LEGO collector takes super-rare minifigures to Pawn Stars, asks for $500k

A LEGO collector took two super-rare Star Wars minifigures to the Pawn Stars shop in Las Vegas, hoping to fetch an astonishing $500,000 for the pair.

Samuel – known on Instagram as rarest_lego_minifigures – brought his one-of-a-kind bronze C-3PO and white gold R2-D2 minifigures to the World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas, Nevada, which is home to the hit reality show Pawn Stars. Described by TV Guide as ‘one part Antiques Roadshow, a pinch of LA Ink and a dash of COPS’, the series follows the daily interactions between the store’s family owners and customers who come to pawn prized possessions.

The minifigures Samuel brought in were both given away by the LEGO Group through different promotional channels: Threepio was raffled off at San Diego Comic-Con in 2007, while Artoo was handed to one lucky black VIP card member (obtained by purchasing 75192 Millennium Falcon at release in October 2017). But with no point of comparison on the market, putting a value on them isn’t easy.

Samuel did come to the shop with a guide price in mind, though: $500,000 for the pair, or $250,000 each. After inspecting each minifigure (although thankfully not taking them out of their display cases), Pawn Stars’ Corey Harrison explained: “Any time you get a ‘1 of 1’ item, it’s like putting a price on the Mona Lisa. There’s only one, you can’t really compare it to much.”

To help come up with a fair price for the minifigures, Harrison called in LEGO pop culture artist Brandon Griffith, who verified both of the items as the real deal. He also agreed that they’re an ‘unknown’ when it comes to how much they’re worth – but looked to the similarly rare platinum and silver versions of R2-D2 to provide what he later called a ‘conservative estimate’ of $50,000 for C-3PO and $75,000 for R2-D2.

“I know you kind of shot for the stars at $250,000 apiece, and there’s no saying in an auction that they might [not] go for that,” Harrison told Samuel. “That being said, I’m going to make you one offer, plain and simple: I’ll give you $50,000 for the pair. You walk out of here rich, you don’t have to do any of the hard work I’m going to have to do with it.”

Given that offer was only 10% of the price he was apparently hoping to fetch for the minifigures, you won’t be surprised to learn that Samuel rejected it straight away. He later revealed on Instagram that he ‘never intended to sell’ the minifigures as he knew it would be a ‘low-ball’ offer, but described the entire journey as ‘a truly unique experience’ – the scariest part of which was carrying the minifigures on the plane to Vegas.

He also confirmed that the entire thing was totally scripted. (Just in case that wasn’t obvious.) But hey – it’s still cool to see some super-rare LEGO Star Wars collectibles out in the wild. Click here to check out the clip in full.

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