fox-and-the-hound

That's a great idea!!! I've never heard of that one yet, but I love it

It has been established that the link is not allowed, and they have been referred to Groundspeak if they want to advertise here. Thank you for not linking it. What link? It wasn't an advertisement either. The company isn't even selling these, but rather giving them away in support of the event coin. Did I miss a post?

LOL! These statements really raise my eyebrows because I'm seriously considering replacing the 30+ of my trackable coins with proxies now that they're stolen/missing. My real ones I let go out into the world to travel and now they're gone. Maybe forever. So I did what you asked, do you still have a gripe? I know I feel swindled, but since I did pay for the coin and I did pay for the tracking code on it, I think it might just be my right to use my property the way I like.

Thank you! I haven't really been gone, just very, very busy with starting up my own design company. The upside is geocoin design is part of my regular work load!

So the Warhol original is okay, but poster prints being sold of it and photos of it being sold to art history books are not. Any such venture would be in violation with Campbells, correct?

I am very disaapointed to hear about this site...I would be upset to see one of my coins reproduced in this manner. Back on topic...if you have more than 1 copy of the coin in question (ie: 2 compass rose geocoins), you could probably grind off the tracking number of the new coin and engrave the old one on it (or attach a laminated card to it with the tracking number to the coin)...of course, that would mean throwing away a tracking number, which probably not a good idea. It's my understanding that any reproduction would only be done so with permission of the original creator of the original coin. Out of curiosity, do you feel this strongly about people putting laminated photocopies of your coin out to travel after their coins have been stolen?

No. An homage can be created in the style of an original. It can also be a new piece celebrating a cultural icon. I think it's safe to say these are all cutural icons. Copyright is not the issue here, and neither is originality. The issue would be trademark. It is my understanding though that Lucas Arts encourages fans of the the Star Wars series to create original work.

I agree with this yet it is very hard to discriminate between drawing your own artwork as a homage and just lifting copyrighted material. To most they look identical but the intent is different. There is plenty of both out there and it gives an artist pause to think and a reason to change their artwork. The only safe bet is to step back from the can. i'm sorry mark, but i don't see artwork as a homage listed as a legit reason for trademark infringement. Andy Warhol's Campbell Soup Cans is an excellent example. A very specific, copyrighted and trademarked image used in an entirely new way. Not unlike doing a painting, photo or drawing of a sculpture, monument or building. The sculptures, monuments and buildings were all somebody else's work initially. These new works are sold at a profit so this is a tough argument on both sides. I'm all for making original work of iconic images. It is the artist's responsibility to show original idea in the process though I was curious about your mention of the building and the tree as being protected though. It's an interesting thought, but as a photographer you're obviously aware that any visible site that can be seen by the public without breaking any laws to catch the view is open to being captured and sold as original work. Have you seen any cases where it was successfully prosecuted against?

Not necessarily. In the US, any work that's been published before January 1st 1923 is in the public domain (even if the work hasn't been published in the US, as long as it happened in complience with US copyright formalities), even though the same work may not be in the public domain in other countries. Actually, this is only a partly true. Copyrights run out after a specific amount of time. Last I checked it was 50 years. As the deadline on the copyright is running out, anyone who can show proof of ownership of the piece in question may renew that copyright all over again. This is why some pieces that are not that old are public domain and some pieces even hundreds of years old are still copyrighted. There is a lot that makes up copyright law and very few all encompassing rules. What makes me cringe are the blatant copyright violations I see in the coin and tag production lately. If you think this will go one forever without anyone taking notice then you are betting against the devil. No one is going to get away with this in the end. There are companies who's only business is to seek out and prosecute copyright violators. Sooner or later these pieces are going to be picked up on someone's radar. The worst part is there are some who know far better and are still breaking the law despite the fact. Each to their own I suppose, but the time is coming...

Thank you everyone for the wonderful comments For JoenSue, the design is called the STOLQuest SQ2 (he's currently building an SQ3) and was featured in a number of articles, podcasts, etc. You can see it in action here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2SOAfTWmPk&playnext=1&list=PLFBAB5D5B0727016E before it received the more agressive additions later. Have to love a stall speed under 20mph!!! edit: Mods, I tried to do a link and the video box popped up. If this is not cool please just knock it down and people can contact me by PM for a link, thanks edit to add: Notice those marks on the top of the wings??

