 According to legend, he gave a bag of gold to three poor girls to save them from destitution, and these three bags of gold became the three orbs of the symbol.It has been conjectured that the golden balls were originally three flat yellow effigies of byzants, or gold coins, laid heraldically upon a sable field, but that they were presently converted into balls the better to attract attention.Pawnbrokers (and their detractors) joke that the three balls mean "Two to one, you won't get your stuff back".