On June 13, 1975, I thought I had made the greatest trade in the history of

bartering.

I traded my next-door neighbor, John Bledsoe, one baseball card of some guy I had never heard of, for a real, live turtle.

Over 30 years later, I think Kyle MacDonald has me beat. MacDonald, 26, of Montreal, Canada, traded one small red paper clip for a real, live house – in 14 trades over a year.

It started, as all great adventures do, with laziness.

“Instead of getting a job to buy a house, I just played Bigger and Better (a childhood barter game) until I actually traded up to the house,” MacDonald told ABC News. “That’s when I looked down at my desk and saw one red paper clip and said, ‘I’ll start with that.’”

His quest for his own home lasted a year and one day, ending on July 13, 2006. MacDonald’s trades started on an Internet Web site, then he created his own Web site to solicit deals, www.oneredpaperclip.com, and in the process, became a celebrity of sorts, appearing on radio and television programs to publicize his unlikely trek to homeownership.

Below is the incremental breakdown of MacDonald’s trades:

• One red paper clip for one fish-shaped pen.

• One fish-shaped pen for a tiny doorknob with a smiley face.

• Tiny doorknob with a smiley face for a Coleman camping stove.

• Coleman camping stove for a power generator.

• Power generator for a keg of beer. However tempting to end the game there (remember: MacDonald is Canadian), our young, lazy hero pressed on.

• Keg of beer for a snowmobile.

• Snowmobile for an all-expenses-paid trip to Yahk, British Columbia (population: 200).

• All-expenses-paid trip to Yahk, B.C. for a small-panel truck.

• Small-panel truck for a recording-studio contract.

• Recording-studio contract for a year rent-free in a downtown Phoenix apartment.

• A year rent-free in a downtown Phoenix apartment for a half-day spent with famous/infamous rock legend Alice Cooper.

• Half-day with Alice Cooper for a motorized Kiss (the rock group) snow globe.

•  Kiss snow globe to actor Corbin Bernsen, an avid snow-globe collector, for a speaking role in a film Bernsen’s directing, titled “Donna on Demand” (not a porno, from what was reported).

•  Speaking role in “Donna on Demand” for ownership of a house in Kipling, Saskatchewan.

After reading about MacDonald’s bartering odyssey, two things immediately strike me: First, the guy who traded the keg of beer for a snowmobile got ripped off, or was just incredibly thirsty. And secondly, Corbin Bernsen collects snow globes?!? According to the ABC News report, he owns 6,000 of them. And he’s married … to a woman … and she’s not Angela Lansbury.

Nope, I think Kyle’s got me beat by a mile. The card I traded on June 13, 1975 ended up being Hall of Famer George Brett’s rookie card, worth about $150 today. And the turtle died June 17, 1975.

I should have held out for a snow globe. I heard Corbin Bernsen’s a sucker for ‘em.



• Len Robbins is the editor/publisher of The Clinch County News.