Is The Aztec Death Whistle On Pawn Stars Real Or Fake?

The gang on "Pawn Stars" has come across some truly valuable items over the years, from an Italian book worth six figures to a Civil War-era gun that was right up Rick Harrison's alley. Chumlee had his shot to negotiate over an exceedingly cool item on Season 21, Episode 5 — "Chum Goes to Hollywood." A man by the name of Steve comes in looking to offload an Aztec death whistle. He only wants $500, but Chumlee isn't sure if it's even worth that much (if it's real at all). He wants to bring in an expert and soon learns he should've taken the deal when it was only $500. 

Bob Dodge enters the picture, and while he mentions that a lot of fake death whistles are out there, the one right there is genuine. Dodge can tell based on the presence of manganese, which are black dots found throughout the whistle that it would've gotten through the soil, indicating that it has actually aged. In even better news for Steve, an authentic Aztec death whistle can fetch as much as $5,000 at auction. 

This leads to Steve and Chumlee being unable to reach an agreement, as Steve wants to get as close to $5,000 as possible. Chumlee still needs to earn a profit for the shop, so he can't match that, and Steve ends up walking away. It may have been a loss for Chumlee, but the seller made out very well in the end. 

The beauty of "Pawn Stars" is that someone can walk into the shop wanting to sell something but not fully understanding what they have. Thanks to the historical prowess of Rick Harrison, the rest of the pawn shop's workers, and a crew of experts ready and waiting, a lot of information can be uncovered. That's precisely the case here, and Steve wound up with a pretty nice payday once he confirmed the authenticity of his Aztec death whistle.

The most Chumlee was willing to pay was $2,500. Invaluable, an online auction marketplace, has the exact same death whistle listed as being for sale at one point. We know it's the same one due to the pictures as well as the fact the item description mentions that the piece was going to appear on "Pawn Stars" in the future, suggesting the episode hadn't aired yet by the time the auction started. As far as discussing all of the features found in the whistle, there's this colorful descriptor: "This small but mighty whistle is able to emit a horrifying screech at over 110 decibels. The sound can best be described as the scream of a dozen teenage zombies all at the top of their lungs, all in unison."

The website mentions that the item sold for somewhere between $5,000 and $7,000. That's significantly more than what Chumlee was willing to offer, so it goes to show the importance of looking through all your options when dealing with something valuable.