Pawn Stars Spin the Bottle

Sep 28, 2011

Pawn Stars purchases antique billiard set along with ivory cue balls
On recent episode of Pawn Stars which aired on September 12th, the crew at Pawn Stars negotiated the sale of an antique billiard set, along with three ivory cue balls.
The billiard set was complete minus the cue ball, and featured balls numbered one through 15. The balls were made of clay from the early 20th century, and appeared to a set of Hyatt balls, which were popular as ivory balls went out of fashion, and the game became more available to the lower classes. The other item was a set of three antique ivory cue balls that could have ranged from the late 19th century into the early part of the 20th century.
Until the manufacture of clay billiard balls, the game of pool was usually relegated to the elite who could afford to import ivory balls from the East. Once clay balls came into being, and subsequently bakelite plastic ones, the popularity of the game grew, especially during the roaring 20's.
As Big Hoss and the customer haggled over the final price, they chose to put the agreement in a typical Las Vegas gambit, with the agreed price coming down to a wager over who would receive the final offer. The customer wanted $900, and the pawn shop was stuck on $700 for all the items.
Fortunately, the customer brought with him a 'pill bottle' with 16 'pills' as part of the collection. A pill bottle is a billiard accessory that is used in many different game formats, and to also help randomly select tournament positions on a bracket. There are 16 pills which represent all the numbered balls, and the cue ball, and Big Hoss agreed to have each person pick one pill from the bottle, with the highest number pulled winning the bet on the final price.
The customer drew a 3, and Big Hoss slyly showed a 12, thus buying the billiard collection for $700.00.
There are usually many unique and interesting items that come through the Pawn Stars pawn shop in any given week or episode, and this is one of the first shows to film a customer selling billiard equipment, and antique pool balls.
Pawn Stars can be seen on the History Channel each week on Monday nights.
Courtesy of www.Examiner.com