Meet The Experts

Andy Broome has professionally graded sports and trading cards since 1999, and has been the Senior Vintage Card Grader for two of the top card grading companies worldwide. Over the course of his career, he has authenticated and graded some of the rarest and most valuable sports cards, including the T206 Honus Wagner, T206 Doyl Nat'l and T206 Ty Cobb Back. The National Baseball Hall of Fame tapped Broome to help create its baseball card exhibit, “Shoebox Treasures.” He has also been a consultant for the PBS show, “Antiques Roadshow,” and featured on the Fox Sports series, “Amazing Sports Stories.” Currently, he is the Senior Grading Finalizer for Certified Guaranty Company (CGC).

Alex was born in the the antique military business and is the president of International Military Antiques which was founded by his father Christian nearly 40 years ago. He has been the antiques arms and militaria expert on Pawn Stars for dozens of episodes specializing in vintage military items dating from 1645 to 1945 varying from WWII Jeeps to Revolutionary War muskets. IMA supplied historically accurate weapons for multiple Hollywood productions including “Saving Private Ryan” and “Band of Brothers” as well as pieces for some of the world’s foremost museums including the National WWII Museum in New Orleans and the National History Museum of Los Angeles.

Beginning as a collector and part-time dealer of ancient art from around the world, Bob and his amazing staff have grown Artemis Gallery into one of the largest Internet-based art galleries in the world. Specializing in ancient art from cultures from almost every continent, Artemis employs a staff of over 20 full-time employees, markets in excess of 8,000 pieces of legally acquired and guaranteed authentic examples each year. Since its inception in 1993 Artemis
Gallery has sold in excess of 30,000 pieces of ancient art to collectors around the world.

Bob has given multiple lectures around the US on techniques to identify authentic versus forged or over-restored objects of art. He has also prepared a series of “best practices” videos on techniques for using one’s senses in identifying authentic ancient art as well as topics on cultural patrimony and other educational topics. Bob’s videos and Pawn Stars appearances have been viewed more than 4 million times on YouTube. Additionally, Artemis is one of the only galleries in the world to open its own testing / authentication laboratory with a Thermo-luminescence machine for analyzing pottery and an XRF gun for testing metals, pigments, and stone. Artemis also routinely works with other labs in handling Xray and C-14
analysis. 

Mr. Dodge in conjunction with Artemis Testing Lab has identified, via testing and 25+ years of hands-on experience, thousands of fake artifacts that have been pulled from the market. In a program used by eBay between 2005 and 2010 Bob was selected as an “expert” to identify and remove fake artifacts (and sellers of fake artifacts) listed for sale in its “Antiquity” category. In this role, more than 50,000 items were removed from sale by eBay.

A fifteen year veteran of the vintage poster business, Andrew England has packaged, sold and authenticated millions of dollars worth of posters. Andy began collecting movie posters as a teenager in Oakland, California, and before long his interest in the genre spread to war propaganda. When the opportunity arose Andy signed on with a gallery in Hawaii, where he continued to build his collection, all the while learning what it takes to run a successful gallery. 

In 2016, Andy opened his first gallery, Real Old Paper, in San Francisco's North Beach. The gallery recently relocated to beautiful Beach Street in the city's world-famous Fisherman's Wharf neighborhood. A fully accredited member of the IVPDA, Andy specializes in film, American World War, travel, alcohol and tobacco posters, and has a detailed knowledge of value, printing methods and paper qualities from the Belle Epoque, Art Nouveau and Art Deco periods.

Aquiles Figueroa is owner and shop foreman at the Stradivari House of Phoenix, established in 2013 with the mission to provide high-quality instruments, world-class education, and the finest repair and restoration services in the greater southwest United States. For Aquiles, instrument-making and restoration is a lifetime endeavor and a constant learning experience. Aquiles began his luthier studies in 2002 and later studied under a number of expert luthiers including Thomas Chen, Rocky Werning, Lynn Hannings, and Iris Carr. A skilled appraiser, Aquiles has extensive experience valuing instruments from some of the finest violin makers including Stradivari, Guarneri, Vuillaume, Lupot, Henri, Sartory, and Hill and Sons. To appraise an instrument, he draws on his own decades of experience and consults world-class experts and auction houses like Tarisio and Bromptons.

