The Gold Paper Clip Project: Lithgow mother-daughter duo test the method of bartering

The closest you're likely get to trade ups and swaps is when you're flicking through TV and find yourself engrossed in a double episode of Barter Kings on 7mate.

Did you know bartering is the oldest form of commerce? It's when individuals and companies barter to exchange goods and services without the use of money.

Kellie Wicks and her eight year-old daughter Amber, from Lithgow in NSW's Central West, are on a mission to test the method of bartering and its validation in the modern day.

Inspired by the story of how in 2006 a Canadian man, Kyle MacDonald bartered his way from a single red paperclip to a house, Ms Wicks was intrigued and keen to experiment.

"I was telling my daughter about it and we were both interested so we are doing our own experiment. This may be insane but here's to trying and it being fun," she said.

Knowing the Canadian story started with a red paper clip, Ms Wicks searched through her house and discovered she had gold paper clips.

"We had a look around and found we only had gold paper clips in the house, it seemed like a classy way to start trades," she said.

She put a call out on a Facebook community group asking for trades and to her surprise, people were quick to comment with their own offers.

"We had offers to trade our paper clip with a succulent, a light shade, a greeting card, a light fitting, a soccer trophy and a SpongeBob SquarePants DVD," she said.

While there seemed to be some quality items on offer, Ms Wicks confirmed she had bartered her first trade, swapping the gold paper clip for a purple charoite polished stone.

"We made our first trade for a gorgeous polished charoite," she said.

"Charoite is a rare mineral and it's found only in one place in the world in the Sakha Republic area of Siberia, Russia. The purple is vibrant and includes swirls of shimmery lavender," she said.

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Ms Wicks said her and Amber hadn't thought of an end item to barter their way up to, instead just to see how far they can go.

"We would love to see how far it could go, it's basically us doing a social experiment of trading."

"Amber is so excited to see what each trade is and to learn about bartering," she said.

She has also set up a Facebook page called The Gold Paper Clip Project which will list the trades.

"I'll post what we have and what is currently up for trading, so show us your trades," she said.