Ocatarinetabellatchitchix Posted January 18, 2023 · Member Share Posted January 18, 2023 Leu is looking for a numismatist to help identify and catalogue coins for their floor and web auctions. Here are the details: 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPK Posted January 18, 2023 · Supporter Share Posted January 18, 2023 Yes, they sent me the same offer. I wouldn't mind getting paid to look at coins. 🙂 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deinomenid Posted January 19, 2023 · Supporter Share Posted January 19, 2023 Ditto, but I couldn't work out if they meant expertise in Roman and Greek and Byzantine etc or one of. Fairly sure they meant all. Not sure how anyone can be expert in a good 2000 years of coinage across a huge range of mints. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benefactor DonnaML Posted January 19, 2023 · Benefactor Benefactor Share Posted January 19, 2023 (edited) @Ocatarinetabellatchitchix, I posted the same ad in the current thread about Leu. This was my comment: "Speaking of Leu, some of you may be tempted by the position advertised in this email I received today. You don't even have to move to Switzerland! If I had the requisite 'extensive experience as a numismatist in the coin trade,' and had the requisite knowledge of non-Roman coins, I'd certainly be intrigued!" I do wonder if in referring to extensive experience as a numismatist in the coin trade, they mean only experience from the dealer's side, as opposed to the buyer's side. Because I have plenty of experience in the latter! 18 minutes ago, Deinomenid said: Ditto, but I couldn't work out if they meant expertise in Roman and Greek and Byzantine etc or one of. Fairly sure they meant all. Not sure how anyone can be expert in a good 2000 years of coinage across a huge range of mints. The obvious solution is that we should all apply for the position collectively, based on our cumulative experience, and then divide the work and split the proceeds! Not many have greater cumulative experience than the collectivity of NumisForums members. In terms of access to a numismatic library, not only is there the Internet, but some of us do have comprehensive libraries in particular areas in hard copy. Personally, I would say that I have libraries as good as or better than most collectors on Roman Republican coins and Roman Provincial coins from Alexandria. Plus I joined the ANS recently, and could theoretically use their library. As could many others here, I'm sure. Edited January 19, 2023 by DonnaML 5 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Octavius Posted January 19, 2023 · Supporter Share Posted January 19, 2023 I think I meet their first requirement , however I'm shaky on the other nine. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Limes Posted January 19, 2023 · Supporter Share Posted January 19, 2023 I wonder about the requirement 'commitment and resilience in stressful situations', in regards to ancient coins. What could happen? "Quickly, hurry up, we need to correctly ID this coin within the next 60 seconds, or the bomb will explode!" 3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qcumbor Posted January 19, 2023 · Supporter Share Posted January 19, 2023 15 minutes ago, Limes said: I wonder about the requirement 'commitment and resilience in stressful situations', in regards to ancient coins. What could happen? "Quickly, hurry up, we need to correctly ID this coin within the next 60 seconds, or the bomb will explode!" Not that blast, rather : "thank you for providing us with the 1000 IDs before tomorrow evening"... Q 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhj959 Posted January 19, 2023 · Member Share Posted January 19, 2023 Piece work sucks! I used to mark college exam papers and some could take hours to mark so I'd only earn peanuts. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Limes Posted January 19, 2023 · Supporter Share Posted January 19, 2023 2 hours ago, Qcumbor said: Not that blast, rather : "thank you for providing us with the 1000 IDs before tomorrow evening"... Q And here I was, envisioning and scenario for a new Die Hard movie... 😉 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambr0zie Posted January 19, 2023 · Member Share Posted January 19, 2023 I have a similar activity for a smaller auction house (or used to have as I have no idea if they will still have auctions - total silence for 3 months). I haven't bought anything from Leu but I know they have pretty high standards in regards to quality. The house I work with (or worked?!) has a lot of low end coins. Very low end. The type of coins with the hammer of 3-5 euros. The activity is enjoyable for me, I can say it;s fun and educational - plus earning the extra cash is/was very welcome, but believe me, when you need to attribute 300 Provincials, 200 in modest condition and 100 slugs, it gets very annoying and time consuming. IF attribution is finally found. I don't think I would be a good candidate for Leu. First, the areas I have been working on are Provincial, RR and Imperial. I don't do Greeks but I suspect I could - but my knowledge is not strong enough. Celtic, Byzantine, Islamic, Medieval - nah. Zero. Second, I have major issues in spotting forgeries and tooled coins. I am still pretty far, overall, from being an expert. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benefactor Ancient Coin Hunter Posted January 19, 2023 · Benefactor Benefactor Share Posted January 19, 2023 (edited) I got the email too and was slightly intrigued. Well, being able to work from home is a boon. However, identifying Medieval and Islamic pieces is a bit outside of my wheelhouse. Being able to work in stressful situations is OK but admittedly a bit hard to understand, unless we can assume that Leu is ramping up their north American business and is looking to greatly expand their inventory from collectors here. Also, a bit surprised that graduate study (either M.A. or Ph.D.) in Ancient History, Classics, or Numismatics is not required. Edited January 19, 2023 by Ancient Coin Hunter 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heliodromus Posted January 19, 2023 · Member Share Posted January 19, 2023 This seems like a job that is screaming to be automated. With modern image recognition and a large dataset to learn from, I'd have to guess that 99% of the stuff being sold by auction houses (typically higher quality coins where attribution isn't made difficult by lack of detail) could easily be identified. