Jake - Team A.I.

Actually, any company can make a geocoin. But for the use of tracking numbers from Groundspeak, there are rules for the designs that must be followed. If you want to make a unique coin to represent your team or you as an individual, there are no rules concerning that. As long as the coin in question doesn't violate any standard geocaching trade item rules, it's pretty much a geocoin. If you want to incorporate the geocaching logo into your coin design, you must follow the rules from Groundspeak concerning the use of it's trademark. Those rules stipulate that Groundspeak must approve the design. They must also approve the design for tracking numbers to be issued, with or without any Groundspeak owned trademark images. Conversely, the stylized G logo, (the one that's a circle with an "X" in the middle), doesn't have the same stipulations for it's use. Should you find a minter that hasn't worked with Groundspeak before, they will probably find the additional process of working Groundspeak to be a not so difficult proceedure. After all, Groundspeak is making a profit from the sale of tracking numbers, so its in their best interest to streamline the process. You can find the information about the Groundspeak rules up in the pinned topics of the geocoin forum. You will also find a nice list of companies that have already worked with Groundspeak and are familiar with all the proceedures.

Kludge. Geocoins that defy classification by any knon geocoin catagory, and yet somehow are geoccoins as evidenced by the fact that geocachers buy them as geocoins. the ones that Landsharkz are referring to atleast have some relationship to geocaching. There are some coins out there that have Groundspeak tracking numbers, but no other value relating it to geocaching. Team coins are a representation of geocaching by way of a sig item, but there are coins that don't relate to caching or reflect a team. I think KLUDGE is a great term for them.

Another batch went out today.

Looks like Michigan is still missing! Is Michigan confirmed, I didn't see it on the latest update of event sites. My original design had mistaken the MI for Mississippi. I corrected it for my update. I planned ahead and gave my design the ability to add more sites if more were needed.

These questions show up in this forum quite frequently and the moderators always refer up to the pinned threads at the top of the forum. All of the companies listed there have been used by geocachers to have their coins made. Depending on what, if any special attributes you are looking for, there are companies that cater to those specific desires. My first suggestion would be to go through the list of coins already made (best place for that is here.) Also, the companies listed in the pinned topics will probably have a page showing off some of their favorite coins they've produced. Find a coin with a finish or effect that you are looking for to make your coin out of and find out which company made it. Most companies have the ability to make coins look just the way you want, but if they have a history of making a signature finish or style that you like, going with them would be your best bet. Unfortunately these types threads can turn into advertisements for specific companies, and that is forbidden by the forum rules. When this happens, the thread is locked and lost with time as more threads are added. Then later the question comes up again and the cycle repeats. I hope this helps.

There have been a few projects started to track this type of information. For the most part it is stated when the coin is released on it's announcement thread. There are some manufacturers that simply refuse to release this information. In those cases, a production run will only be known by them. I personally feel that hiding this information only devalues the coin in the long run. I am hopeful that there will be a successful project that will find a way to list and track these statistics. That being said, it's definitely not going to be a one man show. It's going to take the efforts of quite a few geocoin enthusiasts to keep this kind of project going.

Sorry about resurrecting this old thread, but I need to point out that my first geocoin was purchased in September 2002. It was a Canadian coin that was trackable on the geocoins.ca site. Here is the log for that tracks one of my favorite coins. Canadian #0329 I'm pretty sure that Texas coins came out before the USA ones, and they were also trackable at their own site and were also sold to the public. The Canadian clearly beats out the USA coin. There are independent logs on bot the Canadian coin site and Geocaching.com.

For the different versions of the any coin release, I have yet to see anything more that an metal type or a finish or a paint color that differentiates that coin from another in the set between the so called AE versions and a regular edition. There are versions of coins that have been released in .999 Silver, Gold Leaf, and other substantial metal additions. These changes add significantly to the value of the coin, no matter what the market. So... I'm getting ready to release my Acme geocoin set... lets see... Wonder how long before we get to this level of pricing tiers?

I've updated the image with a few changes. This design will allow for a few additional sites to be added and keep the symmetry. I have an image with the coins spinning. While it would make a really cool coin, I doubt the cost would be realistic. Also, I corrected my 4AM abbreviations of certain states this time around.

I'd like to find out too, so I know what name to use when searching for one for myself.

Coinfusion - (noun) - 1. the consolidation of multiple pioneering geocoins into one. 2. the absence of memory concerning what coins you already have or what invoices you have or have not paid yet.

I would suggest geocoincollection.com. The listings for the coins at cointracking are a bit irratic, since they are created by the users. The complete listing of coins on geocoincollection.com is simpler to navigate as well. It can be found here. There have been some database projects started, but since it's such a daunting task, finding a nearly completed database with mintage numbers and coin statistics will probably be difficult to find. I'm not sure if there are any currently active database projects.

First batch shipped!

But of course, just with anything there will be varying opinions on what an AE coin is and people will produce an AE coin based on their own perception. In the end though, it really is only another LE version of the coin no matter what people decide to call it. Those are called samples. They should be done with most coins produced. Whereas an artist edition is given to the designer of the coin and would be trackable if the run is trackable. Actually, the initial coins of various metals and finishes would be proofs. Samples would be a set of coins that a dealer keeps on hand of the different coins they have produced. Artist Edition would be any set of coins the artist receives for pament for the design. These may or may not vary from the other editions. Edit: added further AE explaination.

