fox-and-the-hound

There have been a number of people in similar situations over the years who have traded or bartered for coins as well. It doesn't have to be coins for coins either. I've seen coins traded for crocheted/knitted/quilted goods, clever signature items, scrimshaw, wooden boxes, etc., etc. Everybody has skills and access to items that can be unique or hard to find and trades like this often result in friendships as well as coins. So think about what you can come up with and share with the community. The community has been very, very good about sharing in return (oh, and welcome to the addiction!)

Thanks Doc for the trade at ASP! This turned out to be my wife's favorite coin from the event and I'm not surprised. It's beautiful and a great addition for caching couples to have in their collection

(wiping away my tears of laughter right now!!)

Very cool and I love the name!

WOW! That's EXACTLY what I do! I always release the original geocoin into the wild first. Sometimes they last for a while and get to travel around. Other times the only geocache they visit is the one I drop them in. After the original coin has been missing for over a year I glue a high-res photo of the coin onto a washer and send it back out as a replacement for the missing original coin. The name of the trackable coin is also changed to "*COPY* of MC's LOST/STOLEN ----- Geocoin". Oh, and the original coins always make at least one skydive with me before they're released -- so do the copies. The copies don't get picked up and moved as often as the original coins, but they sure last longer! Blue skies! Model Citizen - Zero Discipline This is cool! Thank you for having the faith to just throw the dice and see what happens If it weren't for you and cachers like you, I'd have probably never seen a real geocoin in the wild. Of course if I find your copy I'm going to treat like exactly what it is... a traveler

I love it!

Outstanding There are still some good muggles out there!

Clubs definitely have a trade off... Pros: The designs are usually outstanding. These clubs take great pride in their coins and their reputation so you end up getting some really wild stuff over time. If you join, then you're privy to coins that are much harder to get later. Indeed, I see club coins go up on ebay almost immediately after release for three times their original price and the best designs sell out very quickly very early so you have an in to get some of the most desired coins before the rest of the community. Some of the most inventive designs, newest concepts and groundbreaking techniques are usually club coins. Cons: You're committed at least for a short term to purcase coins. Some people don't like not knowing exactly what's coming. Observations both from inside and outside of coin clubs: When a hot new club coin comes up, everybody is trying to get it, but they can sell out quickly and never be available again. Members who bought in know early what's coming and can reserve buy ahead of time, stockpile and have hot traders that the rest of the community wants. I have often been the one scrambling to secure a trade for a club coin that came out with a club I'm not in. I've also been the one hoarding and trading for premium coins later from clubs I have gotten coins from. When a club coin comes out that seems less than desirable a lot of "I told you so"s start getting batted around, but ironically these "less successful" coins also end up having a high collecting value later just because less of them end up being produced and so they are harder to get as well in the long run as more and more people start collecting coins. So if you're brave of heart, can handle anticipation and like surprises and an exclusive chance to get great coins early then clubs may be for you. If you're a more prudent collector and a stick-to-your-guns type and have a lot of patience you'll probably get the coins you're seeking eventually anyway, but usually at a higher cost over the long haul. Do I like clubs? Yes and No. I like all the advantages, but don't like not knowing. We all have to figure it out for ourselves I guess Just another element of fun and excitement with geocoins!

I want this on a geocaching tshirt!!!

It is really. The terms alone suggest that we've evolved just by the fact that we all seem to understand that first there is an issue and that second we actually understand all these terms. We've come a long way baby! lol I still pose the question though. Even if we could get TPTB to give us a category or two more, who makes the call on what category an item fits in since we're obviously not all going to agree unanimously?

Several contradictions here though. Aluminum IS metal. Leather and Ceramic CAN be minted. Does tag mean "TB-like" or just shape? So do we define by material, define by process used or define by a combination thereof? Should the community or the creator have the choice to choose a category? Who has the right to make the choice?

I'm of two opinions on the matter myself. First is the true origin of a "coin". The word itself has a base root to the word kunis or wedge. A heavy metal striker was hammered against molten metal in a recessed basin. Not necessarily "flat" either. Some of the oldest recognized coins were actually fully 3d shapes like dolphins. The basic understanding though was that a raw material was permanently built into a new, consistent shape through the technology of the age. As our technology has increased our materials and methods have changed. So has the coin and what the word means. Be that as it may, I am one of a growing number of people who think we need a third category. We have traditional TBs, which usually, but not always are any one of a million different cache friendly items with a tag attached. Sometimes no tag at all is there, just a number. Then we have what most of us have known or conceive of as tradiational coins being metal and struck in a mint. Now we're seeing a whole new set of items ranging widely in both shape and material. I generally think of them as "trackables", but not necessarily as coins. The question really remains (regardless of whether we like or dislike all the different variations arriving) whether they should be considered Geocoins or whether we would like to see a new category added. I would point out that in the beginning there was only the TB. Even the geocoin had a beginning. I would like to see the individual creators being able to classify them into different families of trackables. It might finally be time to expand our geo-world to accomodate all the new creative endeavors. I don't want to see dozens of categories, but it might be time for 1 or 2 more. Just my thoughts

