How to get a job in the numismatic field?

[L1ncolnF4n]

I'm 19, and a full time college student. I've shot some emails to different firms looking for summer opportunities, but haven't heard anything back. I know in a recession people aren't antsy to hire, but I'm trying to get more experience in the field to help myself grow as a collector and investor.

 

If anyone has any ideas throw them my way, please and thank you!

 

Cheers!

Jeff

[swhuck]

The recession has hit everyone and while we have been able to offer summer internships to people in the past, we were not able to do so this year.

 

However, that doesn't mean you should stop trying. Send those e-mails and resumes out to the appropriate firms (the proper e-mail address for Heritage Auctions would be Jobs@HA.com), and let people know that you are out there. Hopefully by the time summer rolls around, we or someone else will be able to offer you something.

 

You might also consider asking for part time work at a local coin shop; there is nothing like constantly being exposed to coins.

 

In the meantime, regardless of how the search goes, keep up your collecting. We are certainly always on the lookout for talent, and if you're young, motivated, and talented, I suspect you'll have a great future ahead in the field.

[James_OldeTowne]

If you have a local coin store, make an in-person visit and see if they have opportunities. Tell them you're willing to start out with the most mundane tasks - even stapling flips, if that's what they want you to do.

[L1ncolnF4n]

Unfortunately I've tried all the local coin shops to no avail, even though I'm on first name bases with the owners. I can understand where they're coming from though. It takes a lot of trust to allow someone to work with thousands of dollars of merchandise that can so easily disappear.

 

Stewart thanks for the advice, I will shoot out a resume and cover letter to Heritage later today.

 

Jeff

[Houston Investor]

IDK of any except among elite dealers or graders who go to work for a large firm like Heritage. The guys I have seen working at shops are guys who were small part time dealers on the bourse who became acquainted with larger dealers who formed a partnership and bought a shop. Then they got on at the shop possibly after being laid off or retirement. There is such a glut of dealers nowadays ;we all joke we would be in trouble if we had to do this fulltime. I don't see myself giving up my well paying day job (Financial Consulting) to do coins fulltime anytime soon, especially doing shows with a steady parade of patrons who are either broke or won't pay retail or worse they simply came there to steal. A well known currency dealer told me he started his currency business as a schedule c tax shelter. Operating a shop is time consuming and the overhead costs horrible. The retail environment for coins right now is very weak or in many locales dead. Shops mainly make their money buying stuff for about half whats it worth (or less) and then flipping it wholesale at a show.

 

If your interest is dealing coins start like David Bowers did by setting up at shows. Even if your doing it for just a schedle C deduction, it can be fun for as little as $10,000 for an initial inventory. I know of one guy who started out with an initial investment of $1000 in world currency. Once he could fill 2 cases he was good to go he said. I asked him how he was able to make such a small investment work. He said "I picked out affordable notes with neat designs and priced everything double bubble (cost + 100%)." Specialize in something you like and that fits within your budget. Its easier to make $10 on a $100 coin than $100 on a $1000 coin. A young person should gear their efforts towards a degree in a field like accounting, engineering, or teaching so they can get a paying real job.

 

 

[World Colonial]

I have no idea whether there are too many dealers or not, but I see no reason for even bothering with the average B&M shop. The few that I have frequented in the last few years have nothing worth buying and this would be mostly true even if I were a collector of US coins.

 

There is the potential benefit of seeing or possibly buying coins in person, but that is contingent upon these dealers having something worth buying.

 

From the business standpoint, I see the internet enabling the bigger, specialist and better known dealers taking business from the rest. And I would expect that this has already occured to at least some extent if not a lot.

 

In a prior post, someone (I believe Greg Marguli) mentioned that most collectors were in the lower middle to middle middle class based upon their experience as a seller. I'm not sure how this was determined but if it is correct, then this demographic has definitely been hit hard by the current economy and this must be impacting their businesses.

 

(My personal assumption is that the average collector is better off than the median household because of the financial requirements and discipline it takes to accumulate any type of decent collection, though opionions may vary upon what exactly that is. If this is not correct, then I would expect coin prices to fall quite a bit because of forced selling as unemployment has increased. But I do not know if this has happened or not.)

 

When I was growing up in the 1970's, the typical collector mainly had access only to the local dealer. Presumably, they also ordered by mail but this was even more difficult than buying today over the internet because you would have had an even worse idea of what the coins actually looked like.