Pretty amazing day. There is a new pawnshop in the neighboring county (Southern Maryland Pawn + Jewelry). I talked the guy into opening the shop an hour early so I could look through his coins. Never expected to walk out 8 hours later with a job. Very nice and respectable guys (2 retired Police Officers). Pretty surprised how fast everything happend. Still kind of a blur. We just really hit it off, and he had a massive amount of coins. At first I was just helping him on pricing, and then I was taking pictures for him. Low and behold they offered me a job as their eBay guy. My first sale was actually a WW2 Dagger. The great thing is I don't have to deal with the regular customers. Have my own settup in the back with laptops, lighting, and packaging materials. Ran across an AU+ 10 dollar gold piece today as well as 500+ Mercs (some amazing toning on some). Didn't find any key dates. Besides that all kinds of halves, and low end junk silver. They offered me an hourly pay rate with a 2% commission on sales. Had no idea how mentally taxing everything was. I feel like I just worked 24 hours straight. If it wasn't for cointalk I would never be in a position to earn money off of one of my obsessions. First day was good. We will have to see how everything goes in the future. Very early to tell, but with the massive amount of inventory they have it seems like a really good gig. ~Jason
Very cool, congrats. Now don't forget to let us know about the cherry picks before posting them on eBay! LOL
Thanks guys. I'm very pumped about it. I am not sure about his policies on cherry picking. We have yet to cover that ground. I sure saw some coins that I wanted to though! I put together some lots (135) Merc Dimes (77 Merc Dimes) (7 Standing Liberty Quarters with dates). A lot for Halves (6 proof 64's, 3 Frankies, 6 Walking halves). There were some interesting 2 and 3 cent pieces as well. A lot of pre 64 quarters. The amazing thing is that they are pretty much allowing me to handle the coin department however I want. With this sort of long term potential I have to be 100% professional with everything I do. It reminds me of working at the Casino.
Oh my. Seriously. I've already been on the phone with my buddy from Virginia asking him a million questions. The photography (getting the detail in the coinage) was the most difficult part of the operation. I don't want to mention too much on here, but I now know what you were talking about refering to time management.
I was, but I just don't have enough capital to start my own operation. I made the decision walking in the door that I was going to attempt to establish a long lasting buying/selling relationship with the guy instead of trying to score a huge deal. Not going to disclose what they pay.. but as soon as I saw the 10 dollar gold piece mixed in with junk silver, I felt morally obligated to tell him what he had.
Jason ... what a great streak of luck. I don't know if luck is the right word, but I'm happy for you. Not to mention I'm jealous too! What a fantastic story! Rick
LOL ! Exactly what I was gonna tell him You'll find out soon enough Jason, the learning will come even if you never speak 1 word to your employers. When that makes sense to you, lemme know