RICK: Hey, how's it going?
How you doing?
Um-- what do we have here?
HECTOR: I was hoping you could help me out with that one.
Did you do the amazing restoration on it?
I did not.
[laughter]
RICK: OK.
It looks like 1700s, early 1800s flintlock,
that someone thought it would be a good idea to vomit on.
[laughter]
[distant retching]
HECTOR: I have an old pistol.
I'm not too sure where it's from.
It was passed down from my dad.
I'm not too sure where he got it from.
I'm looking to get $500 for the pistol.
If I'm able to make the sale today,
I'm probably just going to go out
and get myself a new wardrobe.
How much you looking to get out of this thing?
I wanted to see if I could get $500.
Well, here's my problem.
Someone got really stupid with it.
They spray painted, or maybe hand-painted the barrel.
Not only that, they did a really bad job.
The only thing you got going for it--
I can tell, by the wood, that it's old.
HECTOR: OK.
RICK: OK?
Your lock is broken.
Which means, I pull the trigger, this doesn't fly forward
But you know what?
Let me call my buddy in who deals in guns.
And let me see if there's just something he can do with it,
OK?
Give me a few minutes.
I'm gonna give him a call.
HECTOR: All right.
Hey, what's up, Alex?
How you doing, Rick?
No offense, but that is ugly.
[laughter]
So a flintlock pistol.
One good thing is it's got what we would call like,
a grotesque mask on the butt.
That's actually a good sign.
The paint job is terrible.
It's definitely hand-painted.
You can see all of it on the wood here.
The stuff that's gold should be brass.
And I can just see that little bit of brass peeping through.
So that's good.
The stuff that's silver should be steel.
And--
RICK: That's-- that's destroyed.
Yeah.
[alex groans]
ALEX CRANMER: I think probably the mainspring,
that's what would give this tension,
is either gone or broken.
RICK: So is there any collector value for this thing?
ALEX CRANMER: So you can see all this detail
and the inlay in the wood here is actually quite high-quality.
Unfortunately, the paint is so thick on the lock,
that usually these locks would have the gun maker name on it.
And from that, we could immediately tell about when
it was made, where it was made.
But based on some of the styles of it and its length,
I think it's Dutch.
Probably 1720 or 1730.
I think you could probably restore this
to be a pretty valuable gun.
RICK: So how much would you charge me to restore it?
I think it would be about $1,000.
Once it were restored, if I can get it functional,
I think it's at least $3,000.
OK.
All right. Thanks, man.
I'll let you know if I get it.
ALEX CRANMER: Good luck.
RICK: So I will give you 150 bucks
and relieve you of your problem.
[laughs]
Would you do $250?
RICK: I'll give you 200 bucks.
It's risky buying this.
I mean, I--
I don't know what I'm buying.
[laughs]
Um--
[suspenseful music]
Yeah, I'll do the $200.
OK.
All right, sweet.
Just follow me right over there.
We'll do some paperwork.
And I'll pay you.
Maybe I'll take the paint off, and it was owned by Blackbeard.
[register dings]
Hey, what's up man?
How you doing, buddy?
I got a surprise for you.
RICK: It's all done.
ALEX CRANMER: It's done.
RICK: It's pretty looking.
HECTOR: Isn't it nice?
RICK: God, it doesn't even look like the same gun.
ALEX CRANMER: It actually came out better than I
thought it would come out.
RICK: Have you shot it yet?
ALEX CRANMER: I have not.
I've been waiting for you.
Mechanically, which it's functioning
perfectly right now.
Some of the pieces I really like about it,
there's a lot of intricacy with all
of the engraving on the brass.
That grotesque mask came out really well.
RICK: Oh, it did come out amazing.
ALEX CRANMER: Remember Rick, if this fires
correctly, I think you'll get at least $5,000 for it.
RICK: So you shoot it.
And plus I hope it doesn't blow up when you shoot it.
That's what I'm here for, my friend.
Just finding one of these guns in any condition
is incredibly hard to do.
Finding one that you can restore is one in a thousand.
And finding one that we can actually fire
is basically one in a million.
RICK: I got my headphones on, so I can't hear you.
ALEX CRANMER: Yeah!
[laughter]
Oh!
It worked perfectly.
RICK: That was cool.
And it went off first try.
With these old guns, that's like, a 50/50 shot.
ALEX CRANMER: This is 300 years old.
Bang.
You should go to the casino right now.
ALEX CRANMER: Honestly, I really should.
RICK: I guess it was a good buy then.
ALEX CRANMER: It was a great buy, man.