CoinsAndPins

How about: "The coin formerly known as round" Maybe even just designate the name as a symbol. I think Prince would like that concept if he ever takes up caching.

Email me if through my web site you would like our cacher info. I prefer to not impose my business on the forums.

Enough already! I already feel bad they have been delayed a month, but quality over quantity is what I say.

*tumbleweed* and I have put 8 Compass Roses in caches in the last two weeks. We have another 16 to go the next time we go out caching. Like Alabama Rambler, my hope is to see coins in caches.

I think these new guidelines are great, and I am looking forward to an improved coin forum. As a geocacher myself, I am an avid supporter for no commercial solicitations in the Groundspeak forums. This sport is about geocaching, not businesses hassling for customers. Let’s start seeing coins in caches and actually getting around!

I love night caching. I tried night vision, but it is really expensive. I had to trade in the first goggles, because they were generation 1. Generation 1 is more of a novelty than real night vision. The generation 2 made a big difference. It allows you to see twice to 2.5 times the distance, and you can actually see what is in most shadows. Generation 3 would be the best, but far out of a reasonable price range. If you are looking to buy a set, get at least generation 2 and with a built in infrared light. The built-in infrared lights are much stronger than any infrared light on the market; trust me…I have experimented. There was only one cache I came across that was set up for night vision. It had a series of film canisters that were wrapped in red reflective tape and hung on trees which led you to the cache point. The goggles had an infrared light built in that would reflect off of the tape. A few decoys were placed around the perimeter to make it a little more difficult. I thought it was a great set up and wish there were more in my area. I guess when I can find someone nearby with a large piece of land I will see if I can put a large night caching trail on it.

1200 Compass Rose coins made

Again were back to the point of an individual that did something wrong. I'm sure it is not their business policy to do such a thing. In any event, what I am talking about with starting this post is that these malicious copycats get new dies made through a different manufacturer. In the case of taking possession of your design's dies, a customer is welcome to have the dies given to them. The reason why most manufacturers' typical policy is to keep the dies is that once the dies leave their possession the dies are susceptible to damage, especially in shipment. They are easily prone to scratches and dings that render the die useless for re-orders. Any small blemish on a die is a large blemish on the final product. Also, the shipping cost is enormous since the dies are large and very heavy. This now makes the entire coin order cost much more than needed. Then if you want a re-order, you now have to wait for the dies to get back to the mint making order take days longer than needed. If it is a matter of maybe having the coins made at a different mint for whatever reason, then you have to find out if the dies even fit their press machine. Most of the presses are custom made for the manufactures applications and how each mint feels what press design is best for production. Also, the other mint may not want to use the dies since some companies don't want to take the chance of possibly producing an inferior product if the die came from a low grade mint or die maker. Etc., etc...

This post is not about a company making extra coins. I don't know of any company that would make extra coins to sell to anyone except the design owner. Maybe some one who does this kind of work on the side could make extra coins to sell, but I have not seen it. This post is about individuals that lurk around ebay looking for things to easily copy and sell. It is like a hobby for them to do this, or they do these illegal things full time.

I know it's a controversy in the geocaching community whether coins should be sold on eBay or not. I don't really have a stand on this, but I wanted to let everyone know about the risk of placing and buying coins on eBay. I have been in the custom coin business for 4 years and seen lots of bad on eBay when it comes to this. There are people (individuals usually, not businesses) on eBay that frequently make illegal copies of eBay coins. Illegal copies have been a big problem for the military coin community and some coin makers for several years. I have personal experience with this. I have not yet seen any of my custom coins copied (knock on wood), but I started selling a stock military coin on eBay a few years ago for another coin maker (with their consent of course). After two months, the coin was illegally copied and being sold on eBay also. The copy was really poor quality since frauds usually care about money and not quality, but not many people could tell using the pictures posted on the listing page. So, be careful when posting or buying coins on there. Once the frauds find out how well the goecoins are selling, they may copy it and sell them too. Even with false tracking numbers it will probably be too late by the time you find out the number is no good.

Just to let everyone know who has placed orders for the 2005 Compass Rose geocoin through CoinsAndPins.com, we had problems with our mailing cost calculator and recently corrected the problem. It is now calcualting the shipping cost correctly. We will lower what was charged on everybodys order to reflect the correct shipping+handeling cost for priority. The coins should arrive to everyone by this Thursday, and we hope you enjoy them. I also hope that some of them will make it into some caches since I would like to find one too and pass it along . We did not get any extra for ourselves. Our 2006 coin will be available in January along with another kind of coin.

The Compass Rose Geocoin will have a specific icon. It will initially show up as a generic icon until Groundspeak gets the graphic uploaded.