Shasties

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If the coin was actually intending to travel (not a FTF prize or a non-trackable coin), Yes, I'd like to know. I've had a similar situation in several of my TB motel, where both coins and TB's have gone missing and the owners have emailed me asking if the items were logged in the logbook as being taken. There was no mention of it in the online logs. In one case the TB (a Gameboy with a TB tag attached to it) was logged as taken by a local (newbie) cacher and in the other case a Coin (a Germany coin) there was no log at all. Neither ever showed up again. I spent a lot of time trying to help the owners of these items find them with no luck.

Boy, am I screwing up somewhere. I cannot, for the life of me, customize my signature in my profile. Yes, I am a premium member. Yes, I do enter my password to make the changes. I'm trying to add several hyperlinks in my profile to direct people to my coin collection page and a site that has a picture of our new coin. I can get the text to show up, but no matter what I do, I cannot get the text to hyperlink. It's in the form of (a href="http://www.thecachingplace.com/Cachunuts/CoinTrade/showlist.asp?type=2&owner=27") Our Coin Collection (/a) where the ( is actually < and where ) is actually >. Someone told me to use a [] in place of the <>, but that doesn't work either. Does anyone know what the heck I'm doing wrong? The link itself works OK when I paste it in the address. It looks like I'm following proper HTML programming (I think). The text will show up, it just doesn't hyperlink.

A noble idea but more often than not you're just funding the collections of other people. I'd really like to think that coins sent out would accrue some miles and people would be able to log them Unfortunately, that's normally not the case. I just cannot comprehend the idea of 'I found this coin in a cache, so I'm keeping it'. The same thing goes for any other TB. Like 'MAXB on the River' (mover of thousands of TB's) says, "Beware of the 'Cute and Collectible factor' with TB's. The 'cuter' and more 'collectable' the item, the less likely it's going move to another cache. As far as coins go, if it's a nontrackable coin then it's fair game like any signature item. Unactivated coins put out as FTF prizes are also keepable. Attach a TB tag to anything and it should be considered a movable item and not a keeper.

Drilling a coin and attaching a TB tag to it is a good idea which I tried a month ago, BUT it doesn't protect against THIS (their first cache and they took my TB and they haven't done one since). I had thought the same thing; deface the coin for collectibility but leave it intact so it was recognizable. I hadn't counted on someone coming along and on their first cache, TAKING MY TB COIN and then not visiting another cache in the last month. They haven't even signed in since they logged it. I guess I'm going to have to start attaching disclaimers to my TB's. WARNING: If you remove this TB from this cache and do not place it in another cache within 2 weeks, a couple of my 'associates' will come to your house and 'correct' your idea of TRAVEL bugs. I really thought I was onto something but I realize you can't protect against everything. When the loss happens, just deal with it and forget it. Hopefully these newbies wern't 'one cache cachers' and show up again sometime.

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can't seem to get the links in the sig line to work... still

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Nice set-up Jake. Looks really good. I like the handle on the binder. Makes it easy to carry. I have states in one area, events and others in another area, and personals in another. But that works for me. Yours may be different. I'm pretty anal about sorting and labeling and making sure everything is just perfect. The last meet and greet we were at one of the guys just brought a box with about 30 coins thrown loosely in it. The only reason he used a box is because they wouldn't all fit in his pockets anymore. I sometimes wish I didn't worry about it.

Email sent for a couple of coins to vacation and see the sights in the Baltic region. Wish I could join them.

I think Kilted Cacher's comments pretty much says it all. Yes, some people are backing off just because there are too many coins to try to get 'all of them'. But like he says, they sell out in a matter of hours. Sounds like a pretty strong market. Although I will say having the 'right' coin helps. Good design is first and foremost. I, personally, like the more simple and elegant designs rather than something loaded down with 2 pounds of enamel. Some of the larger coins are nice, but they don't seem to sell as well as an 1 1/2" (49mm I believe) coin. Mintings of 100 to 300 seem to sell a lot better than 1500. Special edition coins, such as pure silver, look great, but the cost is somewhat prohibitive. You sell fewer, but make more money. There must be a happy medium in there someplace. And as was mentioned here, it's better if it has to do with caching. A lot of coins seem to be out there just for the sake of making a profit selling coins. Trackable seems to add intrest, although it's at a cost to do this (as you know).

