I pawned some jewelry years ago
Interestingly it is the origin of the nursery rhyme " Pop goes the weasel "
The " weasel " being cockney rhyming slang for a coat. (weasel-stoat-coat). To " pop " meaning to pawn. Where I come from there`s an expression "popped his/her clogs " ie. died. Shoes, boots or clogs being the last things to get pawned.

that was so funny reading 'pawn tv shows' (apologies for my smutty mind) . No I seem to think our family were afraid of looking that poor so we never pawned anything, also my parents were both in work, my mother was still welding after the war, because of the lack of skilled men and my dad came home from the R.A.F with a terrible fear of being on the dole (that was the relieving Officer in those days) so my mum kept him for a bit then laid down the law that she couldn't afford to feed a man as well as two children. Apparently my great grand father pawned his watch and got it back every payday but I never knew him

I have in a pinch - not a good financial plan. Math stacked against you. But it's better than asking family!

20 years I pawned my life to the Military. I am still Reserve for Life. I purchased a left handed guitar from a Pawn Shop in Vegas.

Short term, high interest loan with collateral presented of greater value than loan.

No, but I used to shop regularly in large local pawnshops for bargains.

Wedding ring.

I browse and occasionally buy from them. I've never been in a position when I needed to pawn anything. Even in situations where I'm up to my overdraft limit (which hasn't happened for a while, thankfully) I've always got a number of credit cards with some available spending on them. That works out cheaper than paying the silly interest rates that these places charge.

Given the choice between pawning something and taking out a payday loan, I'd probably pawn something.

I've been in pawn shops, it's been a long time though. I went to several with a friend of mine when he was looking for golf clubs.

None of the shops I went to was anything like the tv shops. None had more than two people working, and the majority of people coming in were pawning stuff not selling outright. Most of them were firearms dealers as well.

I liked that show not because I knew it was staged but because the items were so interesting. The interactions between the family was also fun.

I have not pawned anything but was one affected by a pawn shop. We got broken into and it was a smash and grab thing. Some jewelry, change and a Wii game were taken. Everything was put into an old travel bag (that smell of cat piss). The Wii set was new and we turned in the serial no. to the cops. A month later we got a call from the police that they had found the Wii. A pawn shop in another town had called in the serial no. and had taken the sellers information. We also recovered some but not all the jewelry. It was an 18 year old kid and this was his third break-in (I attended the court hearing and his mother was a piece of work - he got 1 year in jail). The pawn shop had given the guy $20 and put the game up for $100. $20 for a year in jail!

BTW shortly afterward I spotted the exact same bag in a thrift store. It was not mine and didn't have the piss smell so I bought it.

I haven't

I used to work in a pawnshop when I was younger, craziest job I ever had. I can tell you for a fact it's nothing like the TV shows!

Pawn Stars was a joke, totally staged
I have a 22 Ruger pistol I used to pawn every now and then. It can get expensive at about 20% interest every month. You can get into a rut because you have to pay the loan or forfeit the pawned item. So when payday came around I paid the loan, then just before payday I would be short again, I had to pawn something. I did make a few good deals on thing like a generator, tools and a 45 pistol.
Now I buy stuff at pawn shops and flip them on Craig’s list.

I pawned a guitar in college that I never played because my pay check got lost in the mail. I got it back two days later. It wasn't worth the extra $50 considering that my land lord didn't collect rent until the following week. He broke down in Wyoming and couldn't make it back until the following Friday.

I've never pawned anything, but I have bought from pawn shops and had a friend who owned one and he would give us really good deals on stuff.