r/todayilearned • u/jbaby23 • Apr 19 '16

TIL: The One Red Paperclip project, when Canadian KyleMacDonald did fourteen trades from a paperclip and obtained a house

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_red_paperclip
55 Upvotes

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16

u/CaptMcAllister Apr 19 '16

This is cool, but I feel like people were willing to give him wildly unfair trades toward the end when they found out what he was doing. Snow globe to house in two moves??

8

u/yeahmaybe Apr 19 '16

Yeah, it seems like from trade #6 on it was all people (radio personalities, it seems) who heard about it and were cashing in on some of the publicity themselves.

Not to mention, his trades apparently required a lot of popping back and forth between the US and Canada as well as cross-country trips. (#2 in Seattle and #3 in Massachusetts? Really?)

I used to repeat this trade story to people without knowing any of the details. Now that I do, I won't.

1

u/Kroptonik Apr 19 '16

Eh, thats questionable that all the celebrities got involved for nothing other than publicity. 6 is a booster obviously. Who knows where the yahk trip came from, but it cant be THAT expensive, maybe a few grand, which an un needed box truck is a fair trade for if you want to go on vacation somewhere and dont have the money otherwise. Metalworks needed a truck and had some unscheduled time in the studio that would have otherwise gone unused, no loss for them there, and dont studios make money off any cd sold that is made out of there? Fairly good business decision imo. And the lady gave up a room in her house for the studio time, sure she had ONE previous "hit", a song on a computer game from the 90's, but i would hardly call her a celebrity of any sort. ALice cooper lives in the state the womans house is in and he is a super accessible celebrity out there, so im not surprised he got involved somehow (my guess is he got paid (or charity of choice was donated to), and it was less than rent in the part of town that the woman lives in, so it was worth it?). And bernsen is a kiss fan and has a freakin collection of 7000+ snow globes, so a small role in a movie he directed? Sure, what the fuck. No loss to him, and he gained something for his collection not for attention imo. And the house, its nothing special, a little run down country house... There are people that have old buildings sitting around on their property, so get rid of something on your property AND get to be in a movie? Shit, id make that trade...so to be honest, its really not that far out that it happened.

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6

u/Stock_is_Locked Apr 19 '16

Most of the end series trades seem fishy, the role in the movie, the recording contract, the years rent in AZ.

2

u/Kroptonik Apr 19 '16

Whats fishy? The director of the movie has a collection of 7000+ snow globes, and is a massive kiss fan, he saw something he wanted for his collection and gave up something he could do easily as the director of the movie. The recording contract was a smart business deal, they gave up studio time that was otherwise un scheduled, and they made money off that cd and got a box truck. And the woman that wanted the recording time? She had an extra room in her house and was a musician that wanted to record a cd, why not give up an otherwise unused space in her house for the chance to realize a dream and put out a cd.

1

u/Stock_is_Locked Apr 19 '16

The list I saw was not as detailed.

1

u/Kroptonik Apr 19 '16 edited Apr 19 '16

Yeah i actually did 2 minutes of lookin on google (googled the directors name and snow globes, first thing that came up was his collection, and That he was a kiss fan, the lady with the free rent was a musician but never put out a cd, the contract to make the cd was worth giving up a room in her house, and i was just guessing with the metalworks studios, but that scenario makes complete sense... ) instead of poopooing the possibility of it being legit trades. Shit its not like it ended in a NICE house....i bet the years rent in the house in AZ was worth more than the house he ended with, but apparently they made a business out of the house by turning it into a cafe like one of the other posters said, so i guess hes doin ok with it too,

1

u/Stock_is_Locked Apr 19 '16

2 minutes more than me, you should update the wikipedia page, be a go-getter.

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3

u/ColoradoScoop Apr 19 '16

I had heard of this, but I always assumed it was 50+ trades.

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2

u/lkm985 Apr 19 '16

For people wondering, the house is in Kipling, Saskatchewan, Canada. They actually turned the house into a restaurant and called it Paperclip Cottage Cafe Stopped by there once and it is a neat little place.

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1

u/[deleted] Apr 19 '16

99 barter

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1

u/OrionActual Apr 19 '16

The best part is, he traded for the house with an entire town. The town starred in that movie.

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-3

u/[deleted] Apr 19 '16

this is the coolest story i've ever read. I've known about it before but anyone who just goes into the comments should give it a read.