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~*~*~ LordM's OPERATION PAPERCLIP 2012 (all done, winner of final drawing announced) ~*~*~
lordmarcovan
Posts: 43,255 ✭✭✭✭✭
lordmarcovan
Posts: 43,255 ✭✭✭✭✭
lordmarcovan
Posts: 43,255 ✭✭✭✭✭
lordmarcovan
Posts: 43,255 ✭✭✭✭✭
Comments
Ws
<< <i>Good luck, Rob. I'l already out of the trading...went above and beyond what I could offer pretty darn quick, lol >>
Say, Billy, it sounds as though you could stand to do a little paperclippin' yourself.
I love swapping. It's how I came to be standing astride such a vast numismatic empire, like a mighty colossus, haha.
Seriously, though, in twenty years of trading, I've come to hold what little I do hold. It's the poor man's refuge, and I've done OK at it over the years, and had fun into the bargain. Some of you will recall my earlier tale about parlaying eight dollars into TWO genuine 1877 Indian cents. Even twenty years ago that was some good swappin'.
This "red paperclip" thing had my name on it even before the game had a name.
Good Luck, Rob!
www.brunkauctions.com
<< <i>Someone tried to trade their way up to a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle on the sports card forum and the thread stayed alive for 4 years and took up 63 pages
Good Luck, Rob! >>
Thanks, Greg. Welcome back. Where the heck have you BEEN lately? Having a LIFE, spending time with FAMILY over the holidays, or something like that? It's high time you got back on the forums and set your priorities straight!
Wow, that is indeed an epic thread you linked to.
So it is far from an original idea, as I suspected. I've just added some of my own tweaks like the kickback incentive.
I haven't set a specific end goal, either, like a house (the red paperclip guy), or a Mickey Mantle card, or a specific coin or value. Just a time limit.
I'm just gonna freestyle it and "go with the flow, like a twig on the shoulders of a mighty stream", to quote John Candy as Dell Griffith in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. See where the year's trading carries me.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
Seriously not trying to rattle your cage...but don't you think that by offering people who trade with you a "lottery" value associated with the trade that it skews the results? I mean, for example, you could leverage your relationship with your family or good friends to quickly move up to an item wort $20 or $30 or so...but that rate of ascent isn't sustainable. Shouldn't it be on the merits of the item itself?
Again, truly not trying to start an argument. These are issues I wrestled with in my own similar experiment and ultimately decided to utilize the merits of the item itself (only) as incentive. This explains why I'm stuck right now.
Steve
<< <i>Seriously not trying to rattle your cage...but don't you think that by offering people who trade with you a "lottery" value associated with the trade that it skews the results? I mean, for example, you could leverage your relationship with your family or good friends to quickly move up to an item wort $20 or $30 or so...but that rate of ascent isn't sustainable. Shouldn't it be on the merits of the item itself? >>
Steve- yes, I suppose the "lottery" aspect of it can indeed skew the results. In fact, I planned it that way, to a certain extent. I thought it might help keep the thing going. People are gonna need a small incentive to give me a small trade advantage each time. Otherwise there's the danger of a stall. (I suppose that danger remains, in any event.)
If I had to rely on my wits alone in this thing, we might never get anywhere.
Sure, it would be more impressive if I did this based on the merit of the coins alone. (I've got real-world trades that are so based, of course).
But it also would be slower moving and less interesting to watch, probably.
Whether any rate of ascent is sustainable or not remains to be seen. Actually, as long as the general trend is upwards, who cares? It doesn't have to be a sharp climb.
This is completely experimental. I'm sure there will be snags and snafus along the way. I've got no idea what lies on the road ahead, but most of it should be fun.
I have two pending offers and will likely accept one of them, but I'm gonna think about it for a day or so.
So it's movin' on up, with the help of my swap partners.
Looks like you are off to a great start LM
Swap #5 has now been added.
A Trade dollar. It's getting more interesting by the day, wouldn't you say?
I'm not up into the higher grades with the 19th century Type like Trade dollars, but I'm now getting some interesting types in lower grade, anyway. And there was that slick CC Morgan dollar, which is actually the first Carson City Morgan I've owned (albeit briefly).
I've been having a blast with this so far.
2/21 update- now Swap #11. I'll skip bumping this TTT just this once, in interest with keeping a lower profile on the USCF for the time being.
It has taken a dozen trades, but it looks as though we're about to cross the $100 threshold at last.
Pretty good, if you consider we started with a $1.00 coin.
Nobody's gettin' rich here yet, but it's been a blast, and I've had some swappers come back a second time.
Anyway, guitarwes is going to prime the pump and take on Swap #13 and in return let me choose an appropriate amount from his inventory downtown, which happens to be in MY display cases (I let him take over my old antique mall business.)
Not even I know what Swap #14 will be, but we should know by the end of the day (today, Tuesday 7/17).
Will we get unstuck? Or will this whole project die on the vine?
Hey, our declared trade value has increased more than a hundredfold since the beginning, so even though there was that four- or five-month stall, it's still good. I'll just have to stay busy to show a brag-worthy return at the end of the year (which will of course then be split with one of the trade partners after we do a drawing).
Gold AND silver for this one.
I must say, despite several multi-month gaps, this little swap game has been a lot of fun and has done pretty well, considering I started the year with a $1.00 item. Now, with the year winding down, this could end up being the finale, or we might squeeze in one or two more swaps, who knows. (I will make an attempt to be around a little more in December than I have been these last few months.
The latest swap was two rolls of circ war nickels. Four and a half ounces of silver, in other words.
By the terms of the Paperclip game, when the year runs out, I will cash in the proceeds and split them with one of this year's swap partners (selected by a random drawing).
Note that I just used a stock image for the picture. The rolls remain unopened and unsearched by me.
Grad school and international traveling for a couple months this year
made it difficult to focus on this project.
So he and I each netted sixty-something dollars worth of silver bullion for my initial one-dollar investment. Not exactly the way to get rich, and it took a lot of work, but hey, this was a blast. And how many investments net sixty times their initial outlay, right?
I will start Operation Paperclip 2013 soon, along similar lines. Start from basically nothing, and see where it ends up after a year.
It was fun... will be keeping an eye on the 2013 thread too
Michael Kittle Rare Coins --- 1908-S Indian Head Cent Grading Set --- No. 1 1909 Mint Set --- Kittlecoins on Facebook --- Long Beach Table 448
<< <i>Congrats, TC!
It was fun... will be keeping an eye on the 2013 thread too
Indeed it was, and many thanks to you, illini420, and to all the others who participated.
The 2013 version is now up, right here.
Top 10 Cal Fractional Type Set
successful BST with Ankurj, BigAl, Bullsitter, CommemKing, DCW(7), Elmerfusterpuck, Joelewis, Mach1ne, Minuteman810430, Modcrewman, Nankraut, Nederveit2, Philographer(5), Realgator, Silverpop, SurfinxHI, TomB and Yorkshireman(3)