How Magritte Paintings Drew Rick Harrison Into A $10K Loss

During his examination of the painting purportedly created by René Magritte — whose more famous works include "The Menaced Assassin" and "The False Mirror" — art dealer Chad Sampson was completely clear that the final authentication of the painting was far above his pay grade. "The bad news is my opinion means nothing," Sampson told Harrison. "The only opinion that matters is the René Magritte Committee in Belgium. You have to take it unframed to Belgium, but you have to get the authentication."

After sending the painting to the Magritte Foundation in Belgium for examination, Harrison and fellow "Pawn Stars" dealer Austin "Chumlee" Russell hopped a plane to Europe to get the final verdict from the eight-member Magritte committee. The final word on the authenticity of the painting came in a letter Harrison received when he picked up the item from the foundation, which he read out loud to Chumlee while sitting on a park bench nearby. In it, the foundation simply wrote, "The committee met yesterday and is of the opinion that the work presented is not a work by René Magritte."

The Magritte painting wasn't the first time Russell was tempted by a work of art, and certainly not the last. In the Season 19 episode "The Prince of Pawn," Harrison passed on a Prince painting that's causing a huge fan debate because it has not been authenticated to be by the late music icon. On the flip side, a $5,500 "Pawn Stars" gamble paid off in a big way in Season 5 when a rare item by German printmaker Albrecht Dürer was appraised to be worth anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000.