Has anyone seen the episode of Cajun Pawn stars where a guy brings in what he thought was an authentic Saxon helmet? They end up bringing in their expert who says it is a Norman Helmet worth $15,000. Seemed very unlikely to be authentic to me though...

If it is authentic then their expert's price was a little high.
One sold at auction in 2010 for £6000.
http://www.timelineauctions.com/lot/norman-pe...pair/1159/
Another went for $10,000 in 2012.
http://www.monacoauctions.com/Default.aspx?ta...temID=1040

I have watched and enjoyed a number of these pawn shop series but missed this particular episode. In most of the "call in an expert" situations, the high price is based on what one of these experts had seen in the past. Then, with a disclaimer from the shop that street value might be as low as nil, or minimal.

One episode of note for the Cajun Pawn Shop series was a sword examined by Bruce Brookhart, called in as an expert on swords. I had to cringe a bit in anticipation but he did ok (close enough)..

Cheers

GC

This one appeared to be in better condition than those two. Oddly the guy just walked in holding it in his hands...

A lot of these shows are staged. Random people are asked to act as if they were bringing items to the store which are already in the store's possession or held by another shop. Makes good publicity and brings ratings of course. They probably wouldn't get as many interesting stuff if they simply stuck to reality....

Isn't unlikely to be from a English or other Northern European context?

The first sale Dan shows links to what I read to be a Black Sea find and second, well the quote in the description: " It would be possible to make and add a nasal bar to this but i've left it exactly as i bought it" says something to me.

Calling something Norman Helmet makes for good TV & ups the hoped for resale price, but without provenance you can't say where or when it is from and it becomes just a cool metal hat.

Appeared to be a theatrical piece, just a piece of tin ... maybe Victorian at best. Agree with Max, these things are staged to make them interesting. Must admit that I find some of these "experts" a bit lacking in credibility while others come across quite well.

Dan

The pawn stars shows are completely staged, like most shows in that genre.

I wish to inform you that I have never been on Pawn Stars. I was however in season one and two of Auction Kings. Just wanted to set the record straight.Cheers, Bruce Brookhart