nashuan

Congratulations on receiving such a beautiful coin, and just when you needed it most. Reading your story made me smile as I'm sure it did for many others here, so in a way your special coin is still giving. I agree with Lori Darlin that you should keep it with you, in your pocket or desk drawer for those times when your having one of tose days. What a wonderful gesture.

-------------------------------------------------------- I'm with Droo, I'm not biting. What next, little buckets of trackable water? Limited addition drops perhaps?

Like yourself, I'm fairly new to caching, though I have been trying to do a little research before going out, for a few months now. I have also wondered about what trade items would be appropriate to stock a new cache with or to bring to trade. A couple of great ideas people have offered are blank CDs and Dunkin Donuts cards with maybe $5.00 credited to them (write the amount available on the little envelope that comes with the card). Both will survive the rigors of semi-outdoor life. Good Luck, Michael

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That's a great idea! I haven't started going out and actually caching yet but have been following this forum for a few months now and have been building a cache of my own since late January/early February (don't ask, I have a tendancy not to do anything simple). I wondered what would happen if two or more coins pooled up into a single cache. With your suggestion, they would all keep flowing along, albeit as a growing cluster. What happens when the cluster gets bigger than the container? I also noticed that your cache is currently in my back yard (30 minutes away), up from North Carolina. If I get some time over the next week or so, maybe I'll try to find it and mark it as my official first cache found.

I was following a recent post concerning the selling of mystery coins on Ebay - I wouldn't place a bid on such an item so as to help deter their sale. As far as content on a coin, I'd say I would support a broad spectrum of designs including POVs. Say there was a coin expressing support for stem cell research. My life might have been deeply touched by the loss of someone who might have been helped by such research and for me, that coin might have particularly stong meaning. To someone else, it might be considered ideological rhetoric and "out of bounds". Who is to say what should be censored. Karma, AKA Dorkfish, just released a "naked caching" coin. Distasteful? Maybe to some, but she offered the coin in a family-friendle format and I say all the power to her. if someone doesn't appreciate the statement, they need only not buy the darned thing. As far as "commercial" coins, such as a Garmin coin, or whatever, I can even see some people getting jacked up because they love their Garmin's. if that's what they're into and it makes them happy, I don't think they should be considered "out of bounds". Again, If I'm not into Garmins, then I don't buy the silly things; they just wouldn't have any meaning for me.

Thanks for the cointest: 4.1 miles

Congratulations in advance: 1)Date of Birth: 05/23/08 2) Time of Birth: 4:23 P.M. New Jersey Time 3) Weight at Birth: 7 lbs, 4 oz. 4) Geocaching Motto: Daddy's first Micro For extra credit: First words just after delivery: Daddy, I looked and looked, but I just can't find a cache in there!

I've been reading this thread over and checked out the auction on Ebay. It was suggested in some of the earlier posts that the "seller" may need to liquidate some assets for whatever reason. In these trying times, it is understandable that someone might feel a financial pinch due to losing a job, health reasons, or whatever. Had I INVESTED money and PURCHASED coins and had to sell in order to make ends meet, even coins that I paid way too much for because I wanted them that badly at the time, that's my business and I don't think anyone would have a problem with that. The issue here is that these were GIFTS. The "seller", should not be selling these (IMO) under any circumstances. Even if he/she just felt like getting out of coin collecting, why not pass on the gift to someone who would appreciate the gesture as much as it was originally intended for them? Buying such a coin demeans the whole idea behind them. And from what little I could get from the auction description, it does not appear that this was intended for anything other than reaping personal profit. Maybe I'm wrong about their financial situation, but the coin should not be sold. I've been thinking about my comments overnight and would like to retract that portion which says "the auction did not appear to have been held for anything other than reaping personal profit". I have no way of knowing what the person's reasons are for selling a mystery coin are and should not have implied personal profit as being a motive - my apologies to the seller. I still feel however, that it is wrong to sell such a coin/gift. Sell off everything you've bought yourself if you need the cash or just want out of collecting, and if it were me and I wanted to part with the coin, I'd try to return the coin to the original "giver" if possible, with respect, or pass it along to someone who would appreciate it and in that way, you would pass along the generousity of the original giver.

