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Kansas Geocoin Design?

KSWader

By KSWader
in Midwest

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KSWader

+KSWader

Posted
Posted

I was wondering if any of the Great Plains area would be interested in a Kansas Geocoin?

 

Any ideas for a design for the sunflower state? Of course a sunflower would be good. Maybe a buffalo, center of the USA, wheat, OZ - Dorothy and toto, oldest cache currently in exixtance or tornado? Any suggestions?

 

If we want them trackable on Groundspeak, it would have to go through a Kansas organization and have 1500 minium produced. Then a question would be is how important is it to have them tracked on Groundspeak or another site?

 

Please offer suggestions and comments. I am starting to pass the idea around.

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KSWader

+KSWader

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I sent a note to Groundspeak and heard back on it today for the 1500 minimum and $1.50 each to track. Also that it needs to be headed by a geocaching organization. Groundspeak will also approve the use of its logo before it goes to the die stage.

 

Also had a suggestion of using the state flag on the geocoin.

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webscouter.

+webscouter.

Posted
Posted

Please be more creative than using the state flag. Kansas is the home to many things only found in Kansas. Please use one of them. Aviation history, birthplace of Amelia Earhart, America's first helocopter. Fossils in western Kansas, Lecompton Kansas, birthplace of the American Civil war. Big Brutus coal shovel, Laura Ingalls Wilder Little house on the prairie, Dodge City, Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson. Mingo cache, the mushroom rocks,

 

Prairie, rolling hills, steep bluffs, military forts, wagon trails and wagon ruts. Chalk formations.

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Shop99er

+Shop99er

Posted
Posted (edited)

Kansas has always called itself the Sunflower State, (you used the trem yourself), so there's the obvious choice for one side of the coin.

 

Also, I seem to recall that the Geographic center of the 48 continuous states is in Lebanon. I would put a state outline with a tornado pointed at the center point. I know, the center of the 50 states is in the Dakotas somewhere.

 

One thing to remember is that as a State coin, it might be a good idea to use items in the design that people outside of Kansas will recognize. Some of the things that webscouter mentions would be completely lost on someone from, oh say, Portland, Maine.

 

A lot of orders for this coin will be coming from outside of Kansas.

 

For those who may ask why someone from Washington is commenting, that's easy. I was born and raised in Kansas. Lived in Wichita and Douglass.

 

BTW, you make 'em, I'll buy 2.

 

[edit--where's that spelll chekur?]

Edited by Shop99er
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KC0GRN

+KC0GRN

Posted
Posted

count me in for some, course I'm part of a coin group, they'll automatically buy em anyway and I'll get some that way :D

 

I doubt I should be giving any suggestions on designs, but the wizard of oz comes to mind... lol :D

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MiTuCats

+MiTuCats

Posted
Posted

I hope this doesn't turn into a double post. It vanished the first time I tried it. :D

 

Since the Best Half of our team was born and raised in Kansas, and loves sunflowers, we feel that sunflowers (either a scene of a field of them, or a single bloom) would be a perfect choice for one side of the coin.

 

The Tallgrass prairies, the Flint Hills and a variety of other natural settings seem like good choices for other elements.

 

Another possiblity would be a rolling wheat field or one of your huge grain elevators. Those are distinctively recognizable to people from out of state as being Kansas landmarks (at least to those of us with agricultural backgrounds).

 

Definitely, you should stay away from things that seem to indicate that Kansas is flat, which seems to be a common misconception. It really infuriates the Best Half of our team. While she can't deny there are flat areas, the state as a whole is definitely not flat, even though a scientific study a couple of years proved it was flatter than a pancake. :D

 

If they're made, we'll buy at least two, and I'm sure some other Michigan geocachers would purchase some as well.

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KSWader

+KSWader

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Nurse Dave,

 

I did not think about not having to mint 1500 as the 1500 is the minimum for purchase of tracking numbers. This makes it more doable in my mind. I know of some states that have sold more than this is pre-orders but they have a many more cachers in the state.

 

Keep the ideas coming! I kind of like the idea of Dorothy and Gang hunting for a geocache or opening up a geocache on one side and then a colored sunflower on the other side with Kansas the Sunflower State. Thanks for all the great ideas and information!

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Nurse Dave

+Nurse Dave

Posted
Posted
Nurse Dave,

 

I did not think about not having to mint 1500 as the 1500 is the minimum for purchase of tracking numbers. This makes it more doable in my mind. I know of some states that have sold more than this is pre-orders but they have a many more cachers in the state.

 

Keep the ideas coming! I kind of like the idea of Dorothy and Gang hunting for a geocache or opening up a geocache on one side and then a colored sunflower on the other side with Kansas the Sunflower State. Thanks for all the great ideas and information!

Sure, but then you're going to have to pass-on the cost of those unused numbers to the coins you're going to make.

