Pawn shop banking originated under the name of Lombard banking and refers to the Italian province of Lombardy. The House of Lombard was a banking family in medieval London, England and this is what medieval Lombard merchants hung in front of their houses. Since the Medicis were so successful in the financial, banking, and moneylending industries, other families also adopted the symbol. The pawnbrokers’ symbol is three spheres suspended from a bar and it has been said that the golden spheres were originally three flat gold coins laid upon a sable field, but that they were converted into spheres to better attract attention. The three sphere symbol has also been attributed to the story of Nicholas giving a poor man’s three daughters each a bag of gold so they could get married. Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of pawnbrokers.
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