fox-and-the-hound

That's great news! I had a coin found in similar fashion a couple years ago just yards from the cache location. Makes me wonder if people walking off while zipping up their swagbag lost in the shuffle.

As a designer myself I'm always looking for solid designs of course, but more importantly something in the design that is unique as the cacher it represents or a new and innovative idea will always win me over. There are a lot of good coins out there and price seems to have very little to do with whether a coin is done well. On average a professionally designed coin should actually only cost about 50 cents to a dollar more. If that's the difference between a good coin and a great coin, I'm happy to pay the little bit more.

You had me at "I'm back!"

The order to begin production has gone out and so now we wait on pins and needles! GxProxy is once again compiling a "first contact" list and anyone who wants to be put on the list can send them an email at support@gxproxy.com and just put "Death Comes Knocking" in the subject line. An email will go out to everybody on the list once the coins have finished production and either shipped or in hand in Texas. Thank you for your interest and here's a little tidbit to enjoy for now... There will be four two-tone metal finishes available... RE Ant. Copper w Shiny Gold RE Ant. Nickel w Shiny Gold RE Ant. Gold w Shiny Nickel LE Ant. Bronze w Shiny Nickel

I'll check Dofferson, but I'm sure that could be in everyone's best interest. I'll make a couple calls in about an hour and try to get you a confirmation on this. I will say that like the dragons there are four variations in the works and I'm still sitting here looking at them and trying decide which ones I like the most and which should be RE and LE. I'll see if I can narrow down a release date based on the projected shipping, too.

To date, we've only made a short run of each finish to see if they would be more well received in a particular finish. To our surprise, there doesn't seem to be a particular favorite so far. We've talked a lot about the pros and cons of producing a larger number of coins, but we're both in agreement, that keeping smaller numbers with better "collectability" as a focus is in everybody's best interest. To date only 100 (or less) have been made of each finish and we want to keep the LE at a significantly lower number than the others (about a 1-10 ratio vs the REs). So does that mean 30 LEs since there are 100 each of 3 colors or 10 LEs? No, it's based on the total run of coins when production ends. Final numbers will be out when we've finished, but as I said, we ran a short run of each finish to start before deciding how many total we would create. Final numbers will be posted when we retire this design. I collect coins myself so I understand the collector's desire to acquire coins with a lower production number and I intend to collect a few of these for my own portfolio and collection.

Samples are in and I could NOT be more pleased!!! Photos are being taken today when the sun moves and the light changes just a bit more for better color balance. We'll update soon, but I can say this for now... we actually approved going straight to production after only seeing the photos (which we have never done before) and now with samples in hand our optimism is confirmed... it's going to be one of our favorites!

To date, we've only made a short run of each finish to see if they would be more well received in a particular finish. To our surprise, there doesn't seem to be a particular favorite so far. We've talked a lot about the pros and cons of producing a larger number of coins, but we're both in agreement, that keeping smaller numbers with better "collectability" as a focus is in everybody's best interest. To date only 100 (or less) have been made of each finish and we want to keep the LE at a significantly lower number than the others (about a 1-10 ratio vs the REs).

Check your email Thomas, they're waiting for a confirmation on which shipping setup you would like! They've sent out emails right away to anyone ordering international to work out the lowest possible shipping to your areas. No AE on this one. (yet!) Don't know if there will be, but probably not.

I'll check with the site owner to see if there are less expensive (if slower) options for shipping. That does seem high for a single coin. I'll see if they can get a breakdown for what it costs to send international and see if it's just particular countries or all.

I can't say I'm entirely surprised. I sent just one coin and a Tag a few weeks ago to the Netherlands and it was about 8.50 which really surprised me. I had a similar experience sending an item to Estonia in the fall. It was about $16 that time. Shipping has really gotten to be crazy. If I remember correctly they usually ship their international stuff by priority international flat rates and that's showing me $44.50 for USPS and $35 for First Class. Maybe they're sending FedEx? I'm not sure, but either way, shipping is getting crazy. On the upside, they're about to launch their European store from what I hear.

Sample photos arrived overnight and Death is looking great!!! Here's a sneak peek until I get the physical samples

Whoot!!! They're finally in and we couldn't be more pleased! GxProxy will be carrying them in store today! They're nice and hefty and the detail is exactly what we hoped for. The 'Tags pop in and out cleanly and I have already replaced my own tag in my Dragon's clutches.

I like them a lot! Great work (as usual) Stephanie!!

You're most welcome! I'm so happy to see you finally received a taste of Snowflakes and Sunshine finally!! I hope your first package arrives at some point, too.

We have confirmation that the latest test versions worked and the first sample photos came in looking stellar last friday. I'm hoping to get out some new photos in a few days. The mint initially said they would ship by the end of Feb, but now it's looking like first week of March if things progress smoothly. We were initially having trouble getting some of the two-tone combinations we were asking for, but we've worked it out now. I'll update asap, I promise!

I can understand that! (not that I've ever over-spent on coins myself! )

I notice a few of these as single listings when there were multiple versions, remints, etc. Are you looking for a complete list or just one of each design represented?

Thomas, the first up will be the Dragons, should be in-house in about 3 weeks. Life & death themed one should be a few weeks after (early mid march) and this one maybe a week or two after that. Several more in the works as well, but I can't give everything away

The world is such an amazingly small place with the web! Despite language barriers we're making connections with great artists and learning about fantastical woodland creatures we've never even heard of before! Many common themes, but such a wealth of variety makes for lots of exciting new designs in the months and years ahead!

That is correct, thank you. We've changed enamel settings, colors and one metal finish combo already so no full pics until everything is set in stone We were sad to find one of our top choices had an issue with the plating not working in that particular combo with the process we were using. The upside was we found out we could get a combo that we always here isn't even possible so we're excited to see what happens in the next couple weeks

A little something to keep you through the CNY...

We thought we were done with a nice 3 coin series of guardian woodland spirits. Time to move on to one of nature's most notorious cachers. Minutes into the research however, an ancient tale of mystical relations between this animal and the forest spirits would unfold. There are legends explaining the appetite for treasure this animal is consumed by. The legends are old... REALLY old. The more we dug the more we became enchanted by this story. A woodland spirit to equal the Waldgeist of tricksome nature or benevolent benefactor. A spirit that could choose to live as a human if the right conditions were met or could choose to ruin a human's fortune with their incredible strength and wit if they were ever abused. A complicated collection of legends to match the complicated nature of these highly intelligent animals. Possibly one of the world's first legends promoting equality between men and women, too. There are so many twists to this story from region to region and country to country! The second international collaborative effort between USA Designer Christian Mackey and Russian Federation Illustrator Andrey Popov to be produced by GxProxy.com Size: 2" x 4-5mm+ Mold Type: 3D both sides Special Effects: Swarovski Crystal placement Shape: Round Enamel style: Soft Enamels / Translucents Trackable at Geocaching.com with Custom Icon Edge Tracking More to come...

It's been a while waiting for the factory to get through CNY so thought I might update this with one more snippet for now. Not a final version, but a bit of detail from the samples...

Not sure why I didn't think of it before, but they followed the pure gold ones up with Kobuk Jade coins inset with genuine raw gold nuggets. http://www.geocachealaska.org/coinsales/2011bling/2011jadecreation.htm I do not know what the current value is, but I remember these were investment pieces for any collector.