Pawn Stars on the History Channel has Boxed 1957 Girls Set on tonights program 2019-05-27

Ed Boyle posted:

Barb, my fiancee , had exactly the same reaction as a lot of other women when she first saw the Girl's Set. She hated it!  Felt it was an insult to girls, who wanted trains that looked just like the ones the boys had. Didn't tell her anything about the Girl's Set. It was a spontaneous reaction on her part when she saw the Pawn Stars segment.

Also, $3400 for a Girl's Set in that shape is about retail in today's market, maybe even a little high. People only pay top dollar for pristine Girl's Sets these days.

Ed Boyle.

Must agree that the Pink engine girls set was a flawed idea. There is no reason why females would want something so removed from the prototype. Girls/women buy exactly the same automobiles in exactly the same colors as do males. It is highly unlikely that they would be interested in a pink color car or a pink steam engine.

As for Pawn Stars; that show is entertainment and scripted from start to finish. They create different scenarios to keep the viewer interested. Conflict, adversity, comedy, and unusual situations are added to every episode. IMO, the show got old. Its the same shtick  over and over and over again. If this is the best the History Channel can come up with; they've got very poor management.

david1 posted:

jd-train posted:

LOL, some of you gentlemen are a real buzzkill!

Yes, its been reported that items are screened, vetted, and examined in advance.  Customers may even be coached on how to appear on TV.  However, the items are real, the customers are real, and the sales prices (although negotiated in advance) are also real.

Personally, my wife and I enjoy the show, seeing the unique items, and trying to guess what they might be worth.

What are you thinking? Nothing about the show is real, the items, the customers, nothing is real. It's a TV show, nothing about it is real. 

I can't understand why people watch it. 

Dave

Dave,

Respectfully, I think your post is

What is your source to say that the entire show is a fake, including the items and the customers?  Maybe the pawnshop is simply part of a backlot soundstage?  Maybe this is the stage that they used to film NASA landing on the moon?

Jim

It is for entertainment purposes only.  I heard the guys on shows like Gold Rush or Wicked Tuna get a half million bucks a season for being on their show.  How else could some guys keep coming back year after year when they don’t get any gold or catch any fish.  Then the next year they have a new boat.  Ya think.  Take it for what it is.  A fake sort of ‘reality’.

Even tho the girls set was a flop, that's what rare collectables are made of. Not to mention an even rarer set which was made along with the Girls Set, is "The Boys Set". Approx. 6 set are known to exist.

Dennis LaGrua posted:

Must agree that the Pink engine girls set was a flawed idea. There is no reason why females would want something so removed from the prototype. Girls/women buy exactly the same automobiles in exactly the same colors as do males. It is highly unlikely that they would be interested in a pink color car or a pink steam engine.

Never heard of Mary Kay, eh?

LOTS of girls like things pink, purple, and so forth.  And today's Lionel sells a ton of trains in non-realistic colors.

I have always thought that the Girl's set was passé', even as a  collectable  period piece. It would have to be in  TCA mint condition for that kind of money.  Different strokes...…...

I confess back in the early 60's my friend (and with his Dads' blessing) who lived across from our house wanted to GIVE ME a complete Lionel girls train set....they weren't much into trains. Nor did they have a layout....I did.  Of course one look at the PINK engine was enough for me to say NO.

I don't watch much TV, except local news. However, aside from the local news in the early morning and again at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m., the few programs I do enjoy watching are "Pawn Stars", "American Pickers", "This Old House Hour", and "Death in Paradise" (PBS). The rest of the 100+ cable channels I pay for each month might just as well not even be there. I also very much enjoyed Chip and JoJo's house renovation series on HGTV, but they left and and are starting up elsewhere.

But I think "Pawn Stars" does a credible job. Yes, the show is scripted (it has to be), but I have found that they do a pretty darn good job of showing how items are evaluated, selected, and priced from a pawn shop perspective.

I have no trouble with the girls set. I've always liked pastel colours & a pink locomotive & tender doesn't bother me either. I just wouldn't pay the money to own a set.

I don't watch this show any more but back when I did the guys one time bought an Ives passenger set.

palallin posted:

LOTS of girls like things pink, purple, and so forth.  And today's Lionel sells a ton of trains in non-realistic colors.

And my younger granddaughter got into my collection of MTH Club cars. They were bought "right" at York with every intention of repainting them. I've got a 3 year old who has claimed these are her "Purple Train". It took zero prompting on my part.  She found the purple cars (her favorite color) and assumed that they were "hers". G-Pa (me) has a MTH Club 2-8-0 PS2 steamer already stashed for a 2019 Christmas present.

She and her 5 year old sister love to "race" the pink and the purple trains around my layout. While I recognize that the original Lionel "Girl's Train" was a flop, I'm telling you that I have two girls who love pastel and "girlie" colors for trains. For me, first and foremost I have two girls who enjoy running their trains. The funniest part is the 3 year old has the DCS remote down-pat. Her older sister doesn't have it totally figured out and it frosts her cork when her baby sister shows her up.

Pink trains may not appeal to most but I took my daughter to a show with a standard gauge layout and someone custom painted a prewar set with pastel colors, she stopped in her tracks and said that is so cool.

I have been to the gold and silver pawn shop (Pawn stars) many times and they always have some train items for sale, usually LGB or Lionel, but once they had some live steam. 

As far as American Pickers, some shows are probably more staged than others. A friend's uncle was on the show and it was not what has been described here.  A third party elected the man unbeknownst to him. He was contacted by the producers and an appointment was made.  A couple of scouts showed up and walked around the property for several hours. He was contacted months later and a date was agreed upon. Mike, Frank and a small entourage showed up with a food truck.  They had a meet and greet, walked the property and then started filming. Prices were not predetermined, but there was 10 hours of filming for a 20 minute segment. I asked if there was any compensation and he said just getting overpaid for some rusty car parts and a bicycle with no wheels. 

  The American Pickers showed up in the van with fliers at my buddies gate about 7-9 years ago. About a year before the show aired. (I am lousy with names, but faces?  I once valet parked 200+ cars a day.... no tickets needed, that was just to appease you folk. If your blind date tried to take your car with the ticket... no dice, I asked you.  I recalled the faces, keys, and cars no problem… It was Mike & Frank  )

   But they had picked the wroooong day as a vintage Simplicity riding mower was stolen from the yard the day before that (the new one was ignored).

 They had to leave in a hurry. Vegas the dog was let out (a no joke pitbull) and Gary was going for his shotgun while I took the plate number.

  Nothing stolen before or since. They weren't going door to door either.    Plain and simple, that was one very odd day there.   Gary now locks things up now, but never did before that.

  I knew a girl who was on Jerry Springer a few times.  All in fun, she boxes and wrestles. So her and pals adorned new identities and battled for the crowd a number of times, just for the plane ride and a night out on Jerry in a different town.  

Some situations are very real, some are totally faked, some are somewhere in between. No big deal imo. 

 (However, I do blame Springer for helping to make it "acceptable" to be an out of hand idjit in 'Merica 😕)

  I tune into more PBS & NPR than anything else too I guess. I'm not big on tv.  I like entertaientert from before my time more. (nice spelling there, thank "spellwreck" for that one for sure.  I fear a try at correction might take an hour as more changes happen when I do, so there it is)

The American pickers were 5 miles from me last Yr. It was a planned meeting but they came and filmed and picked the chosen house . I even got to watch the episode that they made while there. Nothing fake about that episode.