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A pawnbroker evaluates the value of any possession that is offered as a pledge for a loan. The amount of the loan is a percentage of the item's value, and the pledge is kept by the pawnbroker for the agreed period of the loan. If the money is repaid at any time during this period, along with the fee, the customer receives the pawned item. If the time elapses without repayment, the pawnbroker is allowed to sell the pledged item to recoup the amount of his loan. As a result, pawnbrokers have a large number of formerly pawned objects offered for sale.
It has been noted that since pawnbrokers often buy goods from strangers with few questions, including stolen goods; some unscrupulous one can act as semi-legitimate fences. Recent studies have shown that very few stolen items end up in pawnshops as pledgors are required to show government appoved identification when making a loan. It is much easier for a thief to dispose of their goods through an outlet such as ebay or flea markets where items being sold are not subject to strict government regulations regarding the acquisition and sale of personal property.
Today the use of pawnbrokers is a fact of life among many segments of society. In the past, important and wealthy clients obtained funds in this manner. The voyage of Columbus to the Americas was financed by Queen Isabella pawning the crown jewels.
In spite of early church prohibitions against usury, there is some evidence that the Franciscans were permitted to begin the practice as an aid to the poor.
The pawnbroker's symbol is three balls suspended from a bar. The three ball symbol is attributed to the Medici Family of Florence, Italy, or to the House of Lombard , a banking family in medieval London, England. According to legend, a Medici employed by Charles the Great slew a giant using three bags of rocks. The three ball symbol became the family crest. Since the Medicis were so successful in the financial, banking, and moneylending industries, other families also adopted the symbol. Throughout the middle ages, coats of arms bear three balls, orbs, plates discs, coins and more as symbols of monetary success. Pawnbrokers (and their detractors) joke that the three balls mean "Two to one, you won't get your stuff back".
The famous nursery rhymeA nursery rhyme is a traditional song or poem taught to young children, originally in the nursery. Learning such verse assists in the development of vocabulary, and several examples deal with rudimentary counting skills. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe is an examp " Pop Goes the WeaselThis article is about the nursery rhyme. For the hip hop song by 3rd Base, see Pop Goes the Weasel (3rd Base song Pop Goes the Weasel is a nursery rhyme which dates back to 17th-century England, and was spread across the Empire by colonists. There are man" contains rhymes that are about pawning items. The word "pop" means to pawn, and a "weasel" is a tool used by tailors in making clothing.
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