Red Boat at Southwold
The end of the month draws nearer. I have two submissions ready to go, though I actually had six planned. One of those passed on 25th, leaving just five. I really need to get a move on. It’s not this month I need to worry about, it’s the six for the months after that, and the six for the month after that . . .
It’s hard to believe that at one time I was sending my submissions off at the start of the month rather than letting it drag on until the end. The advantage I find with submitting for the end of the month is that you hear from the editors sooner.
In the shop we had no customers calling to buy and nobody coming to sell. Just three aging men muttering to each other and, in my case, answering vexatious telephone calls. It was a vintage day for phone calls. From callers on bad lines to callers who seemed determined not to give me any information (despite ringing me to ask bout their coins), to customers who has seen their 25p coin on eBay for £14,000, we had them all.
Southwold – Gun Hill
Finally, released from work and free to use the keyboard, I wrote most of my daily blog, went for tea, watched TV and fell asleep just before midnight. That is why I will be writing the minimum number of words and going to bed.
One thing we noted today was that things we put on new (such as a run of medallions) not only stimulate sales (we sold two of the new medallions within an hour) , but seem to have an effect on the sale of similar, older items. Three of todays sales were medallions that had been on sale for six months or more. There must be a PhD thesis in there somewhere.
The pictures today are all guest pictures from Julia, who took them during our recent trip to Norfolk, including an artistic bicycle shot, the red boat from Dunwich and the cannon from Southwold – site of the Battle of Sole Bay.
Southwold – Parked Bicycle and Atmospheric Clouds
I like Julia’s guest photos very much! I suspect you will enjoy retirement very much when you get there. There will be more time to enjoy the good things out there in the world.
It’s quite exciting, in between the fear I may not live to claim my pension, and the thought of all the planning and admin.
Brilliant photos! Ey I have a question. How do you clean an old coin? I found one years ago in the garden.
General advice is not to clean old coins, but if it’s been buried in the garden cleaning shouldn’t do much harm.If it’s copper or bronze from Victoria to Elizabeth II (they usually are) try rubbing it between thumb and forefinger with either baking soda and washing up liquid or brown sauce. I think ketchup works too. Or soak it in coke. Coca Cola that is, just to avoid misunderstanding. 🙂
Silver will respond to those methods or you can do scientific things with foil and lemon juice. If it’s small and potentially Roman (though they did dress English Kings up as Romans) it’s probably best to avoid soaking it in coke. There are stories (possibly untrue) about coins dissolving.
A fine bicycle portrait. Compliments to the photographer. Did you escape the shower in the background?
I have passed your comment on. She seemed happy. Yes, despite being surrounded by squalls we seemed to miss them all.
Bravo Julia! Those are some lovely, moody shots. I especially loved the bicycle.
Regarding your discovery about sales: I know very little about the business, but the most useful thing I ever heard was “If you have 100 changes to make on a website (like a new listing), make them once a day for 100 days as opposed to 100 in 1 day.” The other thing I heard, which cemented this idea, was, “If you walk into a physical shop and everything is dusty, you don’t want to shop there, because it looks like no one cares, and online shops are the same. The online search engines want to see that you are in there every day doing things (updating, adding listings, changing descriptions, etc.)”
This is why I am not a more frequent commenter. lol It works! Good luck!
We do try to list things every day, and keep things fresh with new ideas. I even try searching the internet for suggestions on doing this, but find very little apart from suggestions from eBay about spending more money on their add-ons. The owner keeps trying new things, which sometimes pay off. Meanwhile, our third staff member does a passable version of Eeyore “those don’t sell”, “we never have any luck with them”, “nobody wants them” etc . . .
Fantastic photos! I really like the moody lighting.
I will tell her. Thank you.
Julia did well. That 25p coin must be worth snapping up – it’s a snip at £14,000
I can supply you with several hundred at 35p each if you are interested in making a stupendous profit . . .
🙂
🙂