Just ordered some. Can't wait to see them in person. I agree with pghlooking that the antique finishes would show these coins off better.

Hey dflye: Great pics and a great looking set up to tag your travelers

I've only been collecting since about February, so I can't say much about "the good old days", but I have seen the Yemon Yime and a 2008 Compass Rose Sample coin (I was fortunate enough to get one of each) both run in the few hundred dollar range, and the 2005 Compass Rose went for a shade over a hundred dollars a couple of times. I just checked Ebay's past listings. Of the 2429 auctions listed, The two highest were the Yemon Yime Compass Rose (highest price at $255.00), followed by a charity auction for a TnT Geofairy coin that raised $113.50. From there is starts going down hill pretty quickly. The 2008 Compass Roses in Black Nickel are around $75 - $100. I think the truly HTF collectors coins are great, and I take great pride in the few that I've been able to get my hands on, but I really like the availability of beutifully designed affordable coins. Whatever interests you, you can find something that will make you smile. I dabble in large format photography and this afternoon I found a LF coin with a quote from Ansel Adams on the back - I think it had a BIN price of $12-13 plus S&H. How can you beat that? If I get off my lazy bum (can I say that here?), I have some ideas for making a couple of my own coins that I think would sell to a fairly wide audience. I would probably make a collector version, but would first like to make something affordable that anyone interested could buy, and not be torn about putting into a cache to travel becuase of the money they "invested" in the coin itself. Shouldn't a part of geocoins be the fun of releasing your little ones into the wild and watch them run around? But yes, I can see the exceptional coin here and there going for over a grand. For the most part though, with so many variations to choose from, the market seems a little flooded right now. Ebay, typically has about 1000 to choose from; with the more desirable ones going from $50-$300 (with a little streatch), and of course new ones are introduced all the time.

I was very active in my local union some years back and would shop for American made products whenever I could. This would often drive my (then) wife nuts because I'd be checking out the tags in every shirt, pair of shoes, the labels on every box ect. and stretch what should have been maybe a one-hour shopping trip into at least two hours. Whenever I did find clothing that was American made, it frankly was not as stylish and was more expensive, but I always bought them anyway and I always felt a little better about wearing those particular clothes. The shame of it is, that most Americans would love to buy American, but can't afford the higher prices or US-made merchandise is not as readily available because retailers are always trying to offer lower prices, competing with the likes of Walmart and China, and forcing American manufacturers out of business or to move overseas to maintain profitability. The geocoin market is a reflection of the US market as a whole. If we produce our own coins in America, the prices will be a little higher and the availability of capable mints are simply limited (which then also limits color selection, design choices, metal plating options ect.) because a lot of our production factories in general have been liquidated. Any takers on setting up their own American based mint and producing geocoins for this forum? Michael

I just started collecting this passed February or so and have about 60 geocoins (no path tags to speak of), amounting to roughly 1 1/2 mortgage payments I don't know how that translates to pounds/kgs. (no scales in the house for the sake of my ego), but I know it's probably the beginning of what will become a large, painful hernia.

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I just received my Astro geocoins this afternoon, and they are B-E-U-T-I-F-U-L ! ! ! I remember going to the web site expecting to order 12-14 of each color and was disappointed to find that there was only a couple of each left. Of course I took what I could, and now that I have them in hand, I can see why they sold out so quickly. You guys did a great job! They are eye-catching (or should that be eye-caching), but still elegant and tasteful. I can't wait to see your next designs. Michael

2011

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----------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm getting ready to set up my first cache myself and purchased a couple of FTF coins (and initially had the same question). The previous posters are right IMO that you should leave them unactivated. However, if you want the fun of tracking coins, then I would also leave one for the FTF to pick up on your behalf. I got one from Ebay that was previously activated (but of course adoptable), and so was of reduced collector's value that I plan to leave as a traveler. Nashuan

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I saw a nice one on Ebay with a dragon/fantasy theme: Eragon Saphira Geocoin GOLD South Africa ERAGON Ebay number 290222512256 Current bid is at $7.99 (Plus S&H @ $4.00) with 5+ days to go.

