I just hired a "Darkside assistant". LOL

lordmarcovan · January 12, 2009 10:28AM

I just took a box with a couple thousand Darkside coins next door to my neighbor. She's a stay-at-home mother of three and her husband is currently unemployed or partially employed. She complained she was bored and the kids drove her nuts sometimes, and she said she was thinking of getting a cheap computer with dialup and looking for some work-at-home job. I warned her of how much of that stuff is a total scam (she'd seen some TV ads).

I told her I thought I might have a job for her, which would only pay cigarette money or a little bit of gas money, but she pounced, saying that was really all she wanted.

So I took my whole drawer of loose coins and dumped it into a box- probably 30 pounds worth, and got another box with a couple thousand 2x2s and my flat-clinch stapler, and I put her to work.

I now have a coin stapler. At a nickel per coin. It's work she can do while she watches TV.

Of course I'll still have to label all the dang things.

Ow. I can feel the writer's cramp already.

ajaan · January 12, 2009 10:34AM

Sounds like you'll soon be ready for another bulk lot.

lordmarcovan · January 12, 2009 10:58AM

Yeah, once I sell these. That should only take... ahh... about 300 years.

Actually, once I have them all labeled, I am gonna go the binder page route, like you have seen me do here before.

Sometimes I wish I had an assistant who actually knew something about coins and had neat handwriting, but then again, I enjoy looking up the stuff and pricing it, once it's all labeled.

It used to be a labor of love for me and I could happily spend hours or days playing with the bulk lots, but I just don't seem to have the time anymore. I suppose that is part of the transition from collector to dealer. I have always been a player of pawns and putting a lot of cheap stuff into holders and labeling and attributing it is one way of making something from nothing- but it involves hours of work that have nothing to do with the numismatic end of things. It's well worth it to me to pay a nickel per coin to have somebody staple it into a holder. I used to do that myself when we watched TV, but I no longer watch much TV and spend most of my time in front of this puter instead.

I figure I pay 5-10 cents per coin, 5 cents for a holder (actually more like 2 or 3 cents in bulk) and 5 cents to get it stapled, and then I have about 20 cents in each one. Plus the time it takes to label and price it. Then I sell them for anywhere from 33 cents to a couple of bucks each, and well... it's not a way to get rich, but it pays most of the rent at the antique mall each month.

Maybe if I start selling 20-pc binder page lots, I'll work through this big heap o' cheap soon enough.

IloiloKano · January 12, 2009 11:16AM

<< Maybe if I start selling 20-pc binder page lots, I'll work through this big heap o' cheap soon enough. >>

How about grouping all the US-PI issues together. Then I just might take a binder page or two off your hands.

lordmarcovan · January 12, 2009 11:37AM

Most of my US-PI stuff is the ubercommon stuff, like 1944-S 1-centavo pieces. And not a terribly huge amount of those. I did cherrypick a gorgeous Manila-mint pre-commonwealth centavo (an AU rainbow toner) once, but I think I sold that one off.

You're right, though- stuff like that and stuff like the British predecimal, I will probably group together by one country, rather than OFEC.

satootoko · January 13, 2009 1:05AM

<< Of course I'll still have to label all the dang things.

Ow. I can feel the writer's cramp already. >>

Why not develop a word processing program to make the labels?

I use Word Perfect, and set the page up with rows and columns, put my info in with the zoom set to 200%, which makes it easy to read, then print it at 9pt which makes it fit the available space.

olmanjon · January 13, 2009 2:36AM

Did you tell the young lady to place all of the coins a certain way in the 2 x 2's and the staples going through from one direction.(Such as the obverse on the front) If not, you might be redoing them.

rgCoinGuy · January 13, 2009 4:14AM

BBQnBLUES · January 13, 2009 4:45AM

From your Topic, I expected to read that you hired an illegal alien

FilthyBroke · January 13, 2009 6:25AM

Hey LordM, if she doesn't work out, I'll bet there's a few around here that wouldn't mind the job.

lordmarcovan · January 13, 2009 9:24AM

<< Why not develop a word processing program to make the labels? >>

I've done that with flips. Never tried it with staple-type 2x2s. I have been thinking about it, though.

<< Did you tell the young lady to place all of the coins a certain way in the 2 x 2's and the staples going through from one direction.(Such as the obverse on the front) If not, you might be redoing them >>

There was a brief tutorial in which I did two coins. Three staples per holder, coin right side up, if there is a head on one side put "heads" forward, try not to thumbrint the coins when you put them in the holders, put staples right, left, and bottom, with the fold at the top. I thought that should cover it. I forgot about reminding that the staples should all go through in one direction. One would think that would be obvious, but then again, when my 17-year-old nephew lent a hand recently, and he apparently forgot that issue on a couple of pieces. Oh, well. He got most of 'em right.

I fully expect some of the Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic coins to be upside-down.

<< Hey LordM, if she doesn't work out, I'll bet there's a few around here that wouldn't mind the job >>

Yeah, but then I gotta ship a box of coins roughly the weight of a cinderblock to whoknowswhere. Nope, I'll "stimulate the local economy" with my nickels.

rgCoinguy- you want pitchers?

How 'bout a Dixie cup?

(Scary thing is, she bears a rather strong resemblance to the lady in blue. Not that I have room to to poke much fun, being a considerably overweight trailer dweller myself).

lordmarcovan · January 13, 2009 9:27AM

You were expecting a Bluemooncoins booth girl, perhaps?

This is rural Georgia.

rgCoinGuy · January 13, 2009 9:33AM

ajaan · January 13, 2009 9:58AM

Rural Georgia.

AuldFartte · January 13, 2009 11:08AM

I hope you're having her flatten those staples.

P.S. Why not hand her a Krause and give her another nickel per for labeling ...

lordmarcovan · January 13, 2009 12:13PM

<< I hope you're having her flatten those staples. >>

That is what a flat clinch stapler is made for.

<< P.S. Why not hand her a Krause and give her another nickel per for labeling ... >>

Umm... yeah. Right.

olmanjon · January 14, 2009 6:49AM

By the way where does one buy a flat cinch stapler? I have been using a plier and that is just too time consuming. Thanks, Olmanjon

pendragon1998 · January 14, 2009 7:34AM

I bought mine on eBay, but most of the bigger online suppliers like JP's Corner have them.
http://www.jpscorner.com/2x2_Holders.htm#Stapler

olmanjon · January 15, 2009 5:38AM

Thanks Mike-will check it out.
Olmanjon

olmanjon · January 15, 2009 5:48AM

Got it. Ordered the palm one with 5,000 staples, for $25. Thanks again, Olmanjon

lordmarcovan · January 15, 2009 6:58AM

That is a pretty good price. I used to use a standard stapler and crimp the staples with pliers, but after a few hundred coins I had blisters on my hand from the pliers! When ladymarcovan got me the flat clinch for Christmas one year, after I tried it for the first time I smacked myself on the forehead and said, "I can't believe I was too cheap to buy one of these for myself, years ago".

I just hired a &quot;Darkside assistant&quot;. LOL

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I just hired a "Darkside assistant". LOL