I brought you one of the most positive and uplifting
books I've ever brought you.
OK.
"The Dance of Death."
It's a book from 1547.
It is really cool.
This is basically a bunch of pictures
of death coming to call.
Back in the 1500s, if you lived to like 50 years old,
you're ancient.
[laughs]
I came into the pawn shop again
to see Rick to sell my copy of the famous "The Dance
of Death."
It's magnificent in the way that the images and the text
sit on the printed page.
I mean, it's a book from 1547.
For a book as beautiful as this, I
think collectors from all walks of life
are going to be interested.
Ah, this is pretty amazing.
It's all woodblock prints, right?
Yeah.
It's illustrated by a wood blocks.
It's actually done by Hans Holbein.
He was one of the most famous artists of the Renaissance.
He was the court painter to Henry VIII.
It's a very interesting work.
Kind of grew out of the Black Plague from the 14th century.
How much do you want?
Well, for "The Dance of Death" I
don't want to kill you over the price,
but I'm looking for $10,000 for it.
$10,000.
You know what I do when you come in.
I'm going to call up Rebecca and have her come down.
Oh, yeah. Of course.
Let me get her down here and see what she has to say.
Yeah.
Have her look at it. - OK.
All right. Be right back.
Thank you so much.
I'm really excited that Rick is going to show Rebecca.
She's always reminding me about condition.
And this time I brought her a beautiful book
in beautiful condition.
And she's going to be really excited to see it.
I hate to do this, but something morbid awaits you.
[laughs]
Ah, yes.
That is the book I told you about.
"The Dance of Death."
Pretty neat, huh?
It's amazing.
It's beautiful.
And, Rick, this is officially my favorite book
that you've had me look at.
It's very, very interesting.
And I know a little bit about it.
Well, this comes out of the 14th century in particular.
Really bad century for humanity, at least for Europe.
I mean, not only the Black Death, but famine.
And, as a result, you get this culture that starts looking
at their mortality differently.
Death is everywhere.
We're not getting away from it.
But on the other hand, while we're alive,
we still need some amusement.
We need to enjoy ourselves.
And "The Dance of Death" kind of rides that line.
Some of these scenes are kind of funny, too.
Look, Rick, I found you.
[laughs]
Look.
See the merchant who is all upset
that death's taking his money? - Yes.
Yes. That would upset me.
[laughs]
I love this book.
It is one of the most important works in the history
of book illustration.
The images in here are timeless.
They're beautiful.
And they speak to the human condition.
I have a few questions.
It's been rebound.
Yeah.
But, obviously, it's rebound very well.
It is.
And the original cover would have probably
been wasted anyway, right? - Yes.
Ideally, you would love to have it in a contemporary binding.
But whoever bound it, they spent money on the binding
and I wouldn't consider that a deal breaker.
- OK. - OK?
So what do you think it's worth?
OK.
The early 16th century, there are a number of editions.
So this isn't technically the first edition.
That said, today, these are really hard to come by.
Yeah.
I think that--
I think you could get up to 16,000 for this.
Cool.
You could maybe even get more, honestly.
OK.
Impressive price.
I like that.
I get visitation rights?
You have visitation rights.
OK.
If I buy it.
OK.
[laughs]
I really hope Rick buys this.
And, honestly, I don't care if it's at a good price.
He should just buy it.
And then I'll have to figure out some way to get it from him.
So would you take $9,000 for it?
Look, I'm not a person to haggle, really.
We do a lot of deals.
But I love this book.
This is really one of the finest series
of Renaissance illustrations.
Let's just go down the middle.
To 92?
Don't bury me.
[laughs]
95 down the middle.
It's a fair price.
If Rebecca is that enthusiastic about this book,
I can guarantee you're going to find people who are even
more enthusiastic about it.
I have bought a lot of books off you
and I have made money on every one.
So you got a deal, bud. - Done.
- OK. - $9,500 for the book.
It's really close to what I asked for.
I'm going to take this $9,500 and
instead of focusing on death, I'm
going to be celebrating life.