“Everything has a story. Everything has a price.”

These lines are in the intro to my favorite new guilty pleasure, Pawn Stars. If you haven’t seen it, the History Channel mainstay is kind of like Antiques Road Show meets Let’s Make a Deal. All in all, it’s good fun.

But those lines from the intro catch my attention every time. What do you make of them? Would you sell a part of your family history? At what price do you give up an item that has sentimental value? Do you lose a certain amount of integrity when you do so?

In one episode, a glassy-eyed “nephew” of Les Paul’s sold a historic prototype of the first guitar the legend created with Gibson. The guitar was easily worth millions. It sold at the pawn shop for about $90,000. Not to mention that if this customer really was Les Paul’s nephew, the guitarist is surely rolling over in his grave.

Yeah, everything has a price. But is it worth it?