Am I Missing The Boat?

[Team Morris]

I see all these coins and they are impressive and I have ordered a few myself. It seems to me that we should be "finding" these coins rather than buying them. Shouldn't we? I think a collection of geocoins that have been found "in the wild" is more impressive than my bank rolled collection. Of course saying this I do restate that I have ordered a few myself. What does everyon else think? Am I just being a purest?

[+AtlantaGal]

Finding them is fine and dandy as long as you wouldn't consider one that's a travel bug as a coin to be kept.

[ParentsofSAM]

If you want a collection to keep the only way is to buy. The ones found in caches are meant to stay in caches and travel around.

 

I have coins that do both. Some are collectables and some will (hopefully) travel around.

[Rupert2]

I agree that finding them in the wild is better, but someone has to create them and release them into the wild. Bottom line is that (in theory) you will get out what you put into it. I advise you create your own personal coin and make sure that MANY are released into the wild. I like this alternative better than buying coins from everyone who sells.

 

Also be mindful that if the owner wishes that the coin travel (is a travelbug), make sure that it does so.

Edited February 15, 2006 by Rupert2

[+FluteFace]

The original purpose of coins (I believe) was to travel through caches -- they are TBs, after all. Most of the coins in my collection have been traded for or purchased. I suspect I would never have even seen them in the wild, because most are out of the area I usually frequent, and I suspect that they are usually stolen before they make it here.

 

Personally, I'm not that much of a purist. I have some from the wild, and my favorite one (and one that I wouldn't have been able to afford anyway) came from the wild. However, I view many of the coins as art -- an art collection if you'd like to look at it that way. Some are just gorgeous and I enjoy looking at them, much like art or photos on the wall, and marveling at the creative minds that came up with them.

 

If I could have it any way that I wanted, I would say coins for caches, trading or gifts, and not for cash.

[Rupert2]

The original purpose of coins (I believe) was to travel through caches -- they are TBs, after all.

 

This had ought to be a hot topic to be debated...

 

I will disagree with you on this point. Most geocoins are not Travelbugs. All of the early geocoins (with the sole exception of the Moun10bike as I was reminded yesterday) were not trackable on gc.com. Yes, there were several that were trackable on travelers tags and some even on home-made sites. For the most part (subject to debate) personal coins were signature items to be taken, enjoyed, passed on, traded and yes...even collected.

 

It has only been within the last year that GC has started selling the tracking numbers. If memory serves me correctly the first trackable geocoin (aside from Mount10bike) was the Colorado Geocoin. With one notable exception coins as Travelbugs are a relatively new concept.

Edited February 15, 2006 by Rupert2

[+Eartha]

Once in a while you will find in a cache that is meant as a FTF prize and therefore you can keep it, but always check the coin first, if it's trackable and has a page, to see if it has a goal.

[Not So Lost Puppies]

As others have said, if its trackable it is generally a traveller. Those there are some that have left unactivated coins as prizes in difficult caches, and some are left unactivated as FTF prizes.

 

Usually if you find a coin in a cache it is a traveller and shouldn't be kept. But you could do as I do... take a picture of it as a souviner of TBs/coins you have moved. then you also get the icon in your stats page. I have decided that the only items listed in the 'found' category are travellers. Not ones from a collection brought to share at an event. So my found travellers are a collection of items I've encountered in the wild.

 

Also, my owned list is TBs/coins that are out in the wild. With the one current exception being our geodog midnight, she wears her TB tag to track her cache visits. If you run into us on the trails though you can log her.

 

I buy the coins that I have an interest in, usually I buy some extras as well. Once afew more of the unlimitted coins are available, I'll be releasing quite afew more coins for travelling, including many that aren't the unlimitted coins.

 

There are non-trackable coins out there as well, and unless they have a mission tag with another traveller attached, I believe those can be considered general trade items. Please trade even or trade up, an untrackable geocoin is probably worth $3-5 in swag. An unactivated trackable coin left for trading is worth $5-7 or so in swag.

 

Soon we will be doing a non-trackable personal coin and pins as sig items. We will NOT be selling them, they will primarily be left in caches, though we will do some trades with them as well. So with luck you may find one for your collection we do cache when we travel, check our stats page to see our more frequent caching areas.

[+nscaler]

With one notable exception coins as Travelbugs are a relatively new concept. (quote)

 

The California geocoins have been trackable on "another" site since 2004.

 

New concept?

[+IceCreamMan]

With one notable exception coins as Travelbugs are a relatively new concept. (quote)

 

The California geocoins have been trackable on "another" site since 2004.

 

New concept?

 

Technically, trackable on an alternate sight are "trackable" but given the behavior of cachers (they seldom if ever log them) and the values expressed in the market place (alt site tracking coins trade and sell at values similar to non-trackable rather than trackable - i.e. at a discount), if it's not trackable on gc.com, it's not really veiwed as trackable by most cachers (just describing reality here, not expressing an opinion). Trackable coins, other than the moun10bike and USA geocoin origniated last spring. Less than a year ago folks. I don't know which the first actually was, but when we approached Groundspeak about the GW3 coin, they reacted as though the concept was completely foreign to them.

 

For the record, I've had stellar results releasing coins. I have my "Coins in the Wild", with hypertext links to the bug pages, list on my coin list below. If you realease them they will move them.

[Sliver & Lucy]

I believe the Canadian geocoin was first produced in 2003.. and was only trackable on their own site..

Edited February 16, 2006 by Sliver & Lucy

[Jake - Team A.I.]

I believe the Canadian geocoin was first produced in 2003.. and was only trackable on their own site..

 

I have a coin log going back to September of 2002 here.

[+zygote2k]

That's the funniest thing I've heard in a long time- A geocoin in a geocache. HAHAHA

[+Marky]

If you want a collection to keep the only way is to buy. The ones found in caches are meant to stay in caches and travel around.

 

Many of the early coins weren't trackable, and many aren't still, they are just geocoin sigitems and aren't meant to travel from cache to cache. I have quite a few geocoins in my collection that I've found in caches that weren't meant to move. However, if a geocoin is trackable on geocaching.com, or some other site, I think you would have to assume that it is meant to travel. If you find out that it is unactivated, then generally I would take that to mean that it may be kept if desired.

 

--Marky