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Dream Job in Numismatics?

19 posts in this topic

I've been thinking about this for some time. What would you want to do / what would be your dream job involving this hobby? grader for a slabbing service?

Mint worker/designer? Dealer (perhaps an upscale dealer like Parrino or Bowers)?

writer for a trade publication? auctioner? so many possibilities if you think about it.

 

I think mine would be up-scale dealer / collector. Having enough capital to bid and win those auctions most of us drool over. Arranging transactions involving thousands of dollars. Not to mention all the hot groupies and swinging cocktail parties.

 

Chris

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The retail end is boring. I've done it for short periods of time and it is not fun.

 

I wouldn't want to be a grader. I think my head would exploded after grading the 300th State Quarter or 200 SAE for the day. It would have been fun 15 years ago when great coins were submitted, but not today. I'ce sat down and gone thru a thousand or two coins a day and it is not fun.

 

I'd want to be a mint designer. I have no artistic talent whatsoever, but I still believe I could come up with better designs than those mint .

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my thoughts exactly, sunnywood. usually, a silent partner tries to maintain some significant degree of anonymity in that business' field.

 

this unnamed so-called silent partner to which we refer is about as silent as a cicada on a nice summer day in the 'burbs!

 

btw, is there anyone who doesn't know this unnamed so-called silent partner? well, maybe one or two people in kazakstan hasn't been clued in...

 

smile.gif

 

evp

 

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How about curator for the national collection at the Smithsonian. Once a month you could go dust the priceless "national treasures" that are in storage and never see the light of day. cool.gif

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Retail is real work, plus I don't think I'd enjoy walking the fine line between profit and honesty it requires, so being a dealer of any kind wouldn't be my "dream job". I'd love to be a cataloger/photographer for a major auction house.

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Museum curator would be fantastic.

Maybe a buyer for a large coin dealer. At least that way I could attend all the shows and still keep my integrity intact. grin.gif

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Grader? As in grader for one of the services? That would have been great 10 or 15 years ago. Now it would be awful. Can you imagine waking up every morning knowing that you're going to grade hundreds of state quarters and buffalo dollars that day.

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Greg:

I changed my mind, what I would want to be (when I grow up) would be: Q. David Bowers Son!!!

 

 

You are right. I was not taking it in the context of being required to grade 30 coins per hour.

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My dream job would be to research coin history in the Library of Congress. I'd love to be able to pour over legislation and Mint documents to answer historical numismatic questions.

 

I'm also interested in archeology, so digging around old branch mints and examining old buildings would be really cool. I saw some old cancelled dies that were unearthed in Carson City. I'd love to be able to find things like that.

 

For even more adventure, I'd like to travel to China to figure out more about chopmarks and how trade dollars circulated.

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I worked in China (back and forth) and spent about 1/2 of my life there for three years. I do not collect Trade Dollars, so I am of no use there. Actually, when the Curtain closed in 1949, most of China's history, records and anything of value went to Taiwan with Chang.

 

While I was in China, I went to several Museums, but all they had was reproductions. Chang robbed the whole country blind when he left. The exception being the Ming Tombs which were not discovered until later. After discovery, it took them many years to decipher the keystone to the tomb entrances.

 

Very interesting stuff, actually.

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Welcome aboard, William!

 

I must say that I was pleasantly surprised when I read my last issue and found a very nicely worded rebuttal regarding Beth's editorial on the PNG survey.

 

It almost made up for the time CW buried the news release about Legend buying the 1885 Trade Dollar. frown.gif

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