Got home from work the other day and grabbed a stack of mail from the box only to leave it untouched. Our poor little Paws was running a fever and everything else went out the window for a bit. He's been home sick for a few days and I've just returned to the office today with "my half" of the mail and to my surprise there's a padded envelope in this heap!!! From me!!! Oooooh, it's shiny!!! Work just had to be put on hold for a few more moments as I tear into this package. To my shock, there's a Carpe Diem coin in there and it's amazing The really unusual thing about this beautiful coin is that I've seen a couple in collections recently, but never had one out of it's package to really give it the inspection needed to enjoy all the detail. It's deceptive in it's straightforward appearance and upon closer inspection it has a ton of detail, but even more interesting is the way the trans enamel changes appearance as it reaches the center of the coin. Truly beautiful and truly amazing that someone should go to such effort to give it away. You are a generous soul and have our respect in so many ways. This coin appeared at a time when I needed the reminder in a tangible way. I've been trying harder to make those moments count and to make a greater effort to take the time out for my family and myself. This seems like an amazingly timely reward for doing just that. Thank you. Thank you for taking the time for all of us!

Which one?

Adobe Illustrator has a great new function where it can take a scan and reduce it to black and white line art or any number of various shades. Defaults are 6 and 16, but you can have as many or few as you like. Corel has something similar, but I'm not really familiar with theirs.

It's been about a week so I thought I'd bring a little more of the design to light this morning I asked previously about feathers, multiple gods of the dead and hidden symbols. One of the most interesting aspects I found in all the art I looked through while researching is the repeated use of the feather as a symbol. It turns out the feather, or "shut", was a symbol of all aspects of goodness, truthfulness, faithfulness, loyalty, etc. It stood for all things that are symbols of goodness. When a Pharoah died, the god Anubis was shown to take out the heart of the pharoah and weigh it on a scale against this feather to discern the level of goodness in his soul and decide his fate in the afterlife. Anubis was known as the weigher of souls and not just a lord of the dead, but a judge of the dead. I added the head of Horus, The Protector, over the heart of our mummy and added the spread wings of a priestess's feather robe spread wide across his chest to include the importance of the symbol in the fate of our Master of Cache. Without the feather and the weight of the goodness in a person's heart the cache would be a useless endeavor. When I return next I'll write about the symbols arrayed around Anubis in the outer ring and why they're so important to Geocoins

Beautiful design, story and execution! Definitely a must have for my collection (and I can be a little finicky ) and I hope we get to exchange hand to hand in the weeks ahead!

Thank you so much everybody for your comments! As promised, I'm going to periodically tell some of the story of why I've added the particular elements and details I have on this coin... To the sides of Anubis, you'll see a Priestess kneeling in supplication (left) and the Goddess Bast holding a jar of ointment (right). Bast, aka Bastet or Ubasti is often depicted as a feline-headed woman and had dominion over the protective aspects in divinity. Her symbol, the feline was highly regarded by the people of Egypt as cats were protectors of homes against vermin and deadly snakes. To my surprise she was also known as "the Eye of Ra" and the wife of Ra. Bast became a symbol of all aspects of protection including the practical such as ointments, embalming fluids and more. Her favored symbol, the common house cat was so revered that to this day there have been hundreds of thousands of mummified felines found in archaelogical finds. To the Masters of Cache, she was an absolute necessity in the preparation of cache. She was a protector against all the things that could attack or damage a cache and even more importantly the enabler of the sacred ointments that would protect the mummy for travel to the next world. Our Master of Cache couldn't exist without her direct influence so the symbols of her divinity and her worshipers were a must for this coin! Thank you for taking the moment to let me share this with you and I'll add more soon

