An anonymous 28-year-old software tester from Northern Ireland hopes to trade a second-hand pencil for a million dollars.
He plans to make a series of trades that gradually increase in value until he secures an item worth seven figures, which he will then donate to charity.
He set up the account @MillionDollarPencil on Instagram on October 13 and started the project with an old pencil he found in is bag.
On his first post he wrote: ‘This is where it all begins, I just need to swap this pencil for something that is worth a little more, like a pencil that is in better condition, a pen, perhaps even a pencil with an eraser.’
He managed to swap the pencil for a cigar, which set in motion a series of further trades. He continued by swapping the cigar for a signed book, the signed book for a set of Rubix cubes and the Rubix cubes for a bigger set of cigars, increasing the value of his item from an estimated 1 cent to $230.
He says he got the idea from Canadian blogger Kyle MacDonald, who became famous back in 2006 when he successfully traded a red paperclip for a house.
Kyle started by swapping the red paperclip for a fish-shaped pen, the pen for a hand-sculpted doorknob, and worked this way through a number of items including a camp stove, a beer keg and a snowmobile, before finally securing a two-storey farmhouse.
‘I thought I would make it my mission to do the same thing only bigger and better, but through social media,’ said the pencil trader.
The Instagram account that tracks the pencil trades has already amassed over 17k followers, including a number of notable names.
‘I’ve had some well-known people DM me about how they are potentially interested in doing a trade in the future – comedian Bert Kreischer, musician Danny Worsnop, and a friend of Conor McGregor’s,’ said the trader.
Each trade is documented on the Instagram page, as well as the Instagram story feature, so people who make offers get exposure for their contribution. He says this is a reliable way of getting people to part ways with a slightly more valuable item: ‘You’re essentially swapping for something of less value, so you need to fill the gap.’
The Million Dollar Pencil’s DMs are wide open, inviting anyone who thinks they can offer a suitable trade to come forward. Although, the pencil trader has received some strange offers as a result: ‘Some of the weirdest things I have been offered include people’s children, sex toys and guns’.
Needless to say, he is holding out for a better deal: ‘I have to be really careful when deciding what to trade, I am always after something that appeals to a wide range of people. I am in negotiations right now.’
He says the whole process could take anywhere between one to ten years, but that doesn’t put him off and he looks forward to making the donation to charity. He will allow the final trader to choose who receives the million-dollar item.
He said: ‘They can trade something worth a million if it fits. May not be a cheque. We’ll see when the time comes. But it will be worth 1 million, whatever we donate.’
If you have an item to trade you can send an email to hello@milliondollarpencil.com or shoot him a DM on Instagram @MillionDollarPencil.
And maybe dust off your old school pencil case. There could be a real fortune hiding inside.
MORE: How I Save: The 30-year-old web developer earning £40,000 a year with £10,000 saved
MORE: Man loses nine stone by ditching 10,000-calorie diet he copied from Instagram bodybuilders
MORE: My Label and Me: Being quiet is my volume, not my whole personality
source https://metro.co.uk/2020/01/02/man-mission-swap-old-pencil-one-million-dollars-11989748/
0 Comments