Richard “Old Man” Harrison and his family have run the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop on the outskirts of Las Vegas for several decades.

Sadly, he passed away in 2018, 77 years of age.

He left the business to his son Rick, leaving one final wish in his will which really surprised fans of the show.

Pawning has always been a big form of consumer credit in the United States, at least up until the 1950s. Still, there are pawnshops all around that help people manage to get through the day.

Pawn Stars
No matter if you want to pawn a gold watch, old autographs or a sword, there’s always some expert around that can help you.

And talking of experts, maybe the colorful world of pawning is best described by looking inside the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Harrison family have run the shop for a long time and even turned themselves into celebrities through the reality program Pawn Stars.

Richard “Old Man” Harrison
Richard “Old Man” Harrison and his family have run the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop on the outskirts of Las Vegas for several decades.

Sadly, he passed away in 2018, 77 years of age.

He left the business to his son Rick, leaving one final wish in his will which really surprised fans of the show.

Steve Snowden/Getty Images
Pawning has always been a big form of consumer credit in the United States, at least up until the 1950s. Still, there are pawnshops all around that help people manage to get through the day.

Pawn Stars
No matter if you want to pawn a gold watch, old autographs or a sword, there’s always some expert around that can help you.

And talking of experts, maybe the colorful world of pawning is best described by looking inside the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Harrison family have run the shop for a long time and even turned themselves into celebrities through the reality program Pawn Stars.

Richard “Old Man” Harrison
Instagram/realcoreyharrison
It all started in 1988, when Richard Benjamin “The Old Man” Harrison opened up the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop on the outskirts of Las Vegas. But how did he get there in the first place?

Richard Harrison was born on March 4, 1941 in Lexington, North Carolina. He would eventually grow to be immensely successful in life, but in the beginning, his family didn’t have much.

Richard “Old Man” Harrison – life
“They were dirt-poor white trash, left to survive on their wits for the most part,” son Rick Harrison wrote in his 2011 autobiography, License to Pawn: Deals, Steals, and My Life at the Gold & Silver.

As a teenager, Richard “Old Man” Harrison started work, driving a school bus as early as 14. He earned about six dollars a week for that gig.

Then, the age of 17, he was arrested for stealing a car. The judge told him that he had two options: either go to jail, or to the military.

Richard chose the military. He enlisted in the U.S Navy in 1958 and traveled to several places onboard a total of four ships throughout his military career. In an interview, he said the Spanish ports of Barcelona and Madrid were his favorite ones. Before leaving the navy in 1979, he served on a small “fleet tug” for five years