The pawnbroker's symbol

Three balls suspended from a bar. The three ball symbol is attributed to the Medici Family of Florence, Italy. The symbol of Lombard, referring to the Italian province of Lombardy, is where pawn shop banking originated under the name of Lombard banking. Most European towns called the pawn shop the "Lombard". The House of Lombard was a banking family in medieval London, England. According to legend, a Medici employed by Charles the Great slew a giant using three bags of rocks. The three ball symbol became the family crest. Since the Medicis were so successful in the financial, banking, and money-lending industries, other families also adopted the symbol. Throughout the Middle Ages, coats of arms bore three balls, orbs, plates, discs, coins and more as symbols of monetary success. Pawnbrokers (and their detractors) joke that the three balls mean "Two to one, you won't get your stuff back".