CoinsAndPins
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Posts posted by CoinsAndPins
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Are the FSM geocoins officially sold out? If not, should we be watching the site for them to appear sometime soon?
There are only a few left. These will be on standby for the next few days until the current orders are filled. Then we will re-inventory and put the remainder on the site. There will not be a notice for the rest of the coins since it is so few and we have to start gearing up for the next sale of new coins.
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purely from an informational standpoint, I'd be interested in a stat of how many coins were ordered per person and/or transaction. I doubt they (or any other coin seller) would distribute that stat, but it would be interesting if they did.
No one ordered more than 10 of any coin tonight; almost all were for 1 or 2 coins of each. That is how all our sales go. So I don't see the need for a limit. Some people are upset that a small limit is not set for coins on our site, but what if they were someone who was buying for a few other people because they could not make the sales time? I am sure they would not want a limit then; especially if they were on the receiving end of the deal. Not only that, a limit would entice people to register additional accounts and make multiple purchases. So limits are not effective either way.
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Went over to Castle & Pins and ordered me some kewl knights. Came back and still nothin at Coins & Pins! Maybe you guys should talk to Castle Man...
Your comparing apples to oranges.
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Double post
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The products are now loaded and ready for you.
The problem tonight is due to people having several browsers open for the same site and also constantly refreshing. The site can handle 300 connections, but there are some people who are showing 2 to 7 connections each.
Thank you
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Hello,
The site is not working right now. Don't bother emailing us about it, since the email won't go through at this time, and we are already aware of the problem. None of the new products are loaded with any quantity on them since the site went down as I was doing that; so once things calm down we will add the quantities.
If it doesn't get better later then we will have our web guys do a fix tomorrow and we will put out a new newsletter when the next sale will start. The next news letter will be short notice for this sale.
I am going to go eat some dinner so that I can have some food for the day. Maybe it will be better by the time I am done eating.
Thank you.
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Whoa! Don't blame the GW5 folks. Sure one of their people at the counter didn't explain very well what "2 weeks" meant or misunderstood the process, but I have read the threads and the GW5 people did accurately explain what is going on including giving a correction to what the person at the counter said. You are not buying products off the shelf from WalMart when it comes to geocoins. If you were haggled as much as they have been about this coin, then you would probably start to get a little short too. The committee did state:
"Several people have reported being told that the coins would be shipped within 1-2 weeks.
I'm not sure who was saying that, but most everyone involved knew that we had sold out of all coins on hand and had to order more to be made.
Time to order, manufacture and ship would obviously take several weeks so I'm guessing that either the person(s) did not know what the situation was and should have referred the questions to someone who did or perhaps what they were saying was delivered in such a way as to be widely misunderstood.
In any event, the order has been placed and wimseyguy will update us all with any new information as soon as he receives it."
That is pretty clear to me, especially the part about "In any event, the order has been placed and wimseyguy will update us all with any new information as soon as he receives it"; but for some reason it has to be bashed over repeatedly by some people thinking that will cure the ills of the world. And of course me posting this will cause some people to again repeatedly post about how they think the world should act. Heaven forbid anyone should make a mistake about the timeline of when they will ship just because of a misunderstanding. Good thing it is illegal these days to burn people for witch craft. If it weren't then I think some of you would burn geocoin people at the stake.
Pghlooking: I know I am posting this right after your post, but this post is not directly towards you; however there are a few other posts in here that it is directly towards, including some posts from several days ago.
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I am happy for you.
You have your way of running your business and I have mine. Such is how the world works. If all of us ran our business the same, then we would have no variety.
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Awesome Mauison! It is great to see this coin go up for a good cause.
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My impression of some of the attitudes in the geocoin forums:
Or this:
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The good news is the coins finally arrived today, and have already been placed in the mail to the committee.
The bad news is that the world just isn't as perfect as some expect in here.
Things don't always go as fast as some of you think. We also don't provide estimated delivery dates because it is "ESTIMATED" and not firm. When you provide an estimated date, several people take it as the exact date they will be done rather than understanding there could be a 3 to 4 day spread no matter how much you explain the word "ESTIMATED" to them. Heck even what was told to people at GW5 was probably just that...an estimation. They were trying to be courteous, and they did a great job with the event. They recognized that the demand for these coins increased, and offered to mint more to meet additional requests. The committee has been honest and forthcoming, and really doesn't deserve all the hell they have taken over trying to provide something that the public wanted. Let's take a look at the facts here:
1. The committee had to tally up how many more coins to make. This takes some time because there are many other tasks at the end of a very large event that must be tied up also. Plus, they have additional jobs and lives and families to tend to.
2. The tracking numbers have to be ordered. We usually order tracking numbers before we start production since general production flows smoother when tracking numbers are submitted the same time production is started.
3. Then it takes time to mint the coins and then ship them.
In all, it really is about the appropriate amount of time to get the coins out, other than the factory taking about a week longer to make coins than usual these days.
