CoinsAndPins
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Posts posted by CoinsAndPins
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This is a great subject. Thanks Shop99er for starting it.
This coin represents the following:
* Colors: The coin and the pin both glow in the dark for night caching.
* Night sky with coins coming out of a cache: I love to find coins in caches, and night time for...well, night caching again.
* Aircraft: The aircraft is an E-3 aircraft which I spent 12 years maintaining in the Air Force. It is most appropriate since this aircraft searches out stealthy aircraft like we search for stealthy caches. I now work on different types of aircraft.
* Night vision goggles: I sometimes use these on night hunts.
* Coin and pin combo: obviously because my user name is CoinsAndPins
* The phrase "Seeking for coins coins in caches" means I enjoy finding coins in caches. Is is also for the Reinforcement Agent coins I have released in the wild whose missions are to find lost geocoins.
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Activation codes are on coincodes.com.
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You are not crazy at all. I was hoping to have this coin completed and ready for November sales, but the complexity of the design has required a lot of thinking and development time to ensure many angles are covered. I have wanted to make a code coin for quite a while, but it wasn’t until two cachers contacted me for other projects that we had then started to bump heads together.
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I have been working with two cachers for the last 3 months on a project like this. These cachers have made several complex caches before. It is a code coin for those who wish to add a different element to their cache placements. The engineering of the coin was a little tough to work out for good feasibility for manufacturing, but that part is done. We have also completed the instructions for how to use it. I have a couple of design fixes to make, and then it will go into production for test samples. The coin will be made out of 8 to 9 pieces. They will come out in 2007.
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Wow... all of this by just askin' a question? AWE_SOME!!
Okay, I have a few months to prepare. If I start rolling my loose change now, I should have enough to buy several when the time comes. Next I have to work on my timing.. i *almost* lost out on the Magic 8-ball coins for being slow. I figure if I practice left clicking the mouse with one hand, hittng Ctrl-R with the other I just may have a shot at this! Man there's so much to do though. So much to do. I have to learn to type really fast too. Getting hung up on that pesky "type in your address" screen could cost me valuable time. Maybe i should move to the midwest and train with the pro collectors. I hear they have a hard core training facility out there, and they have put out some world champions. But then I'll lose my job, which is okay I suppose because it just gets in they way of ordering coins ANYway. All I hear is "Are you ever going to do anything except look at those coins?" and they distract me from concentrating. Yeah to heck with the job, they're just holding me back.
Okay CoinsAndPins, you go ahead and make those coins.... and when you're ready to sell, I'll be waitin'.
I'm gonna be all over that website like stink on a bull's.. well you know. Ill be ready and I aint' playin' neither!
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Hello,
We usually like to take our time with stock projects (4 to 6 months) to ensure quality over quantity. Rushed projects usually have some kind of issues. In this case we are going to try something unique with this coin that has never been done with coins before (and I don't mean just geocoins). It is a feature that we have wanted to do for over two years, and the subject of this coin is perfect for it. After the design is worked out, we will make experimental coins to ensure it will all work out. If it does not work, then we will have to go a different direction. It actualy may be much more work to add this feature than it is worth in time and stress, but it is worth a try.
So, due to the logistics of this special feature, it will take time and production sampling to ensure it is market worthy. I hope to have it ready by March or April; earlier if things go right the first time.
...and no we will not reveal this feature until testing is complete
. Hmmmm...mystery and speculation time!Thank you
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Why are the compass points labelled 1 to 32 – I thought 0 to 31 was more usual.
And why is 25 at the top (North as indicated by the Fleur de Lys)?
I'll speculate: Coin design error?
Negative on the coin design error. It is an error of the photographer by not rotating the image back to the correct position. The large decorative pointer of all old compass roses always pointed to the north. East was always the primary direction as indicated by the number 1.
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None here either.
Sheesh, as a brand new collector, I'm already giving up on C & P and the Compass Rose coins.
Congrats to those (lucky few) of you who managed to order some!
I belive they call that supply and demand. If they made 1000 gold compass rose geocoins
they would not be as rare. People normally don't collect things that are easy to obtain.
Don't give up on them they produce nice coins. The demand was bigger than the supply!
That makes them Collectable
Tim
Exactly! Thanks for your support.
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Your going to have to pardon my tone here, but I don't understand why people get so worked up about this coin that causes them to send us rude emails. It is really weird and some people who have shown understanding towards us have also told us that this whole situation became so weird with how some people have acted about this coin. Two people have even commented on how there must be crack laced in the coin. I like what Hula Bum said "It's not a kidney'. We do not mind constructive criticism and have made several changes due to nice suggestions by customers, but unjustified rudeness will not be tolerated by us.
