Because he was largely uneducated, his business sense was considered peculiar. He was advised to send
bed warmers—used to heat beds in the cold New England winters—for resale in the West Indies, a tropical area. This advice was a deliberate ploy by rivals to bankrupt him. His ship's captain sold them as ladles to the local
molasses industry and made a handsome profit.
[6] Next, Dexter sent wool mittens to the same place, where Asian merchants bought them for export to
Siberia.
[2]
People jokingly told him to "
ship coal to Newcastle". Fortuitously, he did so during a Newcastle miners' strike, and his cargo was sold at a premium.
[7][8] On another occasion, practical jokers told him he could make money by shipping gloves to the
South Sea Islands. His ships arrived there in time to sell the gloves to Portuguese boats on their way to China.
[7]
He exported
Bibles to the
East Indies and stray
cats to
Caribbean islands and again made a profit; Eastern missionaries needed the Bibles and the Caribbean welcomed a solution to rat infestation.
[2] He also hoarded
whalebones by mistake, but ended up selling them profitably as
corset stays.
[2]
