A 2022 TV series, Pawn Stars Do America, tells the story of pawn stars Rick Harrison, Corey Harrison, and Austin “Chumlee” as they journey through America and visit the “most exciting places” in search of relics and collectibles.
In the second episode, “Six Figure Fortune for Trio of Vintage VHS,” a VHS collector visits to check the worth of his three vintage VHS tapes from classic movies like Star Wars, Halloween, and Back To The Future, and most likely trade it if they are well-prized. The seller presents the three vintage VHS tapes to Chum and negotiates for $400,000 for the ’80s classic movies.
‘Star Wars’
The 1982 big box version of Star Wars featured the fifth episode, “A New Hope,” released in the late ’70s. Due to the box office success of the Star Wars franchise, which boasts $9.1 billion per Pawn Stars, they claimed the VHS version of the movie was a rare find. “It’s not often you see VHS from this time period that are still sealed,” Chum noted. “Creme de la creme [of VHS].”
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Also, the seller attests to its rarity by claiming that only five to six copies of the VHS exist. To begin its evaluation, the Pawn Stars sought the help of a VHS grader, Luke, to confirm its authenticity and value. “Everything checks out,” the VHS grader shared. “The watermarks look good, the seals look good.” Luke finally sets the price of the tape at $150,000, and Chum offers the seller $80,000.
For the VHS of the American independent slasher film directed, co-written, and scored by John Carpenter, the seller claims he has the only sealed version of the VHS available. Luke sets the prize for the rare find at $90,000, while Chum offers 60,000 for it.
‘Back to the Future’
The last film in the prized collection was the 1985 American science film fiction Back to the Future. Luke valued it at $75,000, while Chum set the selling price at $50,000. The total amount Chum offered for the VHS copies of the three films was $190,00, which he claimed was a fair price because he couldn’t predict the starting bid at auction despite Luke valuing the prized collection at $315,000. However, the seller rejected Chums’ final offer as he considered it too low.