If you're an artist you know what it's like to have a "block". It's depressing, upsetting and more than a little tough on your mental state. When it happens for days... well it hurts. I rarely suffer head aches (have no idea why), but I do get the occassional block. I don't know which is worse, but I'll get back to that. Five years ago I was just dipping my toes into designing geocoins. Some really nice people thought more of my work than I did and took a chance on me. After getting a couple designs behind me I really dived in and worked like a ravenous dog to pull off a design that I would be proud to say was "good work". I tried new things, sketched endlessly and asked a lot of questions. I wanted to try this brand new product called "translucent enamel" and see what it could do. I took advice, made changes, banged my head off my desk and wacom tablet more than a few times. When it was done I was proud of my work. I rarely am (we artists are pretty critical of ourselves). When I saw the pictures of the finished coin I was shocked. I was stunned. I wasn't happy. I had so many things that just weren't "right" and not what I intended. How in the world did the dragon end up 3d? Why is the translucent not clear like glass? Why (insert a couple dozen gripes here)? I waited for the inevitable critique to show up. To my surprise people liked it. To my greater surprise I had people write me and tell me it inspired them to buy their first geocoin ever. I started to feel proud of my work despite all the things that ended up differently than my inner vision dictated. I even started to feel like it wasn't that bad. 5 years later I'm sitting over my sketch pad as my baby boy lies next to me snoring and I'm doodling. It's been a bad day at work because of a block. I'm in a bad mood, but sometimes sketching coins brings relief and it's why I design coins at all. A sort of way to make art just for the pure joy of it again. When you do it 10-12 hours a day at work the last thing you really want to do is go home and be creative. Tonight is shaping up as I'm speed sketching and trying to move my arm as once again it's gone all pins and needles with Xander piled up half on top of me. I'm thinking about where it all started and I'm thinking about the statement I made when I designed that first Master of Cache. I set out to design a coin that was so interesting to look at that people wouldn't know which side was "up" or the face side. There were so many coins that were amazing designs that just didn't inspire on the "back" and I thought it was a shame. I loved the idea of changing that mode of thinking. I might have just been suffering an ego trip, too, from all the wonderful support by this community. Be that as it may, I had a goal and it's still my first thought with every new design. (This time I'm in for a surprise and don't even know it yet.) So I'm looking at my old notes and sketches. I'm looking over the old list I jotted down of caching masters in history and which of these treasure-stashing legends would be cool to base a new coin on. A spark appears in the deep dark blackness of the artist's block and it begins. I sketch quickly and move on. Add a little detail... nope. Maybe this or that... nope. Argh! This is infuriating and the block is back. Oh, well, I'll think about it tomorrow, but for now there's a guttering spark of possibility slowly smoldering in the dark. As so many of my late designs attempt to, this one tells a story. Why this creature? Why is he different from any other that hoarded away something of value? What makes him so interesting? Why would he have any relationship to caching (much less coins)??? I needed to do a little research. Man, I had NO idea what I was getting myself in to! LOL Turns out there's more than one "official" god of the dead in Egyptian mythos. They even fought for control over their dominion even though they represented different aspects of it. These ideals and dogmas influenced the rule of the entire known world. Ra, Anubis, Horus, Bast, scarabs, colors and the lifelong preparation of the most powerful men and women in the world for the afterlife. It's all in here and it all holds particular importance to the idea of creating the greatest cache ever. The work of many peoples' lifetimes. I thought the story was all about the mummy of a king, but I was wrong. He had the easiest assignments. The faithful family, friends, priests, servants and even pets and beasts of burden got involved! Do you know those symbols on the rim? You should if you love geocoins! Do you know why feathers are powerful symbols? Do you know why cats are so important or why the priests of Bast held such sway over far more powerful political and religious parties? It's all here and the more you question, the more you seek to understand the details of this coin, the more you'll know why I chose the elements I did, why I put them in the order they're in, why I picked the colors I did and how it all wraps together as a symbol of why this amazing culture of treasure gatherers truly were the Masters of Cache. I don't want to give it all away yet, but I'll tell more of the story of the details from time to time. I'd like to give you the chance to explore and uncover the secrets of the details in this cache of images. For now, I'll just list the regular stuff.... 1.75 Inches 3.5mm Antique Gold or Antique Gold Soft and Soft Translucent Enamels Trackable Custom Icon Available at: http://www.geocoinstore.com/ As always, thanks for your support, your ideas and your encouragement to keep doing this. For me that will always be the real treasure! - Chris

I wonder if it speaks to my nerdliness that I can recall spending entire 3 day weekends hashing out these games with my friends - lol. Very cool design and cool to see you got the thumbs up from Hasbro! Nice job

I mentioned it a few weeks ago to Groundspeak staff and they said they were well aware of it. They didn't seem terribly concerned that it would threaten what we're doing. I've asked around a little and it seems the most they could get a patent for would be the idea of the bracelets carrying multiple trackables and not the trackable system itself. It seems there are quite a few trackable systems beyond geocoins.

Bottom line is you ordered what you wanted and didn't receive it twice. It's extremely important to be concise in asking for a fix, but I'd get them fixed before you let any go. I've been through this and the issues, complaints and opinions you'll have to endure over time might not be worth it to you. I feel your pain, but go with your gut!

I like the sub-layering textures! Did you happen to make a non-enameled version or have a mint proof without enamel? I'm really curious to see more

bump

I'm still wondering how these are trackable.