Legendary ZZ Top guitarist, Billy Gibbons has made a surprise appearance on US reality show, Pawn Stars after a customer walked into the store with a rare and wonderful Rhinestone Nudie suit worn by Gibbons in the 1970s.
While shop owner Rick Harrison inspects the impressive item, the customer explains that her it had been “laying around the house forever. My dad told me it was ZZ Top’s,” but had no paperwork or photos to authenticate the claim. Noting the label of Hollywood's Nudie’s Rodeo Tailors and unmistakable embroidery work of designer Nudie Cohn, who also made suits for John Wayne and Cher, Harrison decides to “call in a guy who knows all about this stuff.”
To everyone’s surprise, in walks Billy Gibbons himself to confirm that it was in fact his suit, worn on the cover of the 1975 Fandango! album. “It brings back a lot of memories," Gibbons says of the suit he hast seen since 1974 when he “inadvertently” left it on an aeroplane. "By the time I realized it was MIA, I called the airline, and the cleaning crew had gone in, so I completely thought this had vaporized.”
Pawn Stars: RARE Suit Worn by ZZ TOP
And it’s a win for the customer when Gibbons values the item at approximately double her initial asking of $25,000. Ultimately, she walks out the door with $40,000 after Harrison and Gibbons offer to pay $20,000 each and donate the orange rhinestone suit to Antone's Blues Museum in Austin, Texas.
A winning ending for all!
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