RICK: Hey, how can I help you? - How are you doing, sir?
Bringing in my armillary sphere.
RICK: Armillary sphere?
GERALD: Yes, sir.
In the back of my brain, I have heard the term,
but I've completely forgot what that means, so.
[laughs]
GERALD: I'm coming in to try to sell my armillary sphere.
It has something to do with astrology, I'm guessing.
The asking price on my sphere is $10,000.
So if I get the whole $10,000 today,
I will probably go buy a new motorcycle.
RICK: It's definitely interesting.
Do you know anything about this?
I've had a little research done on it.
I've heard names of it as a astrological globe.
I've been told it was made in the late 1700, early 1800s.
From what I can understand, half of it
is Islamic and half Arabic, I think.
And the ring, whatever this is, is Greek.
OK.
In the late 1700s, astrology and astronomy were intermingled.
GERALD: OK.
It might be something like that.
Or it could be something to do with navigation.
And things like this, if that's what it is,
were used to travel all over the Mediterranean, the Atlantic,
and everything else.
And they really, really worked.
Even though I don't know exactly what this globe is used for,
it's got me really intrigued.
I've been doing this for years.
And I can tell you, this thing is really old.
I just don't know if it's 100 years old or 300 years old.
So what do you want for it?
I've got a friend of mine that recommended right
around starting price of about $10,000.
Do you mind if I have someone look at it?
I mean, this is, I know a little bit about it, which
means knowing a little bit means you might as well know nothing.
But if there's one guy who will know what this is,
it's this guy.
Do you mind if I call him up and get him down here?
GERALD: That'd be great. - OK.
I'm going to go give him a call.
Just a little warning--
he's a little odd.
Odd is good.
Yeah, just letting you know that.
All right, I'll be right back.
I'm welcoming an expert to come
in and kind of tell me the history of it
and the value of it.
Wow, look at that!
That's a Persian armillary sphere.
This is really cool stuff.
This would be used by a Zoroastrian priest.
The Zoroastrian religion was the original religion of Persia.
And these priests were very highly
involved with star systems.
You know, 2,000 years ago, they were mapping the stars.
RICK: OK, so how old?
PHINEAS KASTLE: What gives it away to me
is this old Persian writing.
You can just see how primitive it is on there.
It's-- that has a tendency to me to say maybe 1780 to, like,
1820.
It's a piece that probably belongs in a museum.
RICK: So what do you think it's worth?
Well, one thing I'd just have to say is that, you know,
I'm not crazy about the base.
It obviously is a replacement, right?
GERALD: Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
PHINEAS KASTLE: And so when you don't have the base on there,
it's not going to be as valuable as it would
if you had the original base.
So I'm going to say, probably in an auction,
for the condition that it's in--
and it's very, very primitive-- somewhere
between 1,800 and 2,000.
RICK: OK.
Thanks, man. You are the best.
Yeah. Oh, you're welcome, my friend.
You're welcome.
If Rick purchased this, I think somewhere in the future,
maybe he could sell it to a museum
and could probably flip it for more money.
RICK: I would give 1,000 bucks for it.
I know I'm knocking an entire zero off,
but you have to look at it from my perspective.
Things like this are really, really cool.
On the other hand is, there's very few people in the world
who know what they are.
Fortunately, I don't think I can actually take that little.
RICK: What is your best price?
GERALD: 15 will cut it.
I can't do it.
GERALD: Can't do it.
RICK: I'll go 1,100 bucks.
1,250, you got a deal.
RICK: 1,100 bucks.
1,100 bucks.
Sold.
Great, man.
This is, um-- actually, it's pretty cool.
I accepted $1,100 because I've been holding
on seven or eight years now.
So I'll take the money.