Regardless, the coins are now on their way. Maybe everyone can sleep easier tonight knowing that everything is once again right in the world.
Thank you.
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One change that is not mentioned here is that when geocoins were new, the whole concept of coin designs was new to many geocachers. Several coin options seen in other markets were not ever seen in geocaching markets. These days, many of those options and styles have been used up and there are going to be repeats and things will look more mundane. Several geocoin people expected "new and different" in most new coins, but with a lot of different coins out there these days, the race has about beat itself. The whole market change is all part of the stabilization process now that the newness has wore off.
I don't think the "hype" thing of sales has any affect. I have not noticed anyone put coins up on sale than take them down just to make people think they sold fast. If anything, that hurts sales. Many vendors keep partial batches on hold until their previous sales clear out so they can fill bad shipments or replace defective coins. Then they put the left over's up when it is the right time. That is just good business. For us, that is about 3 to 4 times per coin design until we are certain all shipments are completed for each inventory batch sold. Sometimes the inventory system has some issues and makes a coin look like it is being taken off and put back up. The last Geocoinfest coin was on the site for two weeks until someone finally bought it. Shoppers putting the coin in the cart and then removing it from the cart kept the coin looking like it was sold then back up. I would rather sell all coins in one batch, but that is not possible since things happen with shipments and defective coins need to be replaced.
I also disagree that popularity of a cacher has anything to do with personal coin sales. I have seen very popular cacher coins sell slow and little known cacher coins sell fast. I have also seen some personal coins sell more than some state or regional coins. It all depends on a combination of pricing, market timing, market demand, design, and advertising. That is how all product sales are based.
I don't think there is anything wrong with your coin, it is just the market isn't the same as it used to be. "Saturation" might be the word for the change.
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The results are in. This was difficult to judge and there were lots of great photos. Macro photography of coins is very difficult no matter how much training you have or read about, and some of you pulled it off very well. Some of the themes were fantastic and the ingenuity was wonderful. Here are the results:
1st place: Mauison for "Rose Petals" post 35
Runner up: CacheAgent for "Reflections" post 119
2nd Runner up: Phamtom for "Magnifying" post 106
The first place winner gets the one and only copper/nickel compass rose and the runner-ups will receive an LE version of the 2007 Compass Rose.
Honorable mentions go to:
PengoFamily for "Roses on a Chart" post 77
OshnDoc for "Brunton Compass" post 90
This was not a category in this contest, but if there was then the winner of the category "going out on limb" would be glennk721 for post 17.
I thought the photo "Shadow Hand" (post 102) by 57chevy was a pretty cool affect.
A total of 8 judges were selected. To prevent a conflict of interest, none of the judges are employed by CoinsAndPins, so I was not one of the judges. The photo selection was based on a grid scale for the top 4 selections from each judge based in order of preference; so most of the participants received a vote.
Thank you to the 23 participants who submitted photos in the contest. This was fun and I loved seeing your talents. The next contest will be coming.
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I am waiting on one more judge to respond and then the results will be tallied.
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Here is another look at the prize coin:
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Thank you to everyone who posted pictures. There are so many great ones to choose from. This will be a difficult decision. The judges will be deliberating and voting over the next few days.
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Hello,
There is still time. The contest ends at 12:00am Pacific time zone.
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I am wondering when the Site Certificate is going to be renewed and corrected (and that is a big deal).
CoinsAndPins has been telling us for months to just blindly go ahead and use the site in spite of the faulty certificate. Will it ever be corrected????
It is a huge risk to pay for orders when you don't really know if you are on the correct site or not. Any hacker could be high jacking you to a fake site and stealing your information. THAT IS A BIG DEAL.
We have not been telling people to blindly accept the security certificate. The certificate is valid and we have been telling people that all along. It will get fixed, but there are other major issues to adjust before we fix that one since the certificate is performing as required. As the previous notices have stated, the certificate is registered under a mistyped name, but that does not nullify the security of it. Windows is only saying the certificate might have a problem since through its checks it detects the certificate name is mismatched. Here is the quote we have put on our email notices that does not say we are telling people to blindly accept the certificate:
"Note 2: The CoinsAndpins.com security certificate is valid. If you receive a warning page when placing an order, please select the option to continue. The error is generated due to a typo on the certificate name that does not affect the security of the transaction. This error will be fixed on the new website."
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Hello,
Thanks to everyone who has submitted photos. They look great.
Due to the residual coins being sold now instead of earlier, we are extending the deadline to 30 Apr for the new recipients (and the previous recipients too) to have a chance at submitting photos.
Thank you.
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Hello,
I wanted to personally give everyone an update to this coin. This coin has been delayed much longer than expected since its initial inception. There have been many complications which developed due to the plating process. We are working diligently to correct the plating issues so we can supply the coin with a quality finish. We are conducting another test run of the coin at this time.
I know several of you have already paid for your coins and are eagerly awaiting delivery, but please understand the delay with this coin is not the fault of OshnDoc. I want to reassure everyone the coins will be made and delivered, but will take a little while longer before they are completed. While this coin is very special to OshnDoc and those who have pre-ordered it, it is also very special to CoinsAndPins as we are also eagerly waiting to have completed a beautiful coin like this with an Antarctic subject.
