Cache-bert

I have my photocopy coins listed with the term "Simulated" in the title and an explanation on their page that they aren't the actual coin but just a pic with the tracking number. Hopefully if potential cachers see the description it won't be too big a disappointment that there's not an actual coin for them to take home with them for their collection. At any rate I don't think it's as big a disappointment as looking through a couple of thousand caches within a 100 mile radius with no coins in any of them. Geocoins are like $2 bills or $1 coins. People just won't move them once they get them. They seem to be much more willing to move the photocopies. I'm only doing this with GC trackable coins. It really would be lame to do this with personal coins or non-trackable coins. I think it would be good too if people who are hoarding the Jeep travel bugs would at least put something representative of them with the tracking number back out in caches so people would have SOMETHING of interest to look for. Why should events be the only way to get credit for a Jeep travel bug or a geocoin?

I agree that putting real geocoins in caches is preferable to putting a picture of a geocoin in a cache, but real geocoins just don't last long out in the wild. Before you know it, they're stashed away in somebody's sock drawer. Who wants a to take their coin that's selling for $50 on eBay and have it end up in some greedy weasel's sock drawer? I've put out several $5 USA geocoins over the years and had some of them never even make it to the second cache. If you can't put out real coins with the expectation of them surviving over a few weeks at most, what choice are you left with if you want to offer your coins to others to promote geocaching? Does it make more sense to give the tracking numbers out at events to friends or put them on laminated cards in caches for everyone to find? I've noticed that most casual cachers don't ever go to events and most have never found a geocoin at all. Why not give these people a chance to log a few coin finds, even if it's just a copy of the coin? Why does that seem like such a lame idea?

That is an AWESOME idea!! I am going to have to make something like that. {maybe you should sell your service on ebay } I already had Photoshop and a little cheap laminator. It's not hard at all to download a copy of a coin and type your own tracking number on it. There may even be an easier way to make durable copies of the coins. One nice thing about putting "simulated" coins out is that you can always print new ones and restart them if something goes wrong. It's kind of like having your cake and eating it too, (only with geocoins).

Since coins are pretty much impossible to find in actual caches, (the way nature intended), I don't see much of a distinction between getting tracking numbers directly off physical coins at events or by getting them over the internet. Getting them off the internet is probably more efficient, saves time and gas, and you get a better variety of coins. I've tried to do my part to fix the cache coin shortage by making laminated copies of my coins and actually putting the copies in caches for people to find and log. My hope is that most people won't be inclined to keep a picture of the coin like they would the actual coins. So far it seems to be working reasonably well.

Got mine today in southwest Virginia

Please reserve 4 for me. Thanks

I think pdxmarathonman has a good point. Some people collect coins for the physical coin and others want to collect anything that conveys an icon. If you had chips of petrified cow dung that were GC trackable and had their own icon, I have no doubt they'd sell like hotcakes. I have to admit I'd buy several. I think having personal coins GC-trackable makes them more desirable for the owner because that opens up a lot of options as far as activating them and watching them. (They probably won't go far though) It also makes them more desirable for most others who happen to get an unactivated coin for the same reasons. The thing is, from the icon collector's standpoint it doesn't much matter which personal coin you have since there's only one icon. That may be a good thing or else some of us would go nuts trying to keep up with them all. If a person really wanted to cheapen geocoins into something commercial, it seems to me you could buy enough tracking numbers to get a special icon, but then never have a public sale. Just turn a few out so people would know the icon exists. Wait about a month and then start listing them on eBay at the rate of about one per week. Should be some pretty high margins, I'd think.

E-mail sent Oops! Should have read the whole thread. Didn't realize they were sold out. Sorry.

If everybody else is queueing up, I want my name in the pot. I'll take 4 of the regular + 2 of the silver/gold/platinum/etc. if applicable.

Does it come with a GeoMoon coin to revolve around it?

On the Coins and Pins web site under Other Coins Available, they seem to offer bulk orders of several cachers personal coins. What's up with that? For $1532.00, one can order 200 Lemon Fresh Dog Geo-Bones? Does the original coin owner have sole ownership of the design of their coins or are these coins like studio photographs where the photographer retains the copyright to the picture, even though it may be of you? It may be an academic question but is there anything to keep the coin maker from offering personal coins for sale to the general public?