Aquiles holds a degree in Violin Performance from the University of Tulsa, where he studied violin with Maureen O'Boyle and Derry Deane, and is an alumnus of the Meadowmount School of Music in New York, where he studied solo performance and chamber music with distinguished Professors Paula Sokol-Elliott and Alan Bodman. He earned his master’s in performance and orchestral conducting at the Universities of Arkansas, Fayetteville and Oklahoma, where he performed with the Fulbright Trio and renowned cellist Dennis Parker. A violin instructor since 1996, Aquiles has worked with the Barthelmes Conservatory, Brophy College Prep, and Sounds Academy, among others. Today, he heads up an award-winning private teaching studio of 23 years with former students in illustrious performance careers, top-tier universities, conservatories, and more recently, student winners of the North Valley Youth Symphony concerto competition, and concertmasters of all-regional festivals and the Metropolitan Youth Symphony.

Jeff Garrett, founder of Mid-American Rare Coin Galleries, is considered one of the nation’s top experts in U.S. coinage — and knowledge lies at the foundation of Jeff’s numismatic career. With more than 45 years of experience, he is one of the top experts in numismatics. The “experts’ expert,” Jeff has personally bought and sold nearly every U.S. coin ever issued. Not a day goes by that someone doesn’t call on Jeff Garrett for numismatic advice. This includes many of the nation’s largest coin dealers, publishers, museums and institutions. In addition to owning and operating Mid-American Rare Coin Galleries, Jeff Garrett is a major shareholder in Sarasota Rare Coin Galleries. His combined annual sales in rare coins and precious metals — between Mid-American in Kentucky and Sarasota Rare Coin Galleries in Florida — total more than $25 million.

Jeff Garrett has authored many of today’s most popular numismatic books, including Encyclopedia of U.S. Gold Coins 1795–1933: Circulating, Proof, Commemorative, and Pattern Issues; 100 Greatest U.S. Coins; and United States Coinage: A Study By Type. He is also the valuation editor for The Official Redbook: A Guide Book of United States Coins.

Jeff was also one of the original coin graders for the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS). He is today considered one of the country’s best coin graders and was the winner of the 2005 PCGS World Series of Grading. Today, he serves as a consultant to Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC), the world’s largest coin grading company.

Jeff plays an important role at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Numismatic Department and serves as consultant to the museum on funding, exhibits, conservation and research. Thanks to the efforts of Jeff and many others, rare U.S. coins are once again on exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of American History. We urge everyone who visits Washington, D.C., to view this fabulous display.

Jeff has been a member of the prestigious Professional Numismatic Guild (PNG) since 1982 and has served as president of the organization. Jeff also served as the ANA president from 2015 until 2017.

Chicago native Steve Grad has been the primary autograph authenticator on “Pawn Stars” since 2012, having appeared in over 120 episodes of the History Channel show.  He has authenticated many of the finest pieces in the autograph business, including the highest graded Babe Ruth single-signed baseball, the original rules of baseball and The Beatles first contract.  He’s been utilized by some of the biggest auction houses and collectors in the world and has assisted the FBI on several operations.  He has been the principal authenticator at Beckett Authentication since 2016, helping found the autograph authentication division and has been involved in the hobby since the age of 10.  He also boasts one of the largest Star Wars autograph collections in the world, featuring some of the finest pieces known to exist.  He’s travelled extensively throughout Europe, the United States and even New Zealand and Australia chasing down some of the most reclusive Star Wars signers.  Don’t be surprised if you see Steve at a Star Wars or science fiction convention, he’s a frequent visitor to both!

Born in San Diego, Patrick went to Disneyland annually with his family.  This sparked a lifelong interest in Disneyland and all thing Disney as well as other theme parks. This interest developed into a collection of Disneyland and other Disney historical items that now fill his house.  Patrick has been selling Disney collectibles since 1989 at various shows to collectors and fans.  In addition, Patrick ran a blog focusing on his collection.  He has been a source of historical items and photographs for several books on Disney and theme parks history. 

