+RealWorldAvatars Posted December 1, 2006 Share Posted December 1, 2006 (edited) It has been SUCH a long, strange road since hubby and I first decided that we wanted our geocaching signature item to be a coin. The first minting company we tried took forever and a day to deliver a very substandard sample coin, promised to refund our deposit, and then later refused to do so, effectively skunking us out of $300. The second minting company we chose took considerably less time to produce lovely mockup art and then a whole run of coins... which to our dismay weren't really what we wanted. However, unlike the first company (who I now liken to a sack of weasels), the second company convinced me to give the process a second chance, and produced a run of absolutely gorgeous coins in less than two weeks, for just the price of a new die and shipping on the coins. Result: I plan to sing the praises of AllAboutCoins at every geocaching event I attend for the next few years. Anyway, the practical upshot is that we now have 300 of these beauties: 25 gold-finished ones numbered FTF01-FTF25 to leave in our own caches, 75 silvery ones for the caches that we find really memorable or inspiring, and 200 copper-toned ones for the more ordinary sort of cache. CAVEAT: these coins not for sale, they're not for trade, they're just our sig items and we plan to stick one in every decent-sized cache we can find. We're going to place our first one somewhere this upcoming weekend, after I print out little cards to include with them that explain that whoever finds a coin gets to keep it. I absolutely can't wait to hear what people think of them when they start to be found! *insert happy dancing sort of icon here* It's been more than four months since we started the process; I'm so very glad that everything finally came together. Edited December 1, 2006 by RealWorldAvatars Quote Link to comment
+coreynjoey Posted December 1, 2006 Share Posted December 1, 2006 It has been SUCH a long, strange road since hubby and I first decided that we wanted our geocaching signature item to be a coin. The first minting company we tried took forever and a day to deliver a very substandard sample coin, promised to refund our deposit, and then later refused to do so, effectively skunking us out of $300. The second minting company we chose took considerably less time to produce lovely mockup art and then a whole run of coins... which to our dismay weren't really what we wanted. However, unlike the first company (who I now liken to a sack of weasels), the second company convinced me to give the process a second chance, and produced a run of absolutely gorgeous coins in less than two weeks, for just the price of a new die and shipping on the coins. Result: I plan to