Back in the good old days, there were these (monthly?) coin swaps...

moursund

I'm back on these forums after nearly 20 years away.
I could be mistaken, but I recall that there used to be ~monthly coin swaps.
They went something like this:

Organizer posts to announce the upcoming swap, noting the ground rules, like
1. participants must have at least X posts, be a member for at least X months, or whatever.
2. Min $100 value, no maximum value.
3. Use e.g. 2022 redbook for valuations.

Organizer, who is trusted and respected CU member, gets a list of people interested.
Organizer posts the list of who is in on the swap, and who each will send to, e.g.

ORGANIZER-> philly77 -> morgan4all -> oldYeller -> scooby ->...-> ORGANIZER

Each person contacts target to get mailing address, and optionally some idea of what they like.
Each person sends a package to their target.
Each person receives a package from somebody else.
Everyone has the opportunity of being generous, of opening a surprise package, and possibly of getting rid of weird stuff from their collection

Each person reports to organizer when they get their package.
Each person also thanks their benefactor, and can share the details with the forum as desired.

Organizer, at the end of the month, posts how everything went, and announce the next swap.

--

Does anybody remember these?
Does anybody want to launch a new one?

Thanks,
am

Mgarmy

We did something like that here for Christmas last year or the year before as I remember. All one big day since the vid came to town

LukeMarshall

Last one I participated in at least five years ago involved a single box packed with say 10-15 items valued about $100 a piece sent to one member who would take something they liked from the box and put in something of equal or greater value that someone else may find interesting, then mail to the next member. Each member was responsible for repacking and shipping insurance in the case of a total loss.

It was fun, I scored my first ANACS photo grade , and dropped in an MS65 peace dollar OGH in return.

@moursund if you decide to start something let me know.

SurfinxHI

I'm not sure...but I think I lead the one(s) that LukeMarshall is talking about.

It was fun.

Values were based on greysheet. I approved all trades (there were a few that wanted to put in a lot of low value coins with little demand for higher value stuff that were not approved for trade, but most trades went exceptionally easy). Box was always sent registered mail, so it was slow. Looking back on it, priority mail with sufficient insurance would have been fine, as the box value was always about $2000-$3000. A continuous thread was maintained on the box, with an inventory so everyone knew what was in it. First person to "call the box" was the next person to get the box. I sent out a post to let folks know it was updated, etc.

I think you could dig up a list of my rules if you troll back through the threads. It always worked out, and was fun.

Surf.

SurfinxHI

https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/851525/coin-tag-im-starting-a-new-one-its-been-a-few-months-since-the-last-one#latest

moursund

That big box going from person to person sounds like a variation on a 'tag' rather than a swap... but interesting.

If nobody else jumps in, I'm thinking about launching a 'swap', similar to the ones I recall from the old days. If there is enough interest, I'd like to emphasize that the coins sent should be solid, problem-free, collectable things. It is always allowed to include 'bonus' stuff that is more frivolous, but the main stuff should be the real deal.

Are there other guidelines for a swap that would be advised?

am

bigtime36

I did these back when I first started, one was around Christmas and others were just random. We did a pairing where the host picked pairs to trade together with a certain dollar amount agreed between the two and also the trade box that went between members as mentioned above. Was always alot of fun, but as time has gone on alot of those members are no longer around.