GregsonVaux

Nice coin! I'll be making a purchase when they are available.

I have shown the three coins to a lot of people and EVERY SINGLE ONE of them has said that "All Through the Night" is their favorite. Now I wish that I had made more than 100 of that edition. It does tell me that I will need to include that 2-tone color combination on other coins. Whoops, maybe I shouldn't have siad that; now everyone is going to be producing gold on black coins. Since I am from Pittsburgh, maybe I need to make a black and gold Steelers coin.

Thanks! It will be good to see you and drneal there. For those of you who are not going, I am auctioning off one set each week until GCF starts. There is an auction going on right now and the coins are currently a bargain. Of course, I have no control over the bidding, so they may go up in price. Here are the coins: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270799127951&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270798507795&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

The coins arrived yesterday and I am quite happy with them. If I were forced to pick a favorite version, it would probably be "All Through the Night"; the gold on black nickel works so well. The final picture is the custom icon. These will be for sale at Geocoinfest in South Carolina, but to advertise that event, I will be auctioning off one set a week until GCF takes place in October. If I have any left, they will be for sale on my web site, but I hope to sell them all there.

I want to add that all three of these editions will be limited. I am minting 100 of each edition for a total of 300 coins and they will never again be minted.

Today the mint sent me pictures of the samples. When the full production run arrives, I plan on selling and auctioning a limited number of sets to help promote Geocoinfest US 2011. Here is the front of "The First Sunset". This coin is cloisonne (fused borosilicate glass) on solid copper. This side showcases bare copper, Here is the back. All of the colors are glass to withstand the ravages of time. The ocean is a breathtaking transparent blue glass and you can see the gritty texture underneath. This is the front of the "All Through The Night" edition. It is two tone 18 karat gold and black nickel with hard enamel on a bronze core, "All through The Night" back The is the front of "A New Day". It is antique nickel and hard enamel on a bronze core. "A New Day" back

My favorite migrating animal by far is the Arctic Tern. They spend more time in daylight than any other creature, because they fly from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back again each year to get as much summer light as possible. One other thing I really like about them is how they start their migrations. The birds are all terribly noisy, but suddenly they all become completely quiet and then fly away on their migration. This behavior is called "the dread", simply too cool.

That is a really great looking coin and I love the topic, so count on me to buy one. Actually, I have a number of folders on my computer with coin ideas in various stages of completion and one of them is a migration coin, but it is quite a bit different than yours. Atavistic concepts like migration always move me at a deep level. There is something about instinct that strikes me as spiritual.

All of the individual coins as well as the sets are now available: http://www.gregsonvaux.com/Job_28__God_of_Science_2011/cat517606_598869.aspx

Only the sets are up. I am now working on the individual coins.

The Job 28 sets are now available at the following link: http://www.gregsonvaux.com/Job_28__God_of_Science_2011/cat517606_598869.aspx

I agree, that is a fine looking coin!

I was asked by a number of people to provide minting numbers so here they are: Iron from the Earth - 31 minted no remints ever Smelted Copper - 52 minted Golden Knowledge - 50 minted Gleaming Truth - 50 minted Fires of Creation - 30 minted Life Emergent - 50 minted Dark Energy - 1 minted no remints ever (This will be auctioned at some point in the future). I have decided to make the fires of creation the AE, so it will only be available by special arrangement, trades, and auctions. Individual coins will cost $9.97 each. These cost less than the Dawning Hope coins because they use some less expensive techniques and I will pass the savings along. Sets of five (AE excluded) will be $49.85. The price per coin will be the same as singles, but will include the limited edition Iron from the Earth, which is only available with the set. Other than the limited editions, any of these could be reminted, but that depends on demand. It is also quite possible that none of them will be reminted. Also, the year is on the coin, so any remints after this year will have a different designation engraved on them.

Here are the other four editions: This is the "Fires of Creation" edition. It is red transparent enamel and an 18 karat gold finish over a brass core. The name evokes the big bang as well as the hearts of stars where new elements are created. Fires of Creation This is the "Life Emergent" edition. It is green transparent enamel over solid copper. It celebrates one of the more interesting things to be found in the universe. The word 'emergent' not only invokes life coming into being, but also the concept of emergent properties from chaos theory. Life Emergent This is the "Gleaming Truth" edition. It is blue transparent enamel and a nickel finish over a brass core. Gleaming Truth This is the "golden Knowledge" edition. It is blue transparent enamel and 18 karat gold over a brass core. Golden Knowledge For those who are into icons, here is what it looks like.

These coins will be up for sale in the very near future so here is my formal introduction to the coin and its six editions: Job 28 – God of Science is the second coin in the Orthography series that features different writing systems. The first showcased tengwar runes, while this one showcases biblical Hebrew. The Hebrew passage is from the book of Job in the bible, the 28th chapter and well describes the pursuit of science. This is moving poetry, “. . . They search the sources of the rivers and bring hidden things to light . . . “ The front side of the coin shows science’s current best depiction of our Milky Way galaxy. The spiral arms continue into the English translation of the Hebrew. The font used very closely matches the look of classical Hebrew. The back side of the coin contains the exact same text as the other side, but in biblical Hebrew from thousands of years in the past. The images are concepts unknown to humanity until revealed by science. They are: The standard model of particle physics The quark model of the proton A telescope Magnetic field lines around the Earth A macrophage A benzene molecule A golden spiral Cell division (mitosis) A stellated dodecahedron (center image) An interference pattern (background image) The six editions follow: Here are the fronts of all six editions Here are the backs This is the "Smelted Copper" edition. It is solid copper with an antique finish. The name comes from the text on the coin. Smelted Copper This is the "Iron from the Earth" edition. Again, the name comes from the text on the coin. This coin is made from solid iron with a protective coat. I normally would never make a coin from a metal that oxidizes so easily, but the biblical passage demanded it. Only thirty-one of these coins were minted and they will never again be made. There is also a single additional iron coin that contains a mistake in the die. Iron from the Earth Iron from the Earth Iron from the Earth More editions will continue in the next post.

