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December 12, 2013

Grant's Gold Watch

In 1857, years before he was a general in the Civil War and long before becoming President, Ulysses S. Grant pawned his gold watch for $22 to buy Christmas gifts for his pregnant wife and their three children.


Read more about this and see a photocopy of the pawn ticket here.

3 comments:

Carolea said...

Valerie and I have lost so much good stuff to pawn shops. sad story.

Mike said...

I was over at my folks one time and Dad asked me if I wanted to go to the pawn shop w/ him. He had some friends there, plus they had a gun repair service. When I said I'd just stay home, he asked me why and I told him that when HE went to pawn shops,he usually was buying something...when I went to one, I was hocking something. So, no...I don't enjoy going to one, bad memories.

I'm not a big fan of Pawn Stars or other similar shows, not even the storage wars ones. (because those are fake) Pawn shops serve a purpose and are a good thing basically, giving out loans to people who wouldn't have any other place to get one, BUT....

It's one thing to loan someone a fair amt. on their possession, but it's def. another thing to gouge. On Pawn Stars, you see a rare time when they give the person more than they were asking, but I honestly think that's just for the cameras. The pawn shops I've dealt with are generous when they give you 10-20% of what they'll eventually sell it for. Now, there's nothing wrong w/ making a profit and sometimes they have to sit on something for quite a while before selling it. I'm trying to be fair with my criticism, BUT....

The rate of interest on a loan is outrageous. I guess it's different in diff. states, but here in Texas they can charge 20%/month. At first glance, that doesn't seem TOO bad: Borrow a hundred bucks on something, pay $120 at the end of the month. BUT....that's 240%/year!!!!! Plus, there's no discount on the max. three month term...borrow a hundred, pay back $160 after ninety days or lose your item. No wonder so many things are lost.

People not only use pawn shops as a last resort, it's their ONLY resort. These payday loan places are, from what I hear(never used one) are nearly as bad.

Plus, I've had a couple of bad experiences w/ a local shop. I hocked my tools once and didn't get them itemized and when I picked them up, I was missing a very nice set of end wrenches, worth several hundred retail, they prob. got $75 and loaned me (within the original loan) two bucks on the percentage of value of the stuff in the loan. I've also borrowed money on DVDs before and had some missing when I got them out of hock...the best ones, of course, blockbuster movies. I'm sure some bastard employee decided they wanted those for their own collection. IF I ever hock a set of something in the future (hope and pray I never have to) I'll itemize the things on my own, attach it to the pawn ticket.

Only ONCE have I ever "got the better" of a deal and THEY were the ones who offered the amount of money, a large enough sum that I pretty much threw away the ticket after getting the "loan"...I knew I'd never go back to get it.

Yes, I too have lost several things I wish I hadn't. When I was griping about their percentage and amt. of profit, it wasn't so much b/c of their gouging, but that they do it to people who almost always desperately need the money and have no alternative other than to take the pittance that's offered.

I made this same argument in a forum once several years ago and the rebuttal was "Well, they charge so much b/c of the times they buy fakes or don't make money." That's a stupid statement...it's THEIR fault if they buy something and lose money, and I shouldn't have to pay for it, but I guess in the shady and unethical world of pawn shops, that's the way it works.

Yes, sad story, Beary. Wish you hadn't lost your stuff,wish I hadn't either. I'm not a fan of pawn shops.

Carolea said...

<3 always. You and Barb are My persons. The ones that would be in jail with Me or help.