RICK HARRISON: How can I help you?
I have a mastodon tusk I want to sell today.
OK.
Where did you get a mastodon tusk?
About 40 years ago, my great-grandfather was on a dig
in Florida, and he found it.
He was an archaeologist.
RICK HARRISON: OK.
I got to say this is a first.
I've never actually seen anything like this.
I came to the pawn shop today to try to sell what
I think is a mastodon tusk.
It looks very ancient to me.
I just think it's worth something.
I'm gonna try to get $800 today.
I really don't have any use for it.
And I'd really like just to get the money.
Well, it looks like a tusk.
It looks really damn old, I'll tell you that.
I mean, if it was found in North America,
it could be a mastodon tusk or a woolly mammoth.
I think the mastodon tusks were a little bit shorter.
They were in North America for millions of years.
And a lot of people thought that they got
extinct because of the Ice Age.
But they went through hundreds of ice ages.
They most likely got extinct from when man finally
came to the North American continent,
you know, like, 10,000 12,000 years ago.
They hit gold when they saw woolly mammoths,
really, huge slow-moving animal that was easy to hunt.
And they could feed everybody in a tribe instantly.
Pretty soon, they were all gone.
Mastodons and woolly mammoths were, like, really
big elephants and easy to hunt.
Not only did they supply a ton of food,
but the bones, tusks, and fur could
be used for tools, clothing, and all kinds of stuff.
So once humans discovered them, they went extinct really quick.
Normal ivory doesn't look like.
This looks really, really old.
I've never seen these lines going like this way in ivory.
Maybe 10,000 years old.
It's not millions of years old.
I don't think it's that old.
Can I call somebody to check this out?
No, I really don't have time.
I need to get to work, man.
I just need to get this done.
All right.
How much you looking to get out of it?
I'd like to get $800.
I mean, my problem is I don't know exactly what I'm buying.
For all I know, this could be, like,
a really short elephant tusk that's been in a fire.
It gives me the vibe of being really old.
But I don't know.
Will you take $400 for it?
I mean, my problem is I'm taking a big risk.
I don't even know what it is.
I don't know how rare they are.
Let's just get this done at $550.
I'll give you $500 because I don't know what I'm buying.
There's no way I can get $550 for this?
If I knew what I was buying, maybe.
But no, $500's really it.
$500's good.
All right. Let's go up front.
We got to do some paperwork. - All right.
Thanks.
I had to take a risk on this thing or lose it.
It looked really old to me.
Hopefully it'll be worth a lot more than I paid.
- Hey, Rick. - Hey, Thomas.
How's it going?
Going Good.
How've you been?
Good.
Well, what have you got here?
You tell me.
The guys call me down normally when
they have something that is unusual that's been
found in the ground.
I bought this off a guy.
He said it was a mastodon tusk.
I mean, this weird type of grain,
I've really never seen an ivory before.
Well, it's definitely authentic fossil ivory.
OK.
TOM LINDGREN: My estimation is this is probably anywhere
from 1,000 to 10,000 years old.
RICK HARRISON: OK.
So you know this is not modern.
It definitely has age.
So you've got a very nice specimen here.
But it's not an elephant relative at all.
OK.
What is it?
It's a saber tooth tiger.
[laughs] Walrus?
Fossil walrus tusk.
It's the left tusk.
RICK HARRISON: OK.
You can see by the curvature and how it
curves down toward the center.
The other tusk would have come this direction.
RICK HARRISON: OK.
Yeah, and that's what you're seeing along here.
This is typical of what walrus ivory would have versus
elephant ivory or any sort of elephant relatives,
such as mastodon or mammoth.
So how much did you pay for it?
I paid $500 for it.
In this instance, I think you've done all right.
The good news is fossil walrus ivory is sold for carving.
This has a very large market.
And because of the interest in carvable ivory that's legal,
the value on this ivory has gone up to over $400 to $500 a pound
now.
OK.
So this feels like it's in anywhere from 3 to 4 pounds.
So this is going to be $1,200 to $1,500 piece.
All right.
Heck, I did good, you know--
Yeah, congratulations.
--for all my guesswork.
Well, thanks, man.
You're the best.
You're more than welcome.
That was close to being a bust.
But my hunch was right.
This thing is old.
And at least now I know exactly what animal it came from.
I should be able to make some good money on it.