- Hey, how's it going?
CUSTOMER: Hey, pretty good.
How you doing?
Pretty good.
What do we have here?
I have an autographed copy of Richard
Nixon's memoirs, first edition.
RICK: OK.
So where'd you get the book?
CUSTOMER: I got it a garage sale.
I just knew it was valuable.
RICK: You got it for $0.50, didn't you?
Yeah, I did.
[LAUGHING]
I came to the pawn shop to sell my Richard Nixon's
memoirs with his signature.
I would say most of the value of the book
is based on the signature.
I'm hoping to get $2,200 for it.
RICK: I never read his memoirs.
I know a little bit about him.
I know he was raised a Quaker, and he was a good vice
president under Eisenhower.
I think one of his big problems was the fact that he just
assumed he was going to be president after Eisenhower,
and through the course of a lot of things it didn't happen.
It was one of the closest elections in American history.
I think it came down to less than half a million votes.
And the whole Watergate thing, some people
say he really didn't even know about it.
What it was was people from the Republican Party
broke into the Democratic headquarters.
And when he found out about it, he tried to cover things up,
and he shouldn't.
Congress was going to vote to impeach him.
But before they could do that, he resigned.
He repaired his reputation to a degree after a few years.
Had an interesting life.
Did a few bad things.
But then again, I'm sure every president does.
[LAUGHS]
These memoirs were Nixon's attempt to clear his name
and take attention away from the Watergate scandal.
I'm guessing that a signed copy would
be worth some money because presidential stuff usually
does well.
So it's signed by him?
JON: Yeah.
It's actually-- there's a page designed for his signature,
so--
RICK: OK.
You're saying that's his signature in pen.
JON: Right.
RICK: OK.
You a fan of Richard Nixon?
JON: Well, he was kind of a little bit before my time.
But I've been to the Richard Nixon Presidential Library,
so I've showed them this book already.
RICK: OK And what did they have to say about it?
About five years ago they said it was worth at least $2,500,
and they think the signature is real.
That is absolutely amazing how they can appraise it for $2,500
and "we think it's real."
[LAUGHS] So how much do you want for it?
I'm going to ask for $2,200.
All right, just so you know, when
you go to a library and stuff like that,
you're dealing with people who really
don't buy and sell stuff.
You're dealing with people who put stuff on display,
and what something is worth is very subjective.
I'm going to get a friend down here.
I'm going to have her take a look at it.
She will give us a nonbiased opinion.
Hang out.
Maybe buy something.
Figure out where you're going to spend all that money.
JON: OK. I'll just look around.
The upside of an expert coming in
is that they verify that the signature is real.
RICK: Well, this is it, the memoirs of Tricky Dick.
[LAUGHS] It's signed.
I'm assuming this was one of those limited editions
where he signed them all.
EXPERT: Yes.
So this is an Easton Press limited edition.
They have a whole series of presidents.
They're signed.
This was really controversial when it first came out.
He made a deal with an advance for $2.5 million.
This is in the 1970s.
That's a lot of money.
And people were infuriated by this idea
that he would make a ton of money
after he had just resigned for not being a crook.
OK?
RICK: [LAUGHS]
So even before the book first comes out,
there are whole committees saying, boycott Nixon's memoirs
and don't buy books by crooks.
RICK: OK.
Clever, right?
Eh?
I mean, it probably backfired of them
because when everyone's boycotting it,
everyone's talking about the book.
And when everyone talks about the book,
you probably want to read the book
that everyone's talking about.
EXPERT: That is the problem.
Mark Twain's book "Huckleberry Finn"
was banned in his local library, and his reaction to that
was, oh, that'll sell us 20,000 copies for sure.
[LAUGHS]
You'd imagine Nixon's memoir would be a little bit juicier
than most other presidents--
Eisenhower, et cetera-- because there's a lot of drama
going on behind the scenes.
He writes about his resignation.
He writes about the White House tapes.
There are a lot of kind of juicy tidbits in there
people wanted to know.
So the big question, what's it worth?
I mean, it's--
REBECCA: Yes.
So the first edition, which is generally
what collectors want--
a signed first edition goes for about $1,000.
This is from 1988.
The first edition came out in 1978.
This is not a first edition.
But it does have a signature, and the nice thing
about the Easton Press is you don't have to worry
about the authenticity.
If it's signed on this limitation page here,
you're good.
RICK: OK.
REBECCA: So I'm looking more towards around $250.
Oh.
REBECCA: I just crush hopes and dreams.
It's just part of my job.
Sorry.
JON: It's a bummer.
Thank you.
REBECCA: Glad I could help.
Take care.
Thanks.
Mhm.
The Easton Press is genuine leather.
They try to do really nice things.
That said, there are a lot of other fine presses
who have particular attention to detail
that I personally appreciate more.
RICK: So will you take $100 for it?
Would you be willing to go $200?
RICK: Nixon stuff is just tough.
It's like Pete Rose.
I mean, he has the reputation of being tainted.
The price for this stuff goes down.
It is difficult to sell.
I'll tell you what.
If you go maybe $130 out, I'll do $130.
$125.
OK, $125.
OK.
Thanks, man.
Let's go right over there, and we'll write it up.
You know what?
Maybe I'll read it.
Can't be that bad.
JON: I'm really disappointed.
I thought it was worth a lot more than that.
Next time I'm going to bring in my first-edition Donna Summers
book with her signature.