Pawn Shop Trivia
The House of Medici, an Italian banking family and royal house, rose to power
in part because of their creation of lending institutions similar to modern pawn
shops.
It is rumored that Queen Isabella of Spain pawned her crown jewels to finance
Christopher Columbus's first voyages to the New World.
The owner of the pawn shop in the hit comedy The Blues Brothers is none other
than world famous bluesman Ray Charles.
Some pawn shops raise money for churches or charities. The Monte de Pieta movement,
created in Italy in the 15th century by a Franciscan monk, offered interest free
pawn loans in exchange for donations to the Roman Catholic Church.
The symbol of pawnbrokers, three balls suspended from an upside candelabra shape,
originated from a story of a Medici employed by Charlemagne, King of the Franks,
using three bags of rocks to slay a giant.
Many places in Europe refer to pawn shops as the "Lombard", referring
to the House of Lombard, a banking family in medieval London.
