RebeccaRomney

The Boston Athenaeum has a book bound in human skin. It's a memoir written by a convicted highwayman while in jail. He requested it be bound in his own skin and given to the man responsible for catching him!

This is one of the questions I get the most! Chum knows what he is about. He's very good at his role of court jester. He's clever at coming up with the right lines for his role.

Can't get into background contract stuff because I've signed an NDA. But suffice to say that my company decided to participate in the show for the advertising.

No. Has Rick damaged a book brought in for the show? Yes. Have I stopped filming to ask people to handle a book properly to avoid damage? Yes.

But actually it's very easy to handle most books without doing them harm if you follow some basic rules. I wrote about that on my blog here:

https://rebeccaromney.wordpress.com/2013/04/17/rare-books-101-part-iv-handling-rare-books/

The most expensive book I've appraised for Pawn Stars was probably the Steuben at $18,000. Though my company sells books in the $100k+ range, and I've personally sold books worth half a million.

Well, I'm on TV, and that's what happens to a woman on TV. I admit to a bit of frustration when I'm focusing on books and people explicitly tell me they don't care about that, only my appearance. But, again, I'm on TV. I expect (and receive) a range of reactions.

That said: I do expect and ask for people to treat me respectfully as a fellow human being (while fully aware that internet troll culture can be a strong force!).

My husband just thinks it's funny.