I haven't forgotten that I owe you a coin. When you decide which one you want, just send me a note including the address where you want it sent and I'll put it in the mail that day.

The coins arrived today! There are six editions including a limited edition that will be limited to thirty-one coins and will be a bit unusual. There will also be two solid copper editions. They all look fantastic. I will be posting pictures and giving more information in the near future.

If you mean that the whole coin is curved, you are right. That happens from the heat of the furnace.

It is not an exaggeration for me to say that it is a calling. I feel compelled to make things that last. People close to me have had to listen to me go on and on about how much I love granite, stainless steel, gold, ceramic and all other things that stay beautiful for a long time. Glass is one of those really special materials that is beautiful and can remain beautiful for thousands of years. I just found out today that the cloisonne enamel used on these coins is not just silicate glass but BOROSILICATE glass! That might not mean much to most of you, but it is the king of glass. It is the same material that high quality lab ware such as beakers and Erlenmeyer flasks are made of due to its chemical resistivity, resistance to thermal shock, resistance to impacts, and small thermal expansion.

When I say a topo map, what I mean is simply a map that shows elevation. Most topographic maps have contour lines, but what I am talking about is a little model so that craters on the coin are really depressions and mountains really stick up. The problem with the mint's version is that it is not detailed and accurate enough. I know that it can be done, because there was a coin that showed Ohio's canals and that coin showed Ohio exactly as I want the moon to be shown.

Both sides of the coin show the same side of the moon, but one side is a fantasy map based on what people thought the moon was hundreds of years ago. The other side if the coin shows the moon as science understands it today. There are differences between the two sides because what earlier people saw was based as much on color differences between different types of lunar soil and rock as elevation. So, one side is fantasy while the other is reality.

Thanks for saying so and maybe it is good. My wife didn't like it and what was in my mind was so much better. The front side is good enough, but the back side is just not living up to its potential.

The samples came in and I am happy with the one side, but not the other. I will be putting the description right under each picture. Here is the front side of all five editions Here is the front side of the "Eclipse" edition. If you have ever seen a lunar eclipse, the moon does not become dark, but turns blood red. This is because the earth is blocking the sun's light, but the atmosphere of the earth bends the light so only light that has passed through the earth's atmosphere hits the moon. Another way of thinking of this is that the entire moon is hit with the same light we see at sunset. This is a solid copper coin with a dark wash on it. The red enamel is not the epoxy that we are all used to, but is actually fused glass (cloisonne). I did not expect to like this edition all that much, but it has turned out to be my favorite. This is the "Cataclysm" edition. I am not usually a fan of glow colors, but the moon really called for it. What you are seeing is glow color #1 and transparent enamel #10 (black). My thinking is that this is the closest to what the moon actually looks like in the sky. The implication of the name is that some disaster occurred on the moon to turn it from a lush green land that it used to be to the glowing wasteland that we see today in the night sky. This is the "Sidereal Sea". It is opaque blue and green hard enamel on antique nickel. I will probably make the green a bit darker for the production run. The name just means star sea and I picked it just because I think it sounds pretty. The name could mean the stars reflecting off of the seas on the moon, or could be the ideas that the moon floats in a sea of stars. "Renaissance" edition. This is antique gold, blue swirl enamel, and opaque green hard enamel. I also plan on tweaking the green to be a bit darker for full production. The name comes from the idea that the Renaissance astronomers who made early maps of the moon would have used luxurious materials to make their maps and models, thus the gold and the pearly swirl. "Golden Age" edition. This is shiny gold, with transparent blue and opaque green fused glass. As with the other coins, the production run will have a darker green. The idea behind this name is that in the distant past there was a time when everything was better. The seas and the great ocean still teamed with life, the royal barges sailed through the Sea of Nectar along the Manna coasts, and the skies over the Southern continent were loud with bird song. This coin will be a limited edition. A side view of the Eclipse Edition showing the lettering The Cataclysm edition glowing in the dark. I wish I had a tripod so I would take sharper pictures in the dark. Here is the back side of the coin. What I wanted was a 3-d topographic map of the moon. I had a NASA map taken by the Clementine spacecraft that gave extremely detailed lunar features. I wanted the 3-d die to show every mountain, valley, plain, and crater, but this is what the mint sent me. I'm not sure what to do about this. I am looking at my options, but none of them look good at this time. However, it may still be possible to create the coin that I envisioned.

Alicia, Congratulations! It would be great if you would post a few wedding pictures in this thread. I think we would all love to see some.

I can imagine that there are some valid reason to unactivate a coin. That being said, accurate coin history is important to me, so that I would like to see an automatic procedure put into place that after a certain amount of time such as six months, or a year, or perhaps five years, logs become permanent and cannot be changed or removed by anyone including the owner. I want to know a coin's true history and not some fiction created by the current owner. I also would like to see all logs locked when an adoption takes place, so that the new owner cannot change the history.