Steve Johnston started buying, selling and collecting toys in his teenage years and has been doing it ever since. He loves the fun nostalgic feeling when finding toys from his childhood or rare gems that are highly sought after in the toy collector world. He first started selling toys from his house, moved into a warehouse and finally opened up Rogue Toys in 2012, right across from Gold and Silver Pawn. Since then, he has opened up multiple locations in Las Vegas, Nevada and Portland, Oregon. His toy expertise is focused on uncommon, obscure and hard to find vintage/antique toys, along with pop culture figures and memorabilia.

As a lifelong video game collector, Deniz Kahn co-founded Wata Games, the leading video game grading and authentication company. Since entering the game collecting community as a young teen, Deniz became a prominent collector and seller. But when compared with the vintage comics world that he was exposed to through his father, he noticed too many barriers to entry for the hobby he loved. Wata was founded to address issues of rampant counterfeits, lack of grading standards, and general market transparency — Wata removed these barriers, which instilled confidence and exposed the greater collecting world to video games. This led to the recent explosion in values and recognition of video games as legitimate forms of art and history beloved by millions. In July 2021, Deniz led Wata through acquisition by Collectors Universe, parent company of PSA and PCGS, where he currently sits as President of Wata.

Andre LuJan is a professional paleontologist from Dallas, Texas and CEO of his company PaleoTex, founded in 2016. In 2018 Andre founded a Nonprofit Museum called Texas Through Time in Hillsboro, Texas where hundreds of authentic fossils from Texas and surrounding states are on display for public viewing.

Andre has many years of experience digging in the field as well as preparing fossils and has even discovered entirely new genus of dinosaurs. His passion and pursuit of paleontology has been a lifelong endeavor and has driven him to be a highly respected professional despite not being labeled solely as an academic. He works closely with well known paleontologists and institutions around the world and is frequently called on for his expertise, specifically of Cretaceous and Permian animals of Texas.

Stuart Lutz, owner of Stuart Lutz Historic Documents in New Jersey, has over thirty years of experience in dealing, authenticating and appraising historic documents, manuscripts and letters.  Over the decades, he has sold the letters of nearly all the Presidents, Declaration of Independence Signers, Civil War notables and other famous names.  In his career, he has served as an expert witness, and he has appraised a variety of unusual manuscripts, including valuing the Time magazine archive of letters and the only diary describing both atomic bomb explosions.  He has a degree in history from Johns Hopkins.

Dennis was born in Culver City California while his Father was working on Mutiny on the Bounty on Catalina Island. He grew up in the shadow of MGM Studios and in his youth played on the MGM Cubs Baseball Team with Dean Stockwell and Claude Jarman. After finishing his schooling in 1953 he went to work in the Film business at Warner Brothers studio. Over the next few years he worked all of the Major studios and Independents as a prop man and set dresser. While working  at Paramount in 1958 on the Buccaneers for C. B. De Mille his daughter HOPE was born and he was laid off.  He passed the test for  the California Highway Patrol and worked as a Traffic Officer and Watch Commander for the Los Angeles office until 1963. After many tempting offers for work in the film industry he resigned from the Patrol and reentered the Motion Picture business for the next 50 plus years. Dennis has worked on some great films all over the world, including  "Patton", The Great White Hope, Sand Pebbles, Sunshine Boys, Casino, The Gangs of New York, and Aviator.  His entire film career is available to view  on IMDB.com. In 1974 he started The Hand Prop Room  at Culver City Studios as a motion picture prop rental business, it is now one of the best Prop Houses in the Industry. Toward the end of his film career he lectured at the  University of Nebraska, Johnny Carson Film School and also Culver City High School film School on the Job of a Master of Properties and the Art Department in motion pictures. He is a gold card member of Local 44 IATSE and a member of SAG since 1972.

Hope M. Parrish is a lifelong resident of Culver City, California and a third generation Property Master with forty-two years in IATSE (International Assoc. of Theatrical Stage Employees) local 44. She was one of the four founding members of the Property Masters Guild and loves giving back to her Property Master Community. She is also the current President of the Culver City Historical Society and volunteers in many local Culver City non-profits. She loves history, research, the hunt for answers and is also a huge fan of Pawn Stars!

Mark Hall-Patton retired in 2021 as the Museums Administrator for the Clark County museum system, where he oversaw the Clark County Museum, the Howard W. Cannon Aviation Museum, and the Searchlight History Museum.  He had been with Clark County for twenty-eight years, and was previously the Director of the San Luis Obispo County Historical Museum in California.  He worked for both public and private non-profit museums, and continues to consult with start-up and established museums and museum boards.