I tried the local coin stores, but they cater to storage solutions for money (obviously). I started searching online and first tried Air-Tites. They are the 2 part round plastic cases with the white or black foam inserts. Works for about 90% of my coins. The odd shapes, large diameter, or extra thick coins just wouldn't fit. They are nice though. There are some very nice racks that will hold the Air-Tites for display on a wall or on a desk. I tried the Air-Tites in plastic sleeves in a 3 ring, but they kept falling out. I have now gone to a 2 1/2" 'flip'; a sort of plastic pocket. Every coin I have so far will fit into this size flip, although some of the more 'exotic' shaped ones I may eventually come across may not fit. They fit real nicely into a 3 ring binder album with 12 coins per page. Everything stays nice and tight, it's portable to take to gatherings for show, and you can easily get to the coins if you want to. I have about 60 coins in the binder and it's starting to pick up some weight. I can see if I ever get to 100 I may need something with handles, a strap, or another binder. Online you can try www.jpscorner.com/ for Air-Tites or flips. Also TheCachingPlace.com sells Air-Tites and albums for them.

The original MiGO coins were trackable at travelertags.com. This was before gc.com opened the doors for anyone except USA or Moun10bike to track their coins on their site. If the number on your coin is a plain number (such as 123, 529. 1034, etc) it's probably one of the earlier coins. When they became trackable at gc.com the numbering went to random lettering/numbering. It will start with a MI and then will have several digits after that, like MIE4GQ or MIT45F or something equally as random. The coins will look identical except for, as Cyclops and Son mentioned, the older coins just say trackable around the coin number box while the newer coins say trackable at geocaching.com. Otherwise the coins are identical in artwork.

PayPaled for 3.

Ordered 1 today.

I would also still like the coin that OH proposed earlier in this thread. There are several states that have multiple coins. I believe they did all right. You may not sell 1000, but I would think 300 or 400 minimum wouldn't be out of the question. I think there was a lot of confusion about the Nevada coin. OH had proposed his coin a while back and that's the way the thread was going. All of a sudden a Nevada coin came up for order in a thread in the main geocoin forum. I think everyone outside of the region thought it was the original one. Like any coins that come up for sale, everyone jumped on the bandwagon, afraid they were going to miss out. I myself thought it was the original coin proposed in this thread. As a thought you might try taking your art to a thread in the main forum and testing the water to see how much interest there would be for your coin. You'd probably be surprised.

When I got our artwork, I found a place to post it - Shasties Coin - and sent everything along to the minter. We are having antique bronze coins made for our general coin, antique silver made for a limited edition coin, and a few shiny gold ones made that are not for trading, but for putting in caches and 'special' occasions. None of our coins are going to be sold. Trade only. Ant to start with we are trading personal for personal coins only. I have a bunch of others for general trading I've been doing a lot of coin trading, so I have a pretty good system of keeping track of who I'm trading with, their address, what they're sending, what I'm sending, date it was sent, date I received their package, and if they received my package. I use the packing method pinned at the top of the forum. I also send everything with a PO confirmation. It makes the PO watch the package a little better and is only 55 cents more. Thing is, you package MUST be at last 3/4 inches thick to be able to use this. I stuff a piece of cardboard, the coin, and a copy of my email inside. Never any problem with the thickness. This has worked real good for me so far. I never use signature confirmation. That requires someone to be home to sign for the package. 9 time out of 10 there's nobody there and the package goes back to the PO where you either have to go down there to get it or make some fancy arrangements with the PO to get them to leave it. So, looks like things are set on our end. Now to just wait for the right time which, by the responses, can be anytime now. If anyone is looking to trade personals, email me.

Got the second package today. Thanks 9Key.

We have the artwork done on our personal coins and the order has been sent to the coin manufacturer. After making the dies, approvals, production, and shipping, it looks like mid to late December before we get them. I was wondering from those of you who have had coins made, how soon before you actually have your coins in hand do you start making trades. I don't want to start taking trades in early. I normally wait until I have a coin in hand before offering it for trade, although I have traded without having the coin, but this isn't typical. I've seen where someone says they're having a coin made and people start mailing their own coin for trade right away. Seems a little premature. I was thinking as soon as I get a confirmed delivery date might be a good time. Couple of weeks before they get here. Any ideas?

Air-Tites are nice for most coins, but you'll find several that are too thick to fit into the containers. You will also have problems with odd shaped coins. That said, Ait-Tites are a fantastic way to go for the remaining coins. Easily visible from both sides. I use 2 1/2 " flips put into notebook sheets that hold 12 coins per page. This would work for those odd shaped coins that won't fit into the Air-Tites.

Still looking for 2 more of these bad boys. I hope my mail carrier hasn't turned into a collector.

Email-o sent-o. Edit: Well of course I sent it to the wrong address first. I think I have it right now.

Ordered 2. Either a well kept secret or I'm slowing down.