Message sent

The way I see it is that Geocaching is a game. Geocaching.com trackable coins, jeep travel bugs, etc. are game pieces that you can use to play the game. I think a lot of people choose to play the game by trying to get credit for all the different icons. In my opinion, that approach is more interesting and, frankly, a better use of one's time than trying to find thousands and thousands of look-alike caches. Consider how many people will drive hundreds of miles to a Planet APE cache as evidence of the interest some people have in obtaining a full set of icons. A non-trackable coin is a great thing to find in a cache. However, if it isn't trackable, you just don't get any credit in the game.

Oops! Sorry about that. I saw a picture of the coins elsewhere with a link and just surfed right on in to the ordering page. I didn't realize they weren't for sale at the time. Geocoins to cachers are sort of like bird seed to squirrels. You just can't leave either where they can be had and expect them to stay there untouched.

It didn't say which time zone applies. It's been 9/25 for several hours now in GMT.

These seem to have been flying under the radar http://www.oakcoins.com/mm.html

I made laminated copies of all my activated coins with the tracking numbers visible and then put the laminated copies in caches for people to find and log. That worked pretty well until most of them got collected and taken to an event this weekend. I'm hoping that they come back out of the event cache and are put into actual caches for other people to find again. If not, I'll just grab them back, make new copies and put them back in circulation myself. It seems to me that it would be a nice challenge to try to find and log all the different types of icons out in the wild. Unfortunately, I just don't ever see that happening with real geocoins, hence these simulated coins. Event caches are OK I guess, but that doesn't seem like a very interesting way to get the icon credits.

I think trying to find the all the icons is a perfectly legitimate way to pursue the *game* of Geocaching. I think it's probably a better way for most people to challenge themselves than to see if they can find thousands and thousands of look-alike tupperware bowls. (Finding huge numbers of caches is fine too but most people just don't have that much free time to spare). I look at trackable Geocoins as game pieces (which they are). I think it would be great if more people had them and there were more out there in actual caches to be found. Same thing for Jeep TB's. Getting the tracking numbers at events or online is sort of like going trout fishing at the hatchery. Where's the sport in that?

Two please

I agree. I'd much rather find a real geocoin than a picture of one. However I think I'd rather find a picture of one that I could log and try to collect credits for all the different types of icons than to be searching through 100 miles of caches and never see any listed at all. I can't imagine any actual geocoin, except maybe the more common USA Geocoin, lasting more than about two turns in real caches before it disappears. I've put out 12 USA Gecoins over the last couple of years and had some of them never even make it to another cache. Plus, considering how rare and relatively expensive some geocoins are, who in their right mind would put the real coin in a cache?

I've got my own little project going to try to solve the geocoin problem. I keep the actual coin and print out a copy of the same type of coin with my tracking number Photoshopped on it. I then laminate it so it will be durable. Then I put the printed "virtual" coin in an actual cache and it can be logged just as if it were the actual coin. I'm hoping that people who would normally be tempted to keep the actual coin wouldn't be so petty as to keep just a picture of a coin. Who knows though? The jury's still out on this. One good thing about it is that if any go missing or people don't circulate them, I'll just grab it back, print out another copy, and start it back in circulation again. I don't know how else all these different types of geocoins will ever be available to be found in actual caches.

Just paid for three. Thanks

Not really. At least with my way, cachers actually have to find the simulated coins to get the icons. That's the way God intended things to be. It would work with real geocoins too if so many geocachers weren't greedy weasels who hoard things like jeeps and geocoins and only show them to their friends so they can get the icons.

I've stopped putting any real coins in caches. Instead, I put laminated copies of my real coins with the tracking number in caches so people will have something to actually find in caches to get the icon. So far I've activated at least one coin of every type that's currently trackable on geocaching.com. I like to think people will circulate the copies and not keep them like real geocoins. If they don't circulate, I'll just make a new copy and put them back out myself. Right now, with a little effort, you can find every type of gc.com trackable geocoin within about 50 miles from where I'm at. Where else would you be able to do that?

I ordered 4 coins. Before the order finished I also got a Trojan virus that Norton A/V had to remove. What's up with that?? I'd recommend that everyone be very careful accessing that site.