The problems with the website today were because the coins sold out within 5 minutes. If you did not complete your order within that time, then your basket came up empty. Sorry, but that is not my fault, that is from other people ordering fast. Like I stated in my email "Keep in mind there are not very many Compass Rose coins left, so ordering will be difficult." It's not like I kept people in the dark about what to expect, and it's not like I mislead anyone.
If you got an error webpage, then it is because too many people were on the site at one time, and those finalizing orders took priority over those who had not reached that point yet. Like I stated in my email While the website is not fully ready to handle the kind of situation that happened last time, some upgrades have been made."..."A true fix to the website will take longer than anticipated, but we want to ensure we get the real upgrades done with quality rather than rush the process." So this means that we are working a proper fix, but it is not fully ready yet. We wanted to get the rest of the batch sold now so that we can move on to our next projects and fixes. We are working 3 months ahead here and the 2006 Compass Rose is old news to us at this point.
If you are upset because we did not make enough of these coins, then I am sorry but we made how many we thought would sell within a few weeks. We had no idea they would sell this fast or have this kind of demand. Some people have said we should have taken reservations before hand so that we could have made enough, but we don't do business this way. We make the coins, and then sell them when they are on the shelf. Some people like this because they know there will not be any delays with their shipment, and their money does not sit in limbo for long periods of time. I know of a lot of geocachers that get upset when they order coins that have not started production yet, then delays happen and they don't get their coins for 4-10 weeks after they have ordered them. So I guess we can't win either way we do it. The other problem with doing advanced sales or reservations is that we get bombarded with emails of people constantly emailing "what is the status?", "when will they be ready?", "I have ordered a long time ago and have not received an update", "It's been 3 weeks since I placed my order and now I want to cancel my order", etc, etc, etc; those emails slow down the whole process since it takes time to answer all of them. Therefore we will stick with selling coins that we have in stock since it is the surest and fastest way for the customers that have paid.
At any rate, if we did make a whole bunch of the coins, then they would not be as special as they are, right? Then we would get negative responses about how we flooded the market. Again we can't win either way.
If anyone wants to be removed from our mailing list because they are upset with the sale, then please email orders@coinsandpins.com and we will gladly remove you right away.
Pardon me if I don't respond to any of these forum posts for a little while, if at all, since I have to get to another meeting with my website people and get to work on other issues.
By the way, I really appreciate the support several of you have shown. It is good to know there are people out there who understand how these things work and that not everything goes perfectly. Sometimes there are bumps in the road no matter how hard you try to prevent them.
(Edit spelling)
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They don't show up anymore since they are all sold out.
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The Gold Compass Roses are not sold out yet, but they are removed from the website for now. An email will go out later tonight with more info.
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There are too many people trying to access the site at one time. This has not been a problem before, but some users this time are using some kind of continuous access that is clogging the system. We are attempting to kick them off at this time. It may not get resolved until tomorrow. Everything was fine until some people decided to ruin it for the others.
Post added again.
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There are too many people trying to access the site at one time. This has not been a problem before, but some users this time are using some kind of continuous access that is clogging the system. We are attempting to kick them off at this time. It may not get resolved until tomorrow. Everything was fine until some people decided to ruin it for the others.
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Ahh, I don't know who is trying to jerk your chain, but dies are irrelivant to coin thickness. The beach ball samples were 3mm but the final product is 3.5mm. No dies had to be remade. I also plan on altering the thickness on our team mini coins and I know I don't need new dies to go from 2mm to 2.5mm.
AG, I am not sure where your source of information is from, but some dies can be relevent to coin thickness. There are four main processes to manufacturing coins: two of those processes require new dies if the thickness is changed, and the other two processes do not require a die change.
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We have cleaned several colored coins over the years with the MAAS metal polish and have not seen any adverse affects from it yet.
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Someone requested I add a post about how to clean coins. The below information is a guideline based on my personal experience with many years of numismatic coin collecting, several years of logo (exonumia) coin making, and a few years of metal working experience. It is also based on other long term coin collector's and metal worker's experiences that I have learned from. If you have any other recommendations, then please feel free to post.
Cleaning a coin and removing minor corrosion
Coins plated in polished real silver, real copper, and brass (and also fake silver and gold) will tarnish/corrode over time, even if they are in air tight capsules. Oxidation and intergranular corrosion starts once these metals are exposed to the air, moisture, and/or touched by the acid in the oils on human skin, even during manufacturing. The coins are exposed to the air and humidity long before they are placed in capsules, and factory workers frequently handle them before packaging. The capsules will slow the corrosion process, but will not prevent it in most instances. The best way, but sometimes most expensive way, to prevent corrosion is to have these finishes coated with epoxy at the factory.
If you find corrosion on your coin, do not use an abrasive cleaner like tooth paste or compound cleaner. The small amount of abrasive ingredient will start to wear down the finish and can cause a satin look on polished finishes. A regular metal polishing cleaner usually works best, including on most brass coins; we use MAAS brand metal paste cleaner. A polishing cleaner is much safer to use and it removes the light layer of corrosion faster. It also works great on diamond cuttings.