My First to Find (ver 1) geocoin was my entry into the world of professionally designing geocoins. The project began about 5 years ago and became a reality about a year later. My First to Find II geocoin design came about 2 years later and was a breakout point for me in combining my love of graphic print design, animation and geocoins. When I approached the idea of returning to this project for a third time (once again after 2 years) I felt more than a bit of apprehension. The first coin, much to my delight, was far more successful in it's appeal that I could have imagined and honestly never would have been made at all without the relentless support of those wonderful guys at the Geocoin Store. It was one of my first ever designs and as much as I love it, I look at it now and cringe at what I should have done to make it better. Of course it's easy to armchair quarterback now after a few years of working with coins. When I returned to the idea for the second time I looked at all the things I did right and wrong the first time around and tried to show what I had learned from my experiences. I still love that coin, but times change, the industry changes and the things we can do have grown so much that now after another two years I decided to try again. This third time was a far more personal experience for me both in growth as a coin designer and in growth as an artist. As a small child of about 3 I began sitting with my father in the evenings drawing and doodling my moment's whim. My father would spend 95% of his time meanwhile designing blueprints for his latest idea in how to improve the almost perfect design of the Piper Super Cup airplane. Once in while though he would join me in just drawing for the love of it. Those days were magical to me. Here this hard working blue collar man would transform in a matter of minutes into an artist who's talent astounds me even today. He would draw these images of what looked at first glance to be beautiful floral arrangements hanging in air and sporting constricting bands of metal encompassing them. The more I looked, the more I realized they weren't really flowers. To this day I don't really know what they were. I'd like to think they represent the wild impulses of creation that he held deep inside constricted by that band of control and responsibility that life shoves on us. A very short time ago, my father's lifelong pursuit of improving that airplane to a dramatic turn. He put all those various ideas together and built the plane of his dreams. It superceded all expectations, broke records and went into production almost immediately. I am so proud of him and his new success drifts around constantly in my mind. When I decided to design this third First to Find coin I was still thinking about these things. Those fantastical images of florals, twisted metal, bands, colors and more began stewing about with my love of Typography and geocoins. I started to sketch and doodle quickly and then couldn't snap away from it. I wish I had just one of his sketches from my childhood to reference, but alas it's only in my head as he always threw them away. This design might have been better for the reference, but in a way I needed to do this without him, too. I needed to put my own stamp on the world of art he opened for me. I hope this coin does justice to his patience with me and my fascination with all things artistic. I hope you enjoy it the way I enjoyed his work just imagining what all those elements might have meant to him. Each was an extension of him in some small way and every coin I make is an extension of me in some way. I hope you can feel the connection I feel for you, too, through my work. Thank you as always for the amazing support you've shown for me over these years. I couldn't do this without you - Christian 1.75" x 3.5 mm Antique Silver or Antique Gold Translucent Enamels - Both Glitter Enamel - Silver Trackable - Yes Unique Icon - Yes 5 Seperate Levels of Recessed/Raised Metals Geocoinstore.com (Thank you guys for making this happen!) edit: spelling

There are a few Christian personal geocoins out there, too. I'll try to recall the names of some of them and get back to this thread.

I don't think this is true. I had a coin go awol while traveling, but kept a duplicate in my pocket for people to check out and look over that was not activated. I kept the first as a recorder of all the cachers I met and would give people the number of the original awol coin to discover so I could continue to grow my list of cachers met on the trail. Despite the fact that the original coin is still out "traveling" (or buried in the bottom of somebodies couch cushions) plenty of people have Discovered it since. I've seen people do this with other trackables as well. From what I understand, people can Discover the coin at anytime, but they can't Grab the coin without messing up the mileage. Is this not still the case?

I have to agree on wanting to see the back of the archer when viewing the back of the coin. I love the idea overall, but would also like to see an actual bow in the archer's hands, too. Weren't the actual weapons staged with the effigies? Possibly a plaque or shield over the 3d back could overcome the difficulty in displaying the text as well.

Try contacting Fluttershy maybe. I believe she had at least one along these lines

If you want a united set then I would recommend Cache Addicts' project. If you want to hunt for the obscure pieces that have been made over the years you'll have a long journey ahead of you, but you'll meet some great people along the way. Just depends on what you're looking for

I've been around a geocoin or two and I have to second and third everyone here to say seek out MJ and stick to her like glue. I know I would

Cool! I'm going to say Steelers 31 Packers 22

I've had a couple successful trades but I still have lots of poker coins left! I'll happily trade these for anything at all. I'll give at least three for any unactivated trackable! You have a PM

Make sure it's RGB and not CMYK. I had this problem earlier this week.

Looking good! Congratulations

Pretty good explanation of terms except for the AE. These are NOT limited to retail commercial geocoins, but are indeed available only to the designer of the coin.

Thanks! You are the first person who liked the clear overlay, so it was left off of the full production runs. Thus, there will be only four coins total that will have the clear epoxy. I will most likely auction them off being that two of them will be XXLE and two of them will be unique (the only one of its kind on the whole planet). I put tracking numbers on them in anticipation that the samples would end up being different than the full runs. I made six samples total and only two of them will be the same as the REs. I'm surprised! The clear overlay are the most likely to succeed long, LONG aging factors and remain pure as the day they were produced. Beautiful results all around

Can you post a pic of the coin?

Sent you a PM.