– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

COREY: So what do we got here?

SPENCER: This is a solid silver Julius Caesar bust.

You think it's solid silver?

Well, apart from the base.

The head is.

COREY: (LAUGHING) OK.

It's Vegas, you know.

Julius Caesar-- really, really popular guy around here.

He has a palace down the street.

Yeah.

[laughter]

[music playing]

SPENCER: I'm at the pawn shop today

to sell my solid silver Julius Caesar bust.

I inherited it when my aunt suddenly passed.

This bust was her prized possession.

It was a centerpiece over the fireplace.

Everyone could see it when they walked in the house.

I'm hoping to get about $75,000 for it.

COREY: This is really cool.

Julius Caesar, I mean, the guy had a crazy life.

I mean, you got to be pretty cool to get Shakespeare

to write a play about you.

Yeah.

COREY: So it was around 46 BC he became dictator of Rome, which

was a 10-year position, and pretty much decided,

you know, that's cool and all, but I'm just going to take over

the whole thing, because he thought

that the Senate and everything was really corrupt.

So he just decided, hey, you know what?

I know what's best.

I'm just going to make the decisions myself.

They use the term "benevolent dictator"--

SPENCER: Right.

COREY: --where he actually really cared about the people.

And as far as they were concerned,

Julius Caesar was the guy.

But the Senate hated him because he took their power away,

and then he ends up getting stabbed on the Senate floor.

After he died, his great-nephew Augustus

became the first emperor of the Roman Empire.

And that's why we have July and August.

There you go.

[laughter]

COREY: So where'd you get it?

It was passed down to me.

OK.

You mind if I take a better look at it?

Go for it.

Yeah, yeah.

COREY: Came from the Vatican, I guess, or it

has something to do with it.

And it says right here you got 500 ounces of silver.

Silver's around 24 bucks an ounce.

We're looking at at least $12,000 worth of silver

if you melted it down.

Right.

That being said, I mean, it is a really, really cool piece.

How much are you looking to get for it?

Well, I'm looking, realistically,

for about 75,000.

You know what, man?

I really don't know.

Somebody obviously spent a lot of time and--

Right.

COREY: --money making this thing.

Right.

So do you mind if I have a buddy of mine come down

and take a look at it? - Yeah.

Yeah, sounds good.

Give me a second. I'll give him a call.

I'll be right back, all right? - Cool.

SPENCER: I'm pretty confident the expert's going to come in

and I'll get pretty close to the asking price

that I'm looking for today.

So we'll see.

[cash register chiming]

COREY: So we have a bust of Julius

Caesar, 500 ounces of silver.

You can't go wrong with that.

And there's something to do with the Vatican on the back.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I-- actually, I recognize this piece.

I've seen it before.

This is actually the "Chiaramonti Caesar."

And the thing that's really neat about this

is the fact that this was molded from the original marble.

So a foundry called Arte Divine got licensing from the Vatican

to cast several of their major works

into bronze and into silver, and this is one of them.

But what's really cool about it is this is

one of the only pieces that--

well, one of two, this and and the "Tusculum"--

that was done during his lifetime.

So it's historically a very, very interesting piece.

So how many of these were made?

This is a very rare piece.

You almost never see these.

In the solid silver, there were 99.

COREY: So what's something like this worth?

When they first came out, the gallery price at the time

was about 75,000.

And you'll still see them on the market for that.

For you guys and for the secondary market, I don't--

I wouldn't pay more than 50,000 because I--

you need to make a profit as well.

OK.

Well, Chad, I appreciate you coming down, man.

All right, thanks a lot.

Have a good day.

COREY: OK.

So, you know, I know you heard Chad say 50,000.

That's still a lot of money for me to put out like that,

and it's going to take a long time for me to sell it.

I mean, it is unique.

It is pretty cool.

I just-- I don't really want to tie up

that much money for that long.

I'll offer you about 30.

I think that's a little low.

I mean, I'm looking to get a little bit more

closer towards the 50, if possible.

How about-- can we meet in the middle?

40,000?

Yeah, we can do that.

Come with me.

We got to do some paperwork.

OK.

SPENCER: $40,000, you know, I'm happy with that.

Like I say, worst case, could have been just the silver.

So, pretty happy.

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
bust /bʌst/ B1	noun - a sculpture of the head, shoulders, and chest
silver /ˈsɪlvər/ A2	noun - a shiny, greyish-white metal adjective - made of or resembling silver
Caesar /ˈsiːzər/ B2	noun - a famous Roman emperor
inherited /ɪnˈherɪtɪd/ B1	verb - to receive something from someone who has died
possession /pəˈzeʃən/ B2	noun - something that someone owns
centerpiece /ˈsentərpiːs/ B2	noun - a decorative object that is the main feature of a display
crazy /ˈkreɪzi/ A2	adjective - very strange or unusual
dictator /dɪkˈteɪtər/ C1	noun - a ruler with absolute power
corrupt /kəˈrʌpt/ B2	adjective - dishonest or immoral
Senate /ˈsenɪt/ B2	noun - a council of people who make laws
stabbed /stæbd/ B1	verb - to wound someone with a knife or sharp object
emperor /ˈempərər/ B2	noun - a ruler of an empire
rare /reər/ B1	adjective - not happening often
license /ˈlaɪsəns/ B1	noun - official permission to do something
cast /kæst/ B1	verb - to create a shape by pouring liquid into a mold
marble /ˈmɑːrbəl/ B1	noun - a hard, shiny stone often used for sculptures
bronze /brɒnz/ B1	noun - a metal made of copper and tin
worth /wɜːrθ/ A2	noun - the value of something