My dream job is to someday work at a coin shop. I feel I would absolutely love this and it would lots of fun for me. I'm working on my grading skills (they are not the best) and my counterfeit detection is good for the most part (Besides alterations..) I have gone to a few and asked what it takes. They said years and years of grading experience and apparently you have to have a special contract of some sort agianst theft from the store. That's what they said when I tried to voluneteer or work at some, that I couldn't for reasons of liability. I try to look at as many coins as I can on heritage, I used to go to coin shows with my friend dennis who mentored me, but when I moved that has stopped. What does it take to become a coin dealer? And I mean actually working at a coin shop, I don't care if I start off just doing papers, I just want to get my foot into the door. This is a job I think I would really enjoy.
I haven't worked in a coin shop myself but the basics of all retail service businesses are similar. I would think that to start working in a coin shop, as opposed to running the shop, you would need an understanding of all of the US coin series, some knowledge about foreign coins and tokens, the ability to identify obvious counterfeits and damaged coins, and good customer service skills. I'm not sure that "years and years of grading experience" is a necessity for an entry level position because the owner will probably perform that function, but some skill is essential. Most of the other skills should be taught to you by the owner since each shop probably has a different emphasis on things like metal detector sales, buying gold and silver jewelry from walk-ins, etc... You would probably start off selling coins that have been already graded and priced, keeping track of inventory, and helping the owner prepare for shows. If you think you would like it you should continue to pursue the goal.
Do you like the ocean? Do you like boats? Are you certified to dive? Have you got any special skills in oceanic salvage, engineering skills, world coin & conservation, etc.? Odyssey Marine Exploration seems like a fun coin related job without being stuck in a retail shop environment. They've been rather successful in their recovery.
Good luck with it! Coin grading, you're right, would be a vital skill. People-skills would be as well. . . like it or not, people just will GO INTO a store more often if they've had a pleasant experience there. Some retail folks serve smiles, other serve coffee, others do jokes, but it's good to be able to just pleasantly talk with people. Kind of like what barbers do.
Allstate Insurance Company can provide a performance policy to protect any employer from losses due to theft by an employee. As Cloudsweeper99 already pointed out, most of the coins, publications and supplies for sale in an established coin shop are already priced. Most coin shop owners grade and price the coin inventory themselves, as well as, tender offers for coins brought into the shop. Let the owner decide on whether the coin/s are counterfeit, altered, previously cleaned, or the extent of damage to the coin/s. Clinker
I have been reading books and numismatic news weekly, all I can to learn more about every series and become more familiar with the key date of each series.
Here are some good threads to read up on if you haven't already. The costs of the coin dealer becoming a coin dealer Summary of my first experience as a real coin dealer Becoming a coin dealer
I suggest you just go around asking at as many coin stores as possible if they would hire you. Many might after a decent background check though. I think you'ld be surprized at how many people get jobs at places with no or little knowledge of the products. In fact some dealers may prefer a not so coin bright person so they can pay them less. If experience and knowledge of a subject was important by todays standards, I've missed that in many, many places of buisness. In almost any hardware place like Menards, Home depot, etc the greatest amount of employees have a difficult time telling you where a nail is located. Furnature stores have people that are not sure how to open a desk. Macdonals, Burger King around me requires an someone speaking Spanish to order properly. My Son had a job at a hospital in the prescription department and he went to college for computer sciences. So I suggest you just try for a job in a coin shop. Nothing to loose you know.
The coin business is kindof like the funeral home business in a way - you don't see job openings in the Help Wanted ad part of the newspaper. In most cases the jobs are filled by someone that the owner knows, or was suggested to by a friend. In my case - I'm currently looking for another job - since I've worked within the funeral world for a few years I started by contacting as many funeral directors that I could by email all over the state. I asked if they were looking for someone, and also gave a short overview of what I've done, and my skills. Very few wrote me back, but those who did I would bet would be very willing to suggest me to their friends if they knew of an opening. Those who didn't write me back either didn't get the email, weren't intrested, or just printed my info and put it in the file for interested persons. I would say that within the next few months I'll have a job with a FH somewhere in the state, and if not now, most will remember me and contact me down the road just to check in. Another thing I do, and you should too, is to attend any meetings that owners will be at - conventions, shows, business lunch, etc. Most of the time if you don't already have a pass, someone with the show/lunch/etc will work with you since you are intrested in the work, and would like to get a job soon! The best advice I can give you is to keep the contacts running - at this time, your job is finding a job, and that isn't just a 8hr job, that is a 24hr job for you. Good luck! Speedy
It's all about who you know/networking. Get to know the dealers in your area. Ask them what it would take for you to work for them. Tell them you will work for free that might help.
Join a coin club. You will get many connections and when you go into a shop where the owner doesn't know you, you may know some people in there and that could be enough. Good luck!
I actually attended my class on grading, conservation, and counterfeit detection with a person who worked at coin gallery here in AZ. I asked them to to hire me and they basically said as I said before, it requires many years of grading to be able to work there. Several years ago when I was more obessive I had bought a gold angel from them, it looked suspious to me so I called the store, talked to one person there. He was very rude, basically telling me it was real and I had no idea what I was talking about. I later took it to brian silliman at my class and he also said it was real. I'm past that and don't really worry about counterfeits like i Used to, but even though they are my favorite coin shop because of their inventory, they weren't friendly to say the least. I don't really care if I don't get a good position to start, I just want to get my foot in the door. The main problem right now is I just completed my 80 hour internship in basic computer training and clerical duties, so I'm currently looking for a job for that. Maybe I could work 2 jobs?
My dream job is being the fat racist chinese dwarf, who hands out the bath towels at the gay bath house in Purgatory. Traci
Check the websites of coin dealers in your local area, sometimes they advertise job vacancies that way. That's how I got my job. After months of unsuccessful attempts at getting more mundane jobs as well I might add....