Please hang in there and let us know if you have any questions.
Thank you.
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When it comes to logo type coins such as geocoins, the regular vinyl flips work fine. When people say you should store your coins in archival type holders, it is in reference to currency coins where historical preservation is of utmost priority to maintain monetary value. Numismatic coins stored in this manner will typically not be moved, opened, or handled much. The downfall of archival type vinyl holders is they will not hold up as well as many regular vinyl holders. They are brittle, and more so when exposed to the cold. However, if you think your geocoins are worth the extra money to have good protective holders, then the baseball card or Airtite holders are the best. However, these do not prevent corrosion; they only slow it down, significantly.
The haze you get on your nickel coin is normal oxidation. You can see the oxidation on 5 cent nickels, but usually more extreme due to the abuse they get. Gold is the only finish that will not tarnish, rust, or oxidize; and copper is the fastest to corrode. This corrosion will occur due to the humidity that builds in your pocket and also from humidity in ambient air. I have coins lying around, both open to the air and in vinyl flips, that have been exposed to ambient air for over 15 years with very little, if any, visual distortion from corrosion (except diamond cuts, polished copper, and real silver); and I have lived in some high humidity areas. For this reason I have not found it worth the cost to place logo coins in plastic or archival holders unless they are going to be handled frequently.
Now, there are certain types of coins that will need holders to allow them to maintain a decent finish. These are coins without plating. The most common type is a solid brass coin with no plating. They actually are made very similar to tokens for video game machines. The brass will oxidize and, if not taken care of quickly, will cause pitting in the metal. Brass coins with plating will remain unaffected (depending on the typed of plating) unless the plating wears off from frequent handling.
The above information relates to coins being kept in collections, not the coins that are out traveling. You never know what a coin will experience in the wild, and will just have to accept some kind wear and corrosion.
Placing a coin in your pocket, which is in a vinyl holder, is almost just like placing it in your pocket without a vinyl holder. Only hard plastic holders can provide a decent kind of protection when you expose a coin to that kind of handling.
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Here is a pic of the prize coin for this contest. It is two-tone copper with nickel highlights. This coin was not easy to make and actually was the last coin I received from the batch since it had to me remade a few times. Copper two-tone plating is the hardest finish to apply; so hard that we no longer offer it as an option in most cases.
This is the only 2007 Compass Rose with this finish.
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I'm surprised that they would do such a short run after polling us to find out what we wanted though. Why even bother us with a poll if they're going to totally ignore it?
It's not like they actually feared they wouldn't be able to sell them. 
Who said we ingnored the poll, and how does anyone know if we didn't fear not being able to sell out of them?
Edit spelling.
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...Southbayday is correct. The "poorman's copyright" system is still legal in court; although it may take some exta lawyer power to back it up.
I may own the design but isn't the copyright for the dies (since they too are art) automatically vested with the coin maker? Plus when I provide a sketch, which the middleman uses to create a derivative work of art to better capture my intent, also copyrighted, which of course ends up in a die which is yet another derivative work?
Back on topic. would Anthus need to specify no samples and request that the die be destroyed to protect his limited run?
Destroying the dies is no verification that the coins will not be re-manufactured and is useless to request. This is like the US Treasury destroying their dies so that no more bills are made, but there are still plenty of counterfeits made. The coin dies are easy to duplicate from a coin copy by most tool and die makers. About 98% of coin brokers and about 80% of factories will not make more coins without permission regardless if the dies are shelved on location. It is good to keep the dies at the factory for the predetermined amount of time incase re-orders are to be done. We have had several instances of people who thought they would never make more of the same coin, but 1, 2, or 3 years later have changed their mind.
Most of the time coins are not counterfeited or made with a second illegal run. However, destroying dies is no guarantee the coins will not be duplicated. If you note the warning I have had on my website for years, there are some people who have counterfeited coins by taking a physical copy of a coin and having new dies made at a different factory. This has occurred several times with commemorative and military coins so the counterfeiter is able to sell the coins on Ebay. The good part about trackable geocoins is this makes it much harder to counterfeit without repercussions from the buyer and geo-community since any trackable counterfeits are too easily and quickly identified. It is basically a serial number for that particular coin.
Don't let the 80% factory figure I stated above scare you. Most long term experienced coin brokers know which factories to deal with and the factories that have some form of integrity.
Edit to clarify last line.
It's not like they actually feared they wouldn't be able to sell them. 
CoinsAndPins 23 July Monday Sale
in Trackables
Posted
That is their business if they want 10 coins, but weather it was an FSM coin or another it does not really matter. Maybe they want to activate them and put them in caches where they should go. It is always good to have extra coins in caches since some will always get lost. Maybe they want to make trades, and having extra coins is great for ensuring good trades.
Bingo! Thank you for your words of wisdom LadeBear68.