Pawnbroker
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Pawnbroker. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
one who lends money on the deposit of goods. Wearing apparel, watches, jewelry, and other portable belongings are the articles usually pawned. The traditional pawnbroker loans but a fractional part of the value of the article. He issues a receipt on a ticket redeemable before the expiration of a certain time. He charges a high rate of interest. Pawnbrokers are forbidden by law in many quarters of Europe. In others, charitable or state pawnbroking shops have been established in order to relieve the poor from oppressive charges. In France and Italy the government pawnshops are known as Monts de picte, or Banks of Charity. Those of France alone take in from 1,000 to 2,000 watches a day. In the Middle Ages the business of pawnbroking was entirely in the hands of the Jews. It is said to have originated in Lombardy, the source, also, of our banking system. The pawnbroker's traditional sign of business is a cluster of three golden balls. It is said to have been derived from the coat of arms of the De Medici family. Pawnbroking is now confined chiefly to English-speaking countries. The pawnbroker is regularly licensed. A list of articles pawned must be sent to police headquarters daily. Anyone believing that a stolen article may have reached some pawnbroker's shop is entitled to search the premises on taking out a proper warrant to do so. The rate of interest charged is in many states regulated by law. After the expiration of the time of redemption the pledges become the property of the pawnbroker and may be offered for sale.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
one who is licensed to lend, or make a business of lending money on goods pawned or pledged.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Aiton's told readers in 1910 that pawnbroking was "now confined chiefly to English-speaking countries" and that a list of articles pawned must be sent to police headquarters daily. The daily list survives, but as an electronic upload to police databases, and the trade is neither shrinking nor Anglo-American: pawnshops are now large publicly traded chains such as FirstCash and H&T, and gold-buying booms after 2008 pushed pledge lending to record levels, while payday and app-based lenders took over much of the small-loan business the pawnbroker once monopolised. Municipal charity lending has largely gone, though Paris's Crédit Municipal, the old mont-de-piété, still lends against pledged goods. The three golden balls also survive, but scholars now usually trace them to the Lombard bankers or to St Nicholas rather than to the Medici arms that both entries repeat.
Written for this edition, 2026.