Daily AncestorPawnbroker
A pawnbroker lent money at interest on personal goods left as security, selling any item whose owner did not repay in time.
The borrower left a pledge, such as a watch, jewelry, a musical instrument or tools, and could redeem it by repaying the loan plus interest within a set time. If the loan was not repaid, the pawnbroker sold the item.
The trade's sign was three golden balls hanging from a bar, a symbol linked with the moneylending of Lombardy and the Medici family of Florence. A pawnbroker in a census is a small lender as well as a shopkeeper.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1880 to 1910 census
Meyer Glick, 46, Pawnbroker, Russia
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Pawnbroker." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/pawnbroker. Last checked 2026-10-10.