Bambi&Thumper

I have said my bit and have notified eBay fully. Sadly, as has been said before, there is a significant amount of dodgy stuff on eBay and they are not known for being hugely proactive about it. There isn't much more I can do and would prefer it if the matter were dropped now. Sorry peeps B.

It's not so much from the seller side that I'm thinking, merely, when someone finds one of these coins on eBay and suspects that it is an activated traveller, they post to the GeoCoin/local forum and say, "This coin is for sale and person X has been notified and is informing the seller/bidders and negotiating. Please DO NOT contact them independently." And then person X (a sensible representative who deals with all these occurences) posts a summary once dealings have come to a close. Just my thoughts. B.

I promised I would let everyone know what happened following this thread, so here is a summary. Firstly, I would like to thank everyone who has expressed concern regarding this sale. In particular I would like to thank, as before qichina who originally raised the issue here, Slytherin who identified us as the owners and Mongoose who drew my attention to the matter, but also Highland Geofairy, The Royles, Jerryo, Stuey (and anyone else I might have missed) who offered to buy it or tried to rescue it in some way. As has been mentioned, I have been in contact with the seller and the auction winner, but unfortunately I have not recieved a reply from either and felt all I could do was report the sale to eBay. I appreciate that this almost certainly means the end of the coin's travelling life, but as has been said before elsewhere, we know the risks when we release these things. It is a shame that one person feels the need to make a profit out of someone else (I mean the original coin theif here - this is not an accusation aimed at the seller, I have no reason to believe that what they say is untrue, and that their father did not buy it in good faith as they claimed). An even less pleasant side of this was an email I recieved in response to one I sent yesterday to the then highest bidder. Unfortunately, it would seem that the number of people who contacted him annoyed him and he took this out on me. The language was such that I am not quoting it here, but for the record this has also been reported to eBay. This incident does suggest that the shear number of well meaning people may have hindered our ability to recover this coin though, so I have a suggestion - Maybe there should be one person who people contact when they find a coin for sale like this and this one person contacts the seller and maybe the current highest bidder. This way we could all help, but it might prevent us annoying innocent bystanders and bringing GeoCaching into disrepute, while also helping us to get a favourable outcome. Thanks again for all your help and support, we really appreciate it. It is very sad, but try to keep it in perspective, it was just a little lump of metal with a number stamped on it, albeit a pretty one with a life of its own. Bambi.

As the suspected owner of this coin I have contacted the seller with information that we could only know as the owners. Since there are now only six hours before the auction closes, I do not have high hopes, but we will see. Meanwhile, if you could all refrain from making any more comments about it here (since I'm sure you are right and the seller will have found this thread by now) I would be very grateful. And if you are the highest bidder I would be grateful if you could drop me a line asap, thanks. My sincere thanks to qichina who originally raised the issue here, Slytherin who identified us as the owners and Mongoose who drew my attention to the matter; I will let you all know what happens. Bambi.

Perhaps you could post a copy of that on the page for the event as it's a really nice end to the story, only if you do, maybe you should edit out the lady's address first... Have you emailed her to say thank-you on behalf of us all BTW? A.

From memory, G Force has the record for most travellers from us and Scaw. However I don't believe he releases his which we do, so is it the most released or the most owned? I guess there is the same question for travellers found too - so does it include coins discovered at events and TBs that move by post? It's much harder to count these though, so perhaps simply owned and found is easier... B.

I think there was a Rosmary and Thyme episode on over the w/e where giant hogweed was used in an effort to poison someone B.

I agree completely and was wondering about this months ago when the Swindon TB made it home. The suggestion made in the log for that TB is that it visits some of the other "Swindons" in the UK which is a good idea too. The one we were sent had to go to China and we put it in a little green pocket with a laminated card with it's mission on it to help it travel. I think emailing them directly is an excellent idea, since this "adding labels" thing should really be clarified. I wouldn't hold your breath while waiting for a response if I were you though! B.

The last girl that told me she was game..... got shot! A scary prospect indeed, for a deer...! B.

I'm game if you are! B.

We'd love to attend another event like the last one - though Chunder Bunny may prefer the non-oceanic route! Put us down as "Will Attend" please B.

Mmmm, just as it looks increasingly like I will be down here for sometime, two events right on my doorstep that I can't make either... and for the same reason I guess! Bah B.

Yes...

Ditto.

Excellent - Thanks! I didn't think you'd miss the chance to ensure a few visitors to the cache! B.

There was also some talk about getting a physical cache set up on the island "to commemorate the event" or something. Not being funny, but I don't expect to get the chance to go again (not at £140/p ), so is there any chance that it will be in place before the event so that attendees can log it? Thanks, B. PS Really looking forward to it!

I did and I think it's the best so far... B.

I would certainly buy one as the FTF in my county cache, plus at least one for myself asa souvenir I think the regional/national ones need to be distinctive and not for general sale - or perhaps have separate numbering (reserved numbers or special codes held back: BQAAAA/BQBBBB etc, or a special icon? The problem with FTFs for the country level caches and final caches is that there is a risk that the same people will get them all. Personally, I think the number of people who would actually achieve the final cache will be very small and it would be nice if everyone who made it could get a coin that could only be got by finding the final cache. I appreciate that this might not be possible, but perhaps a set number of 12 say could be made, with more made later if necessary? Also, although it would be nice if all the coins were trackable, I'm not sure that this is really essential for the prize coins. Maybe the space for the tracking number could be replaced with 1st, 2nd, 3rd or FTF, FTF+1, FTF+2 etc? The coins sold could be trackable as normal. Just a thought... B.

We would lend a hand, but we are a very long way from the action. Meanwhile, our thoughts are with you Lynn - Get well soon! B.

I'm not a great fan of photos on coins to be honest, so I think I prefered the other reverse, though the collie is really cute! On a more serious note, please, please, PLEASE make the tracking number large enough to read without a magnifying glass! I know most coins sit in collections, but some do get released and older cachers really struggle with a lot of the text. B.

I too had a thought or two on the subject of prizes. I know not everyone is into coins, but it might be nice if we could get a set of coins minted for finders of the final cache and/or the country level ones? FTF coins could be in gold say, and others in some sort of silver. Dunno how we'd fund it though... B.

OK, my thoughts... I like the idea a lot, however, I don't think we want to end up covering every "county" and "unitary authority" necessarily, as this could get extremely unwieldy, so perhaps we should use some discression concerning some of the new small counties in Scotland for example? Also, I prefer the county map done by G:UK which have on our profile which updates automatically - any chance we could get something done like this so that people could add it to their profile? B.

Us too please - we'd like a couple if anyone has any spare... Thanks, B.

Great idea - We can do Durham...! B.

Are there any plans to make the next one of these yet? I really like ours and the personal touches are lovely - Thanks very much!! B.