These hard times have manifest in such hit cable shows as Pawn Stars, Hardcore Pawn and Storage Wars — television programs about used crap.

But don't think the folks of Beverly Hills are immune to the Great Recession. The gilded city also has folks who want to sell stuff for quick cash. It's just that their stuff is way better. And the quick cash they get for it is way more.

Beverly Loan Company, a pawn shop by any other name, reports this week that …

… This year, contemporary art and pop icon memorabilia are turning up at the 'Pawnshop to the Stars' more than ever before.

The shop at 9440 Santa Monica Blvd #301 states that there's a “holiday spike” in “big dollar holiday loans.”

See that? Rich Daddy's pawning his Patek. And that's one of 99 percenters' favorite things. So now you don't feel so bad, right?

The store boasts that it specializes in such jewelry and watch brands as Cartier, Graff, Tiffany and Co., Patek Philippe, Panerai, Audemars Piguet, and Rolex, not mention art by Warhol, Picasso, Hockney, Lichtenstein, and Chagall. (No Movado? No Shepard Fairey?).

CEO Jordan Tabach-Bank:

Our exclusive clientele is interested in confidential and secure loans for big ticket items, and it is clear that contemporary art and collectibles are the favored pieces to secure them quickly.

Indeed.

Sounds like a buyer's market to us.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

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