Why Did a “Pawn Stars” Rare-Book Dealer Move to DC?

Rebecca Romney is among the nation’s best-known rare-book sellers, a place she unexpectedly attained as a daily on the what’s-my-stuff-worth TV collection Pawn Stars. Followers have adopted her profession because it took her from Las Vegas to Philadelphia to Brooklyn. However in December, a brand new spinoff present, Pawn Stars Do America, aired an episode set in Washington, and it featured a go to to a neighborhood enterprise run by none aside from Rebecca Romney—information that probably stunned many DC viewers. When did that occur?

Referred to as Sort Punch Matrix, Romney’s e book enterprise is in Silver Spring, not removed from the place she now lives. The place isn’t precisely Barnes & Noble: To buy there, you’ll want to first make an appointment, then take the elevator as much as the corporate’s third-floor workplace. You’ll be admitted to a shiny house stuffed with treasures, which Romney and her enterprise associate, Brian Cassidy, are keen to indicate off. They may pull out a $15,000 copy of Robinson Crusoe or an ultra-rare typescript of Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” that would grace your espresso desk for a mere $375,000.

However TPM pointedly avoids the stuffy rare-book-dealer stereotypes: Inexpensive objects abound, together with style novels and pop-culture books. (Samuel R. Delany’s first sci-fi effort goes for simply $15.) The house owners typically respect the cool issue over the sticker worth. “It’s a frequent false impression that uncommon books imply ‘costly,’ imply ‘solely in museums’ and ‘contact with white gloves,’ ” says Romney, whose personal accumulating pursuits embrace feminist sci-fi and Gothic romance novels. “This isn’t a rarefied setting. That is for everybody.”

Romney began showing on Pawn Stars in 2011, again when she was managing the Las Vegas outpost of Bauman Uncommon Books. Bauman then relocated her to Philadelphia, and she or he later went to work for a special firm. However by 2018 she was able to launch her personal enterprise, and she or he selected Washington just because she had family right here. (No, not Mitt—Romney is her ex-husband’s final identify, and whereas he’s distantly associated to the senator, Rebecca by no means met him.)

In the meantime, Cassidy already had a e book enterprise in Silver Spring. They determined to staff up, with the aim of opening a storefront gallery in Penn Quarter, and TPM launched in the summertime of 2019. The downtown store ended up falling via, nonetheless; as an alternative, they moved into the Silver Spring house. They’re presently scouting potential places for a DC retail outlet, although no particular plans are in place.

If TPM does find yourself opening a downtown storefront, there gained’t be a lot else prefer it within the space; DC is a good bookstore city, however you possibly can’t stroll into lots of them and buy, say, a set of greater than 200 books as soon as owned by Amy Winehouse (asking worth: $135,000). And a robust native marketplace for these things exists, Romney and Cassidy imagine. In the suitable spot, their store would entice not simply the town’s extremely educated residents but in addition visiting diplomats, curious vacationers, bored convention-goers, and anybody else who loves books not simply as texts however as objects. “Washington, DC, is a good place for this as a result of so many individuals come right here for therefore many various causes—most of which do overlap not directly with understanding the significance of historical past,” says Romney. “And we promote these books as historic artifacts.”

On Pawn Stars, Romney authenticates and costs books that individuals hope to promote. (“I joke that I’m the destroyer of desires,” she says with amusing.) Due to this minor fame, she’s consistently hit up for ideas on what some dusty quantity is value. Romney isn’t capable of give that type of informal opinion resulting from varied moral, authorized, and sensible restrictions, however TPM does purchase objects that are available in from the general public, even when most of what’s provided isn’t of curiosity. “Whereas that does imply saying no to an infinite quantity of fabric,” Cassidy explains, “it all the time feels value it to us. We are saying no to 100 books to search out one we’re thrilled about.”

At this level, I ought to admit I’d come armed with a uncommon quantity of my very own that I needed to get their opinion on, a prerelease overview copy of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Lady. This was unhealthy type, I now knew, however I used to be nonetheless hoping to get a small style of the Pawn Stars expertise, so I considerably sheepishly handed it over to Romney. Would she snicker me out of the shop? Really, she appeared pleasantly stunned. “I believe that the best way that we are able to say that is that we’d promote this,” she advised me. Cassidy, who does many of the shopping for for TPM, concurred: “In case you emailed us about it, we’d most likely make you a suggestion. I haven’t appeared up the present worth for this. However my guess is that that is [worth in the] a whole bunch, not 1000’s.”

I wasn’t truly seeking to promote my e book, nonetheless, so I returned it to my bag and thanked them for humoring me. Romney and Cassidy then led me again via the rows of curiosity-piquing objects—previous their assortment of counterculture cookbooks, previous the racy “pulp & sleaze” paperbacks, previous the cabinets containing a Sherlock Holmes trove that they acquired, surprisingly, from Revenge of the Nerds actor Curtis Armstrong. It’s the form of place the place you would lose months—years!—of your life digging via all of the fascinating arcana. As I departed, I requested how they managed to do any work. “Daily,” Romney mentioned, “is an train in self-control.”

This text seems within the February 2023 problem of Washingtonian.

Politics and Tradition Editor

Rob Brunner grew up in DC and moved again in 2017 to affix Washingtonian. Beforehand, he was an editor and author at Quick Firm and different publications. He lives together with his household in Chevy Chase DC.