Rick Harrison is an American reality television personality and the owner of the Gold and Silver Pawnshop in Las Vegas, Nevada. The store was originally opened by Harrison and his father in 1989, but he has been the sole owner since Richard “Old Man” Harrison passed away in 2018. Harrison is one of the stars of the reality series “Pawn Stars” on the History channel.
“Pawn Stars” has been on air since 2009, when it was the channel’s highest-rated show and the second-ranked reality show in the U.S. When the show debuted, it starred Harrison, his father, his son Corey “Big Hoss” Harrison, and Austin “Chumlee” Russell. The series showcases the interactions between the staff of the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop and their customers.
The clientele brings in artifacts and other valuable items to be appraised and then sold or pawned. You can see some of the customers try to negotiate or haggle on the value of the items throughout the show. Harrison also takes the time to explain the history of each piece.
In his personal life, Harrison has been married three times and has three sons from his first two marriages. His most recent marriage was in 2013 to Deanna Burditt. Burditt has also been married twice before Harrison and has three daughters of her own. In 2019, Harrison gave a tour of his Las Vegas home after he listed it for $3.9 million. The house showcases some incredible artifacts that he has found over the years. Read on to learn more about Harrison, his Las Vegas home, and how he spends much of the year living off the grid.
Harrison was born in Lexington, North Carolina, on March 22, 1965. He is the third child of Richard “Old Man” Harrison and Joanne Rhue Harrison. His father was in the U.S. Navy prior to owning his pawn business. As a child, Harrison suffered from epileptic seizures that began at the age of eight. This condition would confine him to bed for long periods of time, and this led to Harrison’s lifelong love of reading.
After his father’s passing, Harrison and the entire crew of “Pawn Stars” were devastated. He told Fox News: “I think about him every day. I had a different relationship with him. Most people, when they turn 18, they go off to school, get a job and move out. I worked with my father from the time I was a kid. He stayed in the Navy for years because of me. Otherwise, it would have been really difficult with my medical expenses. But despite my epilepsy, he never treated me differently.”
Harrison speaks highly of his father and credits him for teaching him many valuable lessons throughout his life. “He really changed my perspective on life and how words have meaning. That was one of the greatest life lessons he ever gave me… He was just an amazing individual. He taught that no matter what, you always take care of your kids, your family. If you have kids, you’re a father for the rest of your life. He was an old-school kind of guy that I think we need more of,” said Harrison.
Harrison dropped out of high school in the tenth grade to “pursue his $2,000-a-week business of selling fake Gucci bags,” according to the History channel. The man began working in pawnshops when he was 13 and then saved up enough money to go into business with his father at 23.
When he was 17, Harrison married his high school sweetheart Kim, and the couple had two sons together named Corey and Adam. Unfortunately, they divorced shortly after Adam was born in 1985.
Harrison met his second wife, Tracy, nine months later, and they moved in together after six months and were married by the eighth-month mark of their relationship. Tracy helped take care of Corey and Adam, and she and Harrison had a son together, Jake. Tracy and Harrison were together until their divorce in 2011.
Gold and Silver Pawn Shop
After finally receiving their long-awaited pawn license, the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop opened for business in 1989. Previously, Harrison and his father had opened a store called the Gold and Silver Coin Shop, but they felt opening a pawning business was a natural progression for their establishment.
The star explained how the pawning business works to NPR. Harrison said, “Say you have a wedding band. You bring the wedding band into my store. I offer you $100 and you accept it. I give you the $100, plus a pawn ticket. You have 120 days to come back to my pawn shop and pick up your merchandise and pay me my money back.”
Harrison continued:
“If you come back in 30 days, you give me $115. I hand you the ring back and everything’s good in the world. Now, if you don’t pay me back,” he says, “I end up keeping the merchandise and I put it in my showcase for sale. Nothing goes on your credit report. No one chases you down to break any legs or anything like that. You just simply have lost your merchandise. It’s that simple.”
There are many challenges to owning a pawn business, and one major concern is buying or selling stolen items. Harrison explained:
“Most people don’t realize how regulated the pawn industry is, especially where I’m at in Nevada. When I take something in pawn or I buy something, I just don’t take an ID. I take their driver’s license number, their height, their weight, their eye color, their build. I turn that into the local police department, and then I also turn it into Homeland Security. It’s part of the Patriot Act, and that goes to a central database online across the United States that checks for stolen items.”
Harrison also shared with NPR that he bought a pair of stolen earrings once for $40,000 and then had to return the item to its rightful owner, meaning he was out quite a lot of money. “It’s the cost of doing business. That’s the way I look at it. … And Las Vegas is a crazy town at times. There’s a lot of high-end things I get. So you have to know about … really large diamonds, really expensive watches. … So it’s a lot different than most places,” explained Harrison.
The businessman also said that he has never regretted making, or not making, any deals in the past. Harrison told Fox News:
“Whenever I talk about business to people, I always tell them, ‘If the deal’s not right, the deal’s not right. Just walk away.’ You can’t think later, ‘Maybe I should have bought this or that.’ It’s part of the business. Sometimes you have to be willing to walk away and not risk-taking on a bad deal.”
