Beverly Hills Pawnshops Snapping Up Artwork, Rolexes

[a kennedy]

I went into our "pawn america" shop, and just felt sick.....I couldn't buy a thing although there were jewelry items I could have. The guy behind the counter said lots of items are from people "buying up" meaning they weren't all from folks that had fallen on hard times...... I just couldn't buy a thing.


BEVERLY HILLS, California (AFP) - An original Kandinsky, an Andy Warhol, a grand piano and Rolexes by the dozen: as the economic crisis bites even the filthy rich are hocking prized possessions to pay the bills.

"This business in the past eight months is booming," said Yossi Dina, the president of The Dina Collection, who describes himself as the pawnbroker to the stars.

"I'm very special because I don't give small loans. I give big loans, people call me for half a million, two hundred, big loans. I've invested and I give the money out," he boasted to AFP.

Across the wealthy Beverly Hills enclave, dotted with the luxurious mansions of the nation's rich and famous, pawnshop owners say they haven't had it so good for decades.

"We are living a big time, the business people, the big people ... they need money for short time, they're business people, but short of cash," said Dina, a former commando in the Israeli army who arrived in the US in the late 1970s.

"Recently I got a Kandinsky, an Andy Warhol, original Andy Warhol, a lot of California art ... even a piece for one million dollars," he added, standing by a display case stuffed with 15 Rolexes and a Patek Philippe watch priced at 160,000 dollars.

full article: http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/entertainment/5390017/beverly-hills-pawnshops-snap-up-artwork-rolexes/

[KittyWampus]

1. Pawn shops are among the biggest repositories of Native American jewelry. The real stuff

made for the people themselves.

[Retired AF Dem]

2. I can see a Patek going

for $160,000, 15 Rolexes should go for $20,000.

[SheilaT]

3. Interesting.

I understand that during the Great Depression similar things happened, and many of the huge mansions in Newport, RI, went for a song.

Anyone who has a little cash can get some amazing bargains right now.