasn't alone in his reaction.
15:49Even his usually unfazed staff went silent.
15:53The seller didn't come with bravado.
15:55He didn't boast.
15:56He didn't try to pitch it.
15:57He simply laid the coin down and waited.
16:00Rick picked it up like it might crumble in his hands.
16:03He studied every angle.
16:05Every ridge.
16:06Every imperfection.
16:07The coin was real.
16:10But it wasn't in perfect shape.
16:11Not bad.
16:12Not damaged.
16:13But lived in.
16:14A survivor.
16:16The seller wanted $100,000.
16:18Rick didn't flinch.
16:19He'd paid $92,000 for the last one.
16:21He knew the value.
16:23But what he didn't know, what nobody knew, was just how much demand there really was.
16:28The market was shifting.
16:30Coin collectors were growing hungrier.
16:32More aggressive.
16:34But also more cautious.
16:35One wrong move and a coin could sit for years, draining cash and space.
16:40So Rick played the game.
16:42Offered $95,000.
16:43The seller nodded.
16:45No fight.
16:45No struggle.
16:46That was it.
16:47The deal was done.
16:49It should have been a clean win.
16:51But something didn't sit right.
16:53Rick knew the business well enough to recognize the signs.
16:56A seller who moves too easily either doesn't know what they have or knows something you don't.
17:02He started digging.
17:03It wasn't the coin.
17:05That checked out.
17:06The grading.
17:07The weight.
17:08The origin.
17:09All solid.
17:10What wasn't solid was the market.
17:12Turns out another Stella, same year, same grading, had recently failed to sell at auction.
17:17It had sat for weeks, ignored, priced lower than Rick had just paid.
17:21And that meant one thing.
17:23Trouble.
17:24Because if Rick couldn't sell this coin quickly, he'd be stuck holding the bag.
17:28Again.
17:29This wasn't a slow burn like art or antiques.
17:32This was high pressure, high risk flipping.
17:35Every day the coin sat unsold, the odds of profit slipped lower.
17:39But Rick didn't panic.
17:40He pivoted.
17:42He started calling his top buyers, private collectors, historical coin enthusiasts.
17:47Anyone who'd shown interest in this type of rare U.S. gold.
17:50And slowly, the tide began to shift.
17:53One client showed strong interest.
17:55Another asked to fly in.
17:57Within a week, Rick had three potential buyers.
18:00He set the price at $120,000.
18:02Left a little room for negotiation.
18:05And waited.
18:06But then, just as things looked promising, a storm hit.
18:10Not a literal one.
18:11A digital one.
18:13News leaked online about a batch of forged Stellar replicas circulating on the collector forums.
18:18Not perfect fakes, but close enough to shake confidence in the market.
18:21Collectors started pulling back.
18:23Offers dried up.
18:25Messages stopped.
18:26Rick felt the heat.
18:27The clock ticking.
18:28That Stella in his vault wasn't just gold anymore.
18:31It was a liability.
18:33One that could tip the scales of his entire investment season.
18:37He faced a choice.
18:38Sit and hope.
18:39Or cut losses and move fast.
18:42He chose the latter.
18:43He called the most interested buyer someone who had made an early offer of $110,000.
18:49Previously, Rick had held out for more.
18:52Not this time.
18:53He took the deal.
18:54A clean $18,000 profit.
18:57Not life-changing, but enough to keep the wheel turning.
19:00Enough to stay in control.
19:02But even as Rick locked the door on that deal, another one was about to open.
19:06A man came in carrying something Rick had been waiting his whole career to see.
19:10A small, unmarked pouch wrapped in leather.
19:13Inside, wrapped in tissue, was a Spanish colonial coin from the early 1700s.
19:18But this wasn't just any colonial piece.
19:21Are these coins truly national treasures?
19:24Or is Rick Harrison inflating their value to rewrite the collector's market?
19:28Tell us what you think and remember to like and subscribe for more.
19:31For more information,