‘Pawn Stars’
“Pawn Stars” has been on the air for 17 seasons now, with 577 episodes. The show is hugely successful and has fans from all around the world. The staff who work at the pawnshop are now celebrities in their own right. Harrison explained to Fox News why he thinks the show has been so successful:
“I think it’s a lot of things. First off, most reality shows are pretty much scripted. Mine is not. And it’s truly different every week. And people want to learn, but they don’t want to feel like they’re sitting around with a professor. I give all the history lessons and I make learning entertaining on the show.”
With so many years under his belt, Harrison still isn’t tired of making the show. He said he would go on making it “as long as it’s fun and still a blast.”
He added, “One of the greatest things about my show is that it continues to be interesting. It continues to surprise me. We can come across an 1890s personal printing press one day or a Viking bracelet on another day. Maybe 20 years from now I might be too old to continue doing it but right now it brings everything that I love together. The chance to highlight these historical artifacts keeps me going.”
Harrison also mentioned that most of the clients that come into the store and agree to be on the show are not there to pawn. He explained:
“The people pawning goods never want to be on the show, And the reason behind that is because when people are pawning something, they’re getting a loan and have to admit they’re broke. … When people are selling something, it’s a financial transaction and it’s just perceived differently.”
Personal Life
Harrison announced he was engaged to Deanna Burditt in 2012. He gave an interview to People magazine that year and shared that he was thrilled by the engagement, adding, “I’m the happiest guy alive. I’m living the dream.”
Harrison had his own way of proposing to Burditt, who is a legal secretary. “I didn’t really ask her, I told her ‘Girl, I’m marrying you,’ and then I gave her the ring,” he said
The pair seem like a match made in heaven, or maybe Hollywood with their resemblance to a special TV family. “It’s perfect symmetry,” Harrison said. “I’ve got three boys. She’s got three girls. We’re basically the Brady Bunch.”
The couple hired a wedding planner, but Harrison joked that he was stuck with most of the planning duties. “I just had no idea there was so much involved. I just thought you got a cake, had a party, bought a keg,” he said
The wedding took place on July 21, 2013, in Laguna Beach, California. There were 180 guests in attendance, including several of the stars from the show and other History channel crew. People reported that Chumlee was the ring bearer, and other elements of the ceremony could have been considered untraditional. Danny Koker from the reality series “Counting Cars” served as the officiating minister.
Harrison works and lives in Las Vegas for the majority of the year, but he spends a solid five months in the rugged mountains of Oregon. Harrison has a ranch in Oregon where he spends much of his winter enjoying the outdoors and taking a break from the cameras.
He has given his place an incredible makeover. Harrison has turned the ranch into his paradise. This estate is completely powered off-grid through Battle Born Batteries. The company says Harrison has a total of 48 high-powered batteries that help power his ranch, hydroelectric plant, and workshop.
Living in the wilderness is peaceful but comes with its own challenges. Harrison shared that he has to keep a chainsaw in the bed of his truck to handle fallen trees in the road. Having been an off-road enthusiast for much of his life, Harrison shared that there was one truck up to the job – the 2018 Ford F-150 Raptor.
Las Vegas Home
After deciding to sell his home, Harrison opened up his doors for a house tour. “It’s like Rick from ‘Pawn Stars’ so there’s going to be some odd stuff in here. That’s a 200-year-old door, and that’s a 150-year-old door, and that’s an 800-year-old window right there.” He said as he pointed to a 12th-century stained glass window that he bought several years ago from a salvage yard in California for $400 and is worth $35,000.
“The fireplace is painted with automotive paint and so is most of the crown molding and the doors. It’s $500 to $1,500 a gallon, and you can’t get those kinds of colors with regular paint. The automotive paint washes 100 times better, and I have six kids and a bunch of grandkids so we know how that is,” Harrison said.
Renovating their wonderful home became a family affair. “My wife is a great designer, and I can’t sit around and not do anything,” Harrison said. “We did some incredible work on this place.” They even added a lazy river to the pool in the backyard.
Another jaw-dropping change is the flooring in the formal sitting room, which is made of granite that is acid-washed, cut into planks, and laid like a hardwood floor. The flooring is priced at $45,000. “It is a cool effect and if you have a house like this, you need things like that,” Harrison said.
The house is 8,845-square-feet and is located at 2556 Red Arrow Drive in the gated community of Red Rock Estates inside Red Rock Country Club. The home was on the market for $3.9 million in 2019. Harrison lived in the house for three years with his wife, but now that his six children are grown, he no longer needs the space.
Harrison said his family loved their neighborhood and called it “one of the coolest streets in town.” The street is closed off during Halloween, and there are food trucks and a family-friendly atmosphere.
The gated community also has great security. Harrison mentioned that when he left his door open for 15 minutes to take groceries into the house, security had shown up to find out if there were any problems. Harrison also plays golf, so he enjoyed living next to a course. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the business owner said he had bought a new residence in the northwest valley in unincorporated Clark County.
What do you think of the changes Harrison made to his Las Vegas home? Are you surprised he chooses to live off-the-grid for months out of the year? Let us know, and be sure to send this on to your loved ones who watch “Pawn Stars.”
