The stars of Hardcore Pawn will tell you that a story comes with every item that passes
through their shop's doors, and they're not kidding.
Only a small fraction of those stories actually makes it on the air, however.
The rest are left on the cutting room floor, to later be dusted off and presented here.
Les Gold once owned Dr. Kevorkian's van
In one of the more morbid transactions in pawn shop entertainment history, American
Jewelry & Loan once purchased Dr. Jack Kevorkian's van, according to the New York Daily News.
Kevorkian performed about 130 assisted suicides in the 1968 Volkswagen Minibus, which Les
Gold bought from a scrapyard in 1997 for $20,000.
Gold then owned the "Deathmobile," as it's known, for almost 20 years, until he sold
it for a $5,000 profit in 2014 because it took up "too much room."
Amazingly, Gold sold the van to another reality TV show star: Zac Bagans from Ghost Adventures.
Spooky coincidence?
Or reality TV synergy?
Seth Gold: Man of the people
In December 2014, Michigan state senators wanted to introduce a bill that allowed pawn
shops to increase the interest they charged on pawned items by 20 percent per month.
While this sounds like something shop owners would support wholeheartedly, Seth Gold of
American Jewelry & Loan actually opposed the measure.
"Our business is predicated on people getting their stuff back, redeeming their merchandise.
In fact, on a national average, 80 to 90 percent of all customers that get loans with us get
their merchandise back.
If you stretch that interest rate and make it higher, well the default rate's gonna explode."
Fortunately for Gold's customers, it seems the bill never actually became a law.
They're patriots
According to Detroit's WDIV news, back in 2012, Les and Seth helped the U.S. Secret
Service nab Kenny "Boom" Smith, who attempted to sell some bogus hundred dollar bills and
a counterfeiting machine to the famous pawn shop.
Even more ridiculous?
Smith signed a waiver to appear on the show.
It's unlikely that Smith has a future in television, except maybe an appearance on COPS.
Ashley Gold Broad runs an honest shop
In an interview with the Las Vegas Sun, Ashley Gold Broad told a story from a few years earlier,
when a woman came into the shop asking $100 for a bag of stones.
Broad looked through the bag and found a Burmese ruby, which a certified gemologist appraised
at $10,000.
Rather than take advantage of her find, Broad did the honest thing and gave the woman ten
grand.
While some would see that as an amazingly kind gesture, Broad insists it's just good
business.
They have celebrity clientele
So American Jewelry & Loan may not have hundreds of celebs stepping through their doors every
day, but the one that can be verified is impressive.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul once visited the store in
search of a gold bar with an inscription reading, "Yeah, B****!"
Of the event, Ashley Gold Broad said, "I'm able to accommodate a lot of people at the
shop, but that one didn't happen."
Sorry, Jesse.
One episode has a tragic postscript
American Jewelry & Loan may not be the safest place to visit, even by pawn shop standards.
Detroit resident David Kapuscinski, who made a memorable appearance on the show in 2013,
was killed two years later in a confrontation with police.
According to reports, Kapuscinski failed to obey verbal orders from officers called to
his apartment during a domestic disturbance, which resulted in repeated tasering.
Kapuscinski's girlfriend claims it was a misunderstanding, and told reporters that the thick-headed bravado
he displayed on the show was just part of a setup for the series.
Why are they always in the same clothes?
Ever wonder why the main cast of the show is often seen wearing the same outfit on air?
Well, according to an April 2016 "AMA" chat with Les and Seth Gold on Reddit, it has less
to do with being clueless to today's trends and more to do with continuity.
Les revealed:
"I have twelve of the white sweaters at least.
We wear the same clothing day to day for continuity purposes on the show."
The same apparently applies to Seth, who he says "only has one outfit, too."
Unscripted
Over the years, many reality TV shows have been accused of or exposed as being fake.
What about Hardcore Pawn?
If Seth is to be believed, the show is 100 percent real, saying during the AMA:
"We're pawnbrokers, not actors.
The truth is, these are real customers.
Also, the stuff you see us buy on the show?
You can see that it's real, too, because we have things you've seen on the show for sale
on our showroom floor."
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