Originally Posted by MaxPen View Post
Originally Posted by MDawg View Post
One time I was walking by some pawn shop on or around Fremont street and some guy came up to me with some gold jewelry wanting to sell it. He mentioned a price and I told him that if the pawn shop offered him something for the stuff I'd pay him his price, because it was pretty low. We went into the pawn shop and the pawn shop authenticated all the stuff and offered him a certain amount, I gave him a little more right then and there and we were done.

This is as opposed to the guys you see in downtown L.A. trying to sell jewelry on the street invariably that stuff is not precious metal and is worthless.

I've also been approached fresh off the tables by foreign sounding guys trying to sell a watch, and even from a glance I can tell the watch is fake and at best plated if even plated maybe just gold tone. This happens at more like Station Casinos or Palms, not so much on the Strip at the majors.
I find this hard to believe. No one with a storefront is going to act as a verification service for two randoms off the street to do a transaction with each other. Especially a pawn shop. At the very least you would be told to fuck off by the shop owner.
Shop owners become tired of being in the free appraisal business. People have nothing to do lose .. show up wanting free expertise with no intention of selling the item. I'd imagine this is especially true for watches and antiques that have been faked. (vs bars of gold etc that take little to appraise/authenticate)