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The Dillon Gang

+The Dillon Gang

Posted
Posted (edited)
If we want them trackable on Groundspeak, it would have to go through a Kansas organization and have 1500 minium produced.  Then a question would be is how important is it to have them tracked on Groundspeak or another site? 

 

you will easilty be able to sell 1500 coins...i am still getting emails from people who want a calif. geocoin....minted 1250 have emails for about 400 more. many of the people that are purchasing are collectors anyhow.

Edited by The Dillon Gang
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KSWader

+KSWader

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Still out the tracking before I go to much further. 1500 tracking numbers is lot for what interest has been shown so far.

 

The basic design is a meadowlark on a post with broken barbed wire and sunflowers at the base. The background is a priaire and has a bison in it. It would say something about Kansas Geocachers around the outside and the back would probably be a generic track the coin type.

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Shop99er

+Shop99er

Posted
Posted
The basic design is a meadowlark on a post with broken barbed wire and sunflowers at the base. The background is a priaire and has a bison in it.

Meadowlark? Barbed wire?

 

these are not images that come to mind when people think of Kansas. This statement includes people who grew up in Kansas...like me.

 

Please drop my order to 1 coin.

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webscouter.

+webscouter.

Posted
Posted
The basic design is a meadowlark on a post with broken barbed wire and sunflowers at the base.  The background is a priaire and has a bison in it.

Meadowlark? Barbed wire?

 

these are not images that come to mind when people think of Kansas. This statement includes people who grew up in Kansas...like me.

 

Please drop my order to 1 coin.

The Meadowlark is Kansas state bird. Since 1937 even! Sounds like a good representation to me. I like it. Sounds much better than the cliche Kansas items. I'm sure I will take a few.

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Shop99er

+Shop99er

Posted
Posted (edited)
The basic design is a meadowlark on a post with broken barbed wire and sunflowers at the base.  The background is a priaire and has a bison in it.

Meadowlark? Barbed wire?

 

These are not images that come to mind when people think of Kansas. This statement includes people who grew up in Kansas...like me.

 

Please drop my order to 1 coin.

The Meadowlark is Kansas state bird. Since 1937 even! Sounds like a good representation to me. I like it. Sounds much better than the cliche Kansas items. I'm sure I will take a few.

I am quite aware of what the state bird of Kansas is. As I said, and you may have read, I grew up there.

 

As a native, I do not think of the Meadowlark, ever, when I think of Kansas. I certainly do not think of barbed wire, either. I think of prairies, tornados, and thunderstorms. Maybe you don't like the "cliche" things, but this native does.

 

When this topic first opened, KSWader asked for input on the design. I don't recall that anyone suggested a bird or barb wire. Yes, I re-read this thread. Just about everyone asked for a tornado.

Edited by Shop99er
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webscouter.

+webscouter.

Posted
Posted
The basic design is a meadowlark on a post with broken barbed wire and sunflowers at the base.  The background is a priaire and has a bison in it.

Meadowlark? Barbed wire?

 

These are not images that come to mind when people think of Kansas. This statement includes people who grew up in Kansas...like me.

 

Please drop my order to 1 coin.

The Meadowlark is Kansas state bird. Since 1937 even! Sounds like a good representation to me. I like it. Sounds much better than the cliche Kansas items. I'm sure I will take a few.

I am quite aware of what the state bird of Kansas is. As I said, and you may have read, I grew up there.

 

As a native, I do not think of the Meadowlark, ever, when I think of Kansas. I certainly do not think of barbed wire, either. I think of prairies, tornados, and thunderstorms. Maybe you don't like the "cliche" things, but this native does.

 

When this topic first opened, KSWader asked for input on the design. I don't recall that anyone suggested a bird or barb wire. Yes, I re-read this thread. Just about everyone asked for a tornado.

If you read the thread you will see that my first post was requesting that the designer didn't use the cliches. I'm still happy about the design. I was posting that the meadowlark was Kansas State bird for those who were not aware of it. You will also notice that none of my ideas made the design. I like the fact that the coin will bring something new to the idea of what Kansas is. The design sounds like it will show the openness of the prairies quite nicely. Why would we want to portray the vagarys of the weather as being innately Kansas?

 

I also grew up in or very close to Kansas. But that doesn't mean that I am any more qualified to voice my opinion about the coin than anyone else. I have however spent many hours driving across the state and see meadowlarks sitting on fence post just about every time I do. I've only seen one tornado. The coin is an accurate representation of what I see as a near Kansan and graduate of the Kansas school system.

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KSWader

+KSWader

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At this moment the cost for trackable on Groundspeak is not worth it for me to try to get the coins produced. The cost was looking towards the $5000 range to get the issue done and that would only be doing 750. The 1500 required trackable numbers purchased from Groundspeak really hurts the small states that do not have a large geocacher base. We had around 400 people interested in the coins and that would still leave me holding 350 out of pocket. So it looks like I probably will not be doing any trackable coins on Groundspeak at this time. In the future I may do a personal non-trackable coin of my own in a small edition. So I am closing this thread.

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