There is also: Translucent finish - It is a transparent enamel that covers a raised metal finish for a visual effect. Special Effect - Spinning or hinged parts to give the coin a range of motion. LED lighting could also qualify. And since they do exist: Photocopy coins - a copy of a coin is made that includes it's tracking number. The original coin stays with the owner, while the replica of the coin is released to travel through caches.

I'm a numbers kind of guy, so I'd like to see some more numbers in here. It seems to me the best way to address the "editions" is to use percentages of the total minting. My numbers may not be the numbers that everyone wants to see, but I'm more interested in if you like the idea at all. So here goes: RE: regular edition = More than 70% of the total coins minted are in this finish/color, etc. LE: Limited Edition. = Less than 20% of the total coins minted are in this finish/color, etc. XLE: Extremely Limited Edition. = Less than 10% of the total coins minted are in this finish/color, etc. Now I'm NOT saying anyone does this, but I think using percentages is a good way to prevent someone from minting say 100 coins, and calling 51 of those "RE" and the other 49 "LE". As it is now, I just don't have a good feel for where people draw the line on LE's. I really doubt that anyone does this, but the question is, where do you draw the line? 55 RE's and 45 are LE's? Probably not. But a 70/30 split, maybe. And then if you throw the XLE's in there, what's a good # for those? Is it 70/20/10 split? or is that too many to call XLE? Should it only be 5% so it's a 75/20/5 split? Now, I understand that for LE's this is also contingent on no more being made in that color/finish, etc. But, for argument's sake, let's just say in the above example it was only going to be 1 run, ever, anyway. What do you think? Like the original post, I'm not sure that assigning a numerical value to the edition is really necessary. A further explanation is helpful though. RE: Regular Edition - The most common of the coin finishes released. (May also be known as "Rare Edition", but this is seldom the case.) LE: Limited Edition - An version of the edition that is somehow different from the regular edition. This is usually, but not limited to a change in metal or finish. There will be some difference between the LE and RE edition to set it apart in some fashion. To make it limited, there will be considerably fewer of these coins available. XLE: Extra Limited Edition - Similar to the LE, there is a subtle difference between this and the other two versions of the coin. This version will consist of a very small number of coins available then both the Limited Edition and the Regular Edition. AE: Commonly referred to as the Artist's Edition. More that likely these coins are the original proofs that the artist received. They will be a unique set of coins, with different finishes and metals. They will also not include tracking numbers, even if other editions of the coin are trackable. The purpose of these coins was to display the coin concept in various metals and finishes.

I just think that they thought Mississippi is MI. simple mistake. Yes... I'm currently reworking the image to correct the mistake. I'm also trying to add more coins to the edge for the additional locations. Since there hasn't been a cutoff date for the locations, I'm sure all the artwork being submitted will be a work in progress.

I have not gotten an invoice yet. Guess that means the order must not have worked. I want two of the coins. Do I need to reorder or do you have the original order I placed? All taken care of. For anyone else placing orders. If you don't get a thank you message when you placed your order, chances are your order didn't go through. If we get multiple orders, we will contact you to verify the number of coins desired.

You don't have to have tracking in order to release a coin into the wild. Either way unless you take extra steps the coin is likely not to travel very far before ending up in a collection. There are a few options available for people to consider when starting into geocoin. If you've made up your mind that getting started is the only option, I hope this help. Creating your own coin is a great way to start and one that I highly recommend. there are two main options up front, paying for it yourself or selling. First, funding the coin yourself or selling it and letting the community pay for the investment. If you're going to let the community pay for it in whole or part, I suggest making it trackable. The icon associated with the coin will make the coin more marketable. Second, If you are going to fund the coin yourself, the tracking and icon fees may be an extra cost that your budget may have difficulty rationalizing. Most of the minting companies can help you with either option. Either way, minting yourself is much cheaper than buying from the stores... even those stores that you will mint your coins through. The extra steps I was alluding to a the beginning of this post is to deface the coin so that it's less valuable to a collector, and obvious to others that an unscrupulous collector is holding a traveling coin. Good luck and Heaven help you for wanting to getting started into this giant whirling vortex of geocoins

I'm not sending requests for payment until I have all the coins delivered to me safely. Invoices should be expected before the end of this week.

here is a jpg of my idea.

The photographs make it hard to read, but the wooden sign on the back gives the town of "Waypoint, Arizona" The ordering website has a modified picture that brings it out better. Here's the images that we were supplied when they first arrived.

Here's your chance to order the AZ Season Geocoin!!! icon The coins are here, so we are starting the order process now. On the bottom of the webpage is an email form to fill out. We will send out Paypal invoices from the list that is created. This minting will be for 250 coins. AZ Season Geocoin Order Page

There are others sites... Many local geocaching forums have created geocoin sub-forums for trading and geocoin announcements. There is another site that touted it's self as a friendly "Free" trading site. While they have remained a free site, it's un-friendly participants caused me to remove the links to their site from my geocoin-info.net site. I won't discuss any further those issues of that site or list it here as it would be inappropriate to do either here.

I'm seriously considering a trip to this Geowoodstock. Granted I'll have to drive an extra half an hour more than Nero is willing to drive. If I can get a carpool together... that will be a bonus. I'm sure there are a few folks in the PHX area that are also wanting to go. If it's cheap enough, I'll fly, but I'd rather drive and hit some caches along the way.