A few different entertainment news sources are reporting that the purveyors of the reality TV series Pawn Stars purchased a US Air Force air-to-air missile recently.  As with many discussions of military hardware, its difficult to tell what, precisely, anyone is talking about:

Sources confirm to FOX411 that the stars of the History Channel’s reality show “Pawn Stars” have purchased a guidance system for a missile used on F-4 Phantom fighter planes.

TMZ originally reported that Rick Harrison and his team made the deal for an AIM-120 AMRAAM missile last week, although the missile did not contain a live war head.

An AIM-120 is not a guidance system, and AMRAAMs were not carried on the F-4.

At the risk of linking to a celebrity gossip site, TMZ did report some other details:

The seller had maintained that her dad purchased the items at an official military auction during the ’80s … and we’re told she had the proper court-approved paperwork specifying she could legally sell the parts.

Interesting, but the AIM-120 wasn’t fielded until the 1990s.  Other details of the actual missile are available from the Air Force.

Any air-to-air missile is almost entirely rocket propellant, warhead, and guidance system.  Not even the Pawn Stars would be dumb enough to want to store 300 pounds of rocket propellant or a blast-fragmentation warhead in their store.  And its highly unlikely they have an actual (once operational) seeker head.

None of the websites have pictures, but it seems probable the pawn shop acquired pieces of a missile or seeker mock-up.  Still interesting, and it might make a great fighter pilot living room piece, but its not the major weapons purchase it was made out to be (though it seems to have generated the desired media attention).