There has been a lot of discussion here about coin values as related to Ebay. Such a forum probably indicates as well as any other what a coin is worth monetarily. The problem is that even here the price fluxuates pretty wildly from one day to the next. I've only been collecting geocoins for a few months now, but keep comprehensive records about the 25 or so particular coin series I collect. Every auction that closes, I collect pricing data and the time the coin was sold, hoping to make some sense of what makes a coin worth more or less. The fact is that there are too many variables to make up a list and say if you have a particular unactivated coin, that it should sell for so much. I believe I have found fluxuations in price that are attributable to the quality of the photo used in the auction, the country the coin is currently in, the day of the week the auction closes, and how many of the same coin are for sale in a short period of time. I remember seeing three fairly rare coins offered by three different sellers over a several-hour period. The "value" of each coin was diminished by the availability in the market for that several-hour period. Had these sellers spaced their auctions by a few days or a week, all three probably would have realized higher selling prices. I have also seen demand for geocoins rising across the board in my few short months of interest because of the growing interest of geocoins/geocaching in general. it's the Beanie Babies of our time. Perhaps by next year a coin that currently values around $100, will be worth $10, or perhaps $1000. Simple supply and demand at the particular time you buy/sell. A few years ago, I got into collecting antique artist-signed postcards and paid $100s in some cases for a single card. Today on Ebay these same cards sell for $5-10. With all the variables, you probably won't do any better than to check the 30-day history on Ebay for recent sales or track sales over a longer period of time if you focus on specific coins, but trying to make sense of thos results will test your patience. Buy coins you like and spend what you think you can afford. Don't activate them in case you decide to sell some day, but you'll probably be happier paying what seems like a fair price based on what information you can obtain and just enjoying the coins for thier beauty and not their retail/resell value. The question you should ask yourself is "if the market crashes, would I still be happy kepping these coins at the price I paid"? CACHE ON! Nashuan

Thanks again for all the replies. I think I've finally got it straight. I'm working out an idea for a cache, and will probably end up leaving a coin in there, though maybe not one that I would prefer to keep in my actual posession. Ebay already has me bidding $40+ for a few, that I would probably not want to let go wandering around the world alone. My wife and I have a really old german shepard who is having a difficult time getting around these days. We don't leave her unattended, which means it's hard for me to go out and play for extended periods of time. However, I'm hoping to get myself squared away with the rules of the game and start checking out some local caches over the next few weeks.

Thanks for the replies. Maybe I didn't explain myself properly or maybe I don't understand the rules of the game, but I didn't want to make the cache a traveler. My understanding of what was supposed to happen was that I would set up a cache and put the coordinates online bases on the tracking number found one a geocoin. People would look up the coordinates and try to find the cache. If successful, they would open the cache and hopefully enter some comment in the log book, maybe take a pic of themselves if I leave a camera in the cache and perhaps exchange a trinket. If it is custumary to leave a geocoin in the cache, I'm happy to do so, so that people would be able to take the tracking number from the coin directly, and later report to the tracking website (such as geocaching.com) that they indeed found the cache. If I didn't want to lose the coin, I thought printing the tracking info onto a pencil will allow only the people who found the cache to report the tracking number to the website and then they would have a small souvenier when they were all done. Maybe I'm mixing up the processes between a regular cache site and a traveling geocoin? BTW, thanks to Briansnat for the hints about what to put into the cache. Great ideas and much appreciated. Michael

A few days ago I discovered geocaching accidentally, when I was doing a search on Ebay for a completely unrelated item. I stumbled across several auctions for geocoins and being curious by nature, did a little research into what these things were, and now I find myself ready to check out this awesome hobby/game/activity, , , I was blown away by the artwork of several of the coins I saw, which brings me to my questions; When setting up a cache, do you leave the coin in with the log book and stuff (assuming you don't want to set up a travel cache/bug) or do you just identify the tracking number within the cache and keep your little coin safe and sound? I noticed a few caches located within easy travel distance to my home and will probably check them out soon to see how they're set up, but if the cache is identified by the tracking number found on the coin, I was thinking of having pencils printed with the tracking number and web site right on them, along with some simple phrase like "I found nashuan's cache at #####" , and leaving them as gifts for whoever found them. Any other suggestions for what could be left in the cache(s)? Michael