He is a MAP surveyor for the American Alliance of Museums, and the author of four books, over 450 published articles, and 85 monographs on local and regional history. He has written and produced 48 local history videos.  In 2009, he hosted a live interview program on CCTV television in the Vegas valley, and is regularly seen on the History Channel’s Pawn Stars as a visiting expert.

In addition to 14 years as a Board member of the Nevada Museums Association, where he served as President from 2000-2002 and 2008-2010, he has served on the California Association of Museums and Western Museums Association boards.  He is a member of the board of the Nevada Test Site Historical Foundation, and the Nevada Aerospace Hall of Fame.  He has been in the museum field for over 40 years.  He holds a BA in History from the University of California at Irvine, and did graduate work in Museum Studies at the University of Delaware.  

In 2022 he was honored as a Distinguished Nevadan of the Year by the Nevada System of Higher Education.

He is married to Dr. Colleen Hall-Patton, professor of Sociology and Women’s Studies at UNLV, and they are the parents of Joseph Hall-Patton and Ellen Messenger-Patton.

Rebecca Romney is the co-founder of the Washington DC-area rare book firm Type Punch Matrix. She has appeared as the rare book specialist on Pawn Stars since 2011. With a background in linguistics and classical studies, Romney started her career in rare books in Las Vegas as a bookseller and manager at Bauman Rare Books. While a principal at Honey & Wax Booksellers, she co-founded the Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize. She is the author of the book Printer’s Error: Irreverent Stories from Book History (HarperCollins; with JP Romney), and is currently working on a book for Simon & Schuster titled Jane Austen's Bookshelf. Romney was recently featured in the acclaimed documentary The Booksellers with Fran Leibowitz and Parker Posey, which premiered at the New York Film Festival at Lincoln
Center. Her work as a bookseller or writer has been featured in TheNew York Times, The Atlantic, Forbes, Variety, The Paris Review, and more. Romney is on the Council of the Bibliographical Society of America, and on the Rendell Lecture Committee of Rare Book School at the University of Virginia; she is a
member of the Grolier Club, the Baker Street Irregulars, and a USPAP-compliant member of the Appraisers Association of America.

Todd Sanders’ contemporary neon art evokes a time when America fell in love with the road trip. We hopped in the family wagon to explore the nation, lured to motels, diners, and curious roadside attractions by the colorful glow of neon. The sign masters who crafted those slices of Americana are Sanders’ heroes, and he’s built a career designing and creating original, entirely handmade neon works using their time-honored techniques. He calls his style modern vintage, and shares a rich artistic vein mined by fellow pop artist Andy Warhol and other pop-culture iconographers. Todd’s studio & gallery, Roadhouse Relics in Austin Texas, is most often identified by the iconic “Greetings from Austin '' postcard mural on the side of the building.

Sanders’ work is prized by collectors including Willie Nelson, Shepard Fairey, Joe Rogan, Kacey Musgraves, Edie Brickell/Paul Simon, Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) and The Kings of Leon. It has also appeared in Esquire, Fortune, Texas Monthly, Southern Living, Southwest Airlines’ Spirit and the cover of Signs of the Times magazine. Sanders’ most popular design, his animated, 5-foot by 30-inch “Fireflies in a Mason Jar” was created for the wedding of Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton, a collaboration with his friends the Junk Gypsies. You can see some of Todd’s art at www.roadhouserelics.com

MURRAY The Magician aka. Murray SawChuck with over 1.8 Million Subscribers and over 2 BILLION online views as Magic’s #1 Social Media Influencer, a regular on History Channel’s Pawn Stars as their Magic Expert for his 19th season sharing details, history and stories on rare and unique items in the entertainment world, and on CW’s Masters of Illusion for his 9th season. He is also one of the stars on Travel Channel’s newest shows, ‘Magic Caught on Camera’. He’s been on over 23 Reality Shows and a finalist on America’s Got Talent, and currently performing nightly on the Las Vegas Strip as the resident show at The Tropicana Hotel – Laugh Factory and the Guest Comedy Star in the show Fantasy at The Luxor Resort. Most recently he’s been a guest star on NetFlix’s Original show GLOW , Nickelodeon’s “Ryan’s Mystery Playdate,” Hells Kitchen, World’s Funniest Animals, and CSI – Vegas, Judge Jerry & Hulu’s newest national commercial.