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry G Posted January 19, 2023 · Member Share Posted January 19, 2023 1 hour ago, Heliodromus said: This seems like a job that is screaming to be automated. With modern image recognition and a large dataset to learn from, I'd have to guess that 99% of the stuff being sold by auction houses (typically higher quality coins where attribution isn't made difficult by lack of detail) could easily be identified. Step 1: Apply for job Step 2: Get job Step 3: Train an AI to recognise each coin ruler, type, reference number, pedigree, and write a little paragraph about each coin Step 4: Apply it to all coins you've been sent to identify Step 5: Buy a big bag to put all the money in 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heliodromus Posted January 19, 2023 · Member Share Posted January 19, 2023 13 minutes ago, Harry G said: Step 5: Buy a big bag to put all the money in 😀 Except I somehow doubt the amount they're paying would require a very big bag. 2 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deinomenid Posted January 19, 2023 · Supporter Share Posted January 19, 2023 There is another (Swiss as it happens) company that does this re image recognition etc. It has a very poor record of success,at least with people I know who have tried it. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heliodromus Posted January 19, 2023 · Member Share Posted January 19, 2023 (edited) At the very least an automated system ought to be able to classify a lot of coins, even if there's also a fair degree of fallout (insufficient training examples) still requiring manual attribution. I'm guessing this is paid for as piecework, so the auction houses could still save money by automating the easy stuff and only sending out the remainder. I remember Barry Murphy commenting about an upcoming days work attributing bags of Gordon III ants. That seems rather a waste of his talent! Edited January 19, 2023 by Heliodromus typo 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benefactor DonnaML Posted January 19, 2023 · Benefactor Benefactor Share Posted January 19, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, Deinomenid said: There is another (Swiss as it happens) company that does this re image recognition etc. It has a very poor record of success,at least with people I know who have tried it. To be entirely fair, their poor record of succcess is in identifying provenance for specific coins, for which I suspect the database is not nearly large enough, and the image-recognition technology not nearly advanced enough, to recognize consistently that a past image is the same specific coin (unless there's a very unusual shape involved). Whereas what @Heliodromus is talking about is only identifying the type of coin from past examples of the same type. Which may be easier to accomplish accurately, and should theoretically require only a database large enough to have a couple of examples of most types. Edited January 19, 2023 by DonnaML 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry G Posted January 19, 2023 · Member Share Posted January 19, 2023 4 hours ago, Heliodromus said: 😀 Except I somehow doubt the amount they're paying would require a very big bag. To be honest, I do wonder what their rates are (they say it's paid "per coin") 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benefactor Phil Davis Posted January 19, 2023 · Benefactor Benefactor Share Posted January 19, 2023 2 hours ago, Heliodromus said: At the very least an automated system ought to be able to classify a lot of coins, even if there's also a fair degree of fallout (insufficient training examples) still requiring manual attribution. I think it depends on what you mean by "classify." If you'll be content with, say, a classification like "Alexander the Great, AR drachm," adding conventional dates and generic description, then sure, the software isn't far from being ready. If though you want a complete description and precise dating, in other words, if you're looking for an actual Price listing (as Leu surely is), I imagine we're still years away. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deinomenid Posted January 19, 2023 · Supporter Share Posted January 19, 2023 14 minutes ago, Harry G said: To be honest, I do wonder what their rates are (they say it's paid "per coin") I know it doesn't directly answer your question but US and world coin graders are classed on salary.com etc as "highly competitive" pay, 100k plus. There were adverts from the major houses 10 years ago for SENIOR graders for "up to $250k so presumably considerably more now. I know those aren't paid per coin... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hotwheelsearl Posted January 20, 2023 · Member Share Posted January 20, 2023 13 hours ago, rhj959 said: Piece work sucks! I used to mark college exam papers and some could take hours to mark so I'd only earn peanuts. I used to grade papers during class, so in addition to not paying attention, I'd also not grade very accurately. Multitasking is awful 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furryfrog02 Posted January 20, 2023 · Supporter Share Posted January 20, 2023 I saw this email at work today as I was questioning my path in life... I don't think I'd be able to make a living supporting Mrs Frog and 4 tadpoles on their "per coin" fee unfortunately. 2 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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