SUMMERSIDE – A Summerside jewelry dealer makes his mark on international television on one of the U.S.-based realty TV shows.
Phillip Sullivan, president of Jewelry Plus, had a dual reason for traveling to Las Vegas in June 2010 – one was for a jewelry buying show and the other was to appear on the hit reality TV show "Pawn Stars."
The show airs on the History Channel and focuses on the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas, owned by Richard Harrison and his son Rick and grandson Corey
Sullivan has purchased an 1880 $2 Newfoundland Gold coin and emailed the shows producers asking if they would be interested in looking at the coin.
“Before I went down I went on their website to look and see where their shop was,” he said. “I’ve watched the show fairly often and on there it says of you’ve got stuff you want to pawn or sell, contact us here. So I emailed them and I think we went down on a Wednesday and they contacted me on Thursday, the producers of the show, and they asked me more about the coin and if I had it with me and asked me if I was available for taping on Saturday morning.”
Sullivan said the actual taping of the show took between 35 and 45 minutes.
“It was kind of neat to see just what goes on behind the scenes,” he said. “We were there on a Saturday morning. There was only Rick there. There wasn’t anybody else who’s on the show that was there and he was coming in specifically to tape my segment and perhaps one or two others that day.”
The negotiations surrounding the coin went as Sullivan had expected.
“Not too bad,” he said. “It’s pretty much what I expected to get for it. I’m a dealer myself and I wasn’t expecting top retail price. So, it was a fair number that we agreed on.”
Sullivan got the coin when it came up in auction at the Waterfront Mall in Summerside.
“Opening bid on it was $1,400,” he said. “The next bid was $1,500 and it was all over.”
Sullivan parlayed that into a $3,100 deal with Rick Harrison. The retail value is around $5,000.
Sullivan he had shopped the coin locally, but had no takers.
“I had showed it to a couple of other dealers around here but the dealers I showed it to already had similar coins in stack and weren’t real keen on buying another one,” he said. “I actually have two more of them.”
Only 2,500 were made.
Sullivan said the show aired in the U.S. a couple of months ago and in Canada on Tuesday night. He said these shows are often repeated and could be on again two or three more times during the week.
Sullivan said "Pawn Stars" has about million viewers in the U.S.
The episode entitled “Wise Guys” Sunday, June 12, at 10:30 a.m. EST, Sunday, June 12, at 5:30 p.m. EST and Monday, Ju;y 13, at 1:30 a.m. EST