Warwick Stone started his career in Rock ‘N’ Roll in the 1970s when he moved from the UK to Los Angeles to expand his business as a leather tailor to rock ‘n’ roll’s elite. At that time his clients included Freddie Mercury and Brian May of Queen, Rod Stewart, and Fleetwood Mac. 

The first Hard Rock job came installing the famous surf-green '59 Cadillac that jutted out of the roof of the LA Hard Rock Café for almost 25 years. Warwick was a major catalyst in the evolution of Hard Rock Café, he designed and furnished 15 unique international Hard Rock Café flagship locations and was the creator of the signature huge Hard Rock neon guitar signs outside at each location.  

For the first Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, he was personally responsible for developing the overall theme of all of the casino’s public spaces. This included masterminding the signage, lighting, chandeliers, gaming equipment look & feel, and all memorabilia displays. 

In 2007 he moved to Las Vegas to join Hard Rock Hotel under it's new ownership and concentrate on the memorabilia & theme aspect, helping to expand the brand into Franchise Hotels and completing 5 more Hotel/Casino openings before retiring from the Casino life. After earning Auctioneer and Personal Property Appraisal credentials, Warwick opened his Design and Appraisal business in
Nashville, Tennessee.  

In 2015 he was invited to be an "expert" on the Vegas-based TV show PAWN STARS and has contributed enough episodes each season to be regularly referred to in the street as "That Guy from That Show," a salutation he really appreciates. 

He can be contacted on his website www.warwickstone.com

Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective® is sought out by clients all over the world for help solving their photo mysteries. Her pioneering work in historic photo research has earned her the title “the nation’s foremost historical photo detective” by The Wall Street Journal and appearances on The View, The Today Show, Pawn Stars, and others. Maureen is the author of numerous books, scholarly articles, and online columns and she has been featured in publications, including The Boston Globe, and Better Homes and Gardens. Join Maureen each week as she discusses historical photos and how they fit into your family history on her podcast, The Photo Detective.  From ancestor
identification to photo preservation, it covers it all. Featuring special experts from genealogy, fashion history, photo history, and photo restoration.

David Vagi is a specialist in ancient coins and an active screenwriter. He directs NGC Ancients, the world’s leading service for ancient coins, where he evaluates many of the world’s rarest and most valuable Greek, Roman and Byzantine coins. An award-winning columnist and author, his major work is the two-volume book Coinage and History of the Roman Empire. He has been honored as ‘Numismatist of the Year’ and is named among the ‘100 Most Influential People in Numismatics’. He has written and is developing numerous works of fiction about ancient, contemporary and extraterrestrial worlds. 

Mike Yamasaki was born in Los Angeles, California and is a 3rd generation American of Japanese descent. As a youngster, he became interested in Japanese swords from his grandfather's influence. Since then, he has studied in both the US and Japan at the Japanese Sword Museum (NBTHK). In 2001, he became the first, and only, All Japan Appraisal champion outside of Japan. He continues his studies abroad to this day, and teaches at several venues and also curates Japanese Sword exhibitions at various Museums. One of his goals is to promote Japanese culture in the US, he is also one of the longest used experts on Pawn Stars. You can see more of his work and collections at Tetsugendo.com

“I will restore anything except a Nuclear
Device” – Bob Yuhas

Bob Yuhas, owner of Bob Yuhas Restorations, was born on July 13, 1956 in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey. Starting at a young age Bob was fascinated with bringing discarded items back to life and would take anything mechanical apart, seeing exactly how it worked. Bob learned the basics of his trade when he attended Bergen Tech High School in Hackensack, New Jersey.  

While living in New Jersey Bob and his Wife Lynn raised three children, and now the family has 5 grandchildren to brag about. After years of restoring
automobiles, antique toys and vintage machines Bob and Lynn decided to relocate. In 2008 the family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada and started Bob Yuhas Restorations a full-service restoration facility. The company grew quickly to now feature 2 locations, one dedicated to automobiles and the other, to whatever comes through the door.