Clean the coin immediately when corrosion appears. Letting the corrosion sit too long will cause pitting or etching on the metal. Once corrosion is in the pits, removing it is almost impossible. Over-polishing/cleaning a coin will wear down the finish. Keep the coins clean, but treat corrosion only when it starts to appear.
Don't attempt to polish antique finishes. Most antique coins have a thin coat of clear jeweler's enamel applied to them that help with the finish's durability. Trying to polish these finishes will ruin the protective coating and cause the coin to look worse than when you started. There are companies that make zinc, aluminum, pewter, and antique brass coins with no protective enamel coatings or platings. These coins will corrode over time and there is very little anyone can do to prevent it. If you notice corrosion on these coins, you may be able to very lightly and carefully scrape some of it off with an awl or pick, but chances are the coin will just have to suffer with this corrosion damage since scraping can cause surface damage.
Be careful when cleaning two-tone finishes such as a coin that is polished gold and the text on the coin is plated in polished nickel. Two-tone finishes are comprised of a regular plating (or base metal depending on the manufacturer) and then have another thin coat of a different finish applied by hand over the first finish. This second coat of finish can easily wear off. It will require a soft touch to polish these finishes.
Real gold and nickel finishes are the most durable and longest lasting. They are the finishes we recommend for geocoins. These finishes will require very little cleaning and maintenance. The nickel will eventually corrode if left in high humidity or damp areas, but it will clean up nicely if treated early enough.
Solid gold and silver coins
These coins should be handled with care. They usually don't need maintenance, but some do over time. These types of coins are typically minted in "clean rooms" to prevent any kind of dust, humidity, and human excretions from getting on them during manufacturing.
Real solid gold coins should not need corrosion or tarnish removal since pure gold does not corrode. However, gold that has been mixed with a significant amount of "reducers" could show tarnishing. It is not very often you see this, but there are some out there.
Solid silver coins just need a silver cleaner or a metal polish cream like the one stated above. You should always handle these kinds of coins with clean cotton gloves to prevent your finger soils from getting on them. Also, only use high grade, soft, cotton, lint free cloth to clean them. Any kind of cleaning will cause some form of scratches on the surface, so the less handling and cleaning you do, then the better. There are some silver coins made with an added mixture of substances which prevent tarnishing. So if you see one of your silver coins never tarnish, then don’t think it is necessarily fake, it could be .995 silver with those substances added.
These same guidelines apply for the plated (some times referred to as "clad") proof-like gold and silver coins. It is best to just keep these kinds of coins in their plastic capsules and enjoy their natural state.
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They are on the website, but the payment processor is being upgraded, so it will not be working for a couple of days.
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This is a compass rose we destroyed due to a manufactuing problem. You can see the yellow brass base metal with the nickel plating. We always shear the bad coins across the tracking number and then melt them down later when we have a big enough batch.
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Some companies call metal types by the color of the metal instead of what it is actually made from. If it is a 'silvery' color, then they call it silver. If it is gold-ish, then they call it gold. You will have to see samples from the different companies to really tell the difference, and even then it can be difficult. Sometimes asking about the specifics will reveal what it really is. Of course it is a little easier for me since I have seen them all for many years, so I hope I can break it down in a decent way. Also take into consideration that many factories and brokers do their work differently, so the below info is not 100%. If you feel that I am wrong with the below information then there is no need to correct me on it since I already know the variances, but I don't want to spend 3 hours typing out all the possible differences.
Here are some of the differences:
Base metals:
- Pewter is a base metal of a coin. It is a poor metal to make a coin from since it is prone to pitting, but it is relatively inexpensive and can make for affordable coins.
- Zinc is a better base metal to use than pewter, but it is very light and therefore feels cheap. It also requires the raised lines to be thicker and does not render detail very well. It costs less than pewter, but does not show as many blemishes as pewter.
- Iron costs more than pewter and is heavier. It weighs very close to brass. It is a down-grade from brass since it will show a few more surface blemishes than brass, but will cost less than brass. Its major flaws are that it is prone to production problems since it has a tendency to crack dies (due to being a harder metal), and can develop a light surface rust before the plating process if the factory air is real humid at that time. This light corrosion will more than likely not show up to the end user, except in the case of putting them into caches where the plating might show those weaknesses over a long time. It can also corrode within the etchings if the coin is circulated and gets damp.
- Brass is the best metal to use for logo type coins (logo coins are really what geocoins are). It is heavier than most metal used and shows sharper details with less flaws.
- Very few companies use bronze. Bronze is used more for acid etching.
- "Merlin brass" is somewhat of a refined brass and only used by companies similar to the Northwest Territorial Mint. They use it to make proof-like coins, but it still oxidizes just as easily as regular brass. In the above examples, I used them in reference to having the metals plated which can provide some corrosion protection. In the case of proof-like coins, they are not plated and therefore subject to the typical corrosion of the base metal.
Plating:
- Silver to us, and a few other companies, is silver; but to many other companies it is a plating comprised of several metals to make a simulated silver that looks…simulated. A real silver finish will tarnish unless it is epoxy coated, and even then it can show some tarnishing if the factory was humid before the epoxy coating is applied. It is not used very often since it is very bright which can obscure the detail of the design.
- Nickel is darker colored plating that is durable and will show details much better than silver. It is the best of the silvery looking platings.
- Chrome is a very dark finish and can make a coin look dirty. It can also flake easily if not applied just right.
- Rhodium looks like an in-between color of chrome and nickel. It is not durable and not recommended.
- Black nickel is mostly a black color. It is also not a very durable finish. It will show wear only after short time of handling, but lots of people like the look of this finish.
Some people will refer to pewter (and a few other finishes) as a color of a coin finish. It has been used in two ways:
1. It is usually actually the pewter metal you are looking at and no plating has been applied. Only a very thin coat of clear jeweler's enamel is on the coin to protect it from corrosion. It is used for pewter coins that have an antique finish. Pewter does not polish well, so you won't see that.
2. It is used to name the color of the plating finish since that is what so many people in the 80s and 90s called it when the military would get their coins made in places like Korea. They would say to the broker "I want a pewter finish", which meant "antique bronze" colored finish.
In the case of the Geocache America coin, you are seeing the brass base metal with antiquing and a light clear coat. In the case of many other geocoins, you are seeing the plating over the base metal, except most antique pewter coins.
Mostly now the companies have started calling them what they really are except the fake finishes of silver and gold. You will have to ask them to make sure.
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I love coins going into caches and following their travels. I have about 70 activated coins traveling right now, and hope to have a total of 120 out by the end of this month. About 2 coins have come up missing so far that I know of. I only have about 6 coins in my coin collection (excluding the icon test coins) since I collect only the icons; so once I activate it, I put it in my bag to have ready for the next caching day.
Keep them moving!
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I appoligize for the delay in getting the sales started. I am out of town visiting relatives. Internet connection and cell service is not so great in the country. However, this why a 2 hour time spread is given for the sales start and also why it is stated "approximete" in the email.
If you did not receive an email notification for the sales start information, and you are listed on the mailing list, then it is because the email was rejected by your email provider. I receive an average of 25 rejected/invalid email notices each time I send a mass email.
Thank you.
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I appoligize for the delay in getting the sales started. I am out of town visiting relatives. Internet connection and cell service is not so great in the country. However, this why a 2 hour time spread is given for the sales start and also why it is stated "approximete" in the email.
If you did not receive an email notification for the sales start information, and you are listed on the mailing list, then it is because the email was rejected by your email provider. I receive an average of 25 rejected/invalid email notices each time I send a mass email.
Thank you.
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So now the new thing with vendors is "I'll sell this item sometime in a 2 hour window" Oh, and on a holiday weekend during mid-afternoon - Ya thanx Coins & Pins!!!
I'll now enjoy trying to get one on e for 2x or 3x the price....
Actually it is only a "thing" with my business and not with the other companies. Providing a time frame is a precautionary measure incase there are difficulties in getting the products to come up on line if there are any internet problems. Also, I am sure there will be plenty of chance for most people to purchase these on the web site. If you have any further issues, please feel free to email me and I will be more than happy to address them.
Thank you.
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As many of you know, I don't like to post coin sales in the forums since I believe the forums are not an appropriate place for commercialization; however, I feel this is a different kind of situation:
With permission from LadyCacher, the Texas Mini geocoins are still going to be minted by CoinsAndPins.com and will be available through our web site and USAgeocoins.com.
LadyCacher and her family are very dear to us. She has our full support and prayers and we would like to help her and her family through this hardship. At the time of this posting she is unaware of the following additions we made to the Texas Mini coin sales:
CoinsAndPins will donate all profits of the sales directly to LadyCacher to help with medical expenses; USA Geocoins will donate $1 of each coin sold to a reputable cancer foundation (more details will be identified on their web site).
Any further information regarding the sales of this coin will be posted on our websites in a few weeks after the coins are in stock.
We wish LadyCacher and her family the very best and a speedy recovery.
EMS (think ambulance not Mall backpack store) Geocoins?
in Trackables
Posted · Edited by CoinsAndPins
This is another project we have in our queue. We were originally going to consolidate it with the firefighter’s coin since there are more and more first responders each year, but earlier this week we decided to do a separate coin. It will not be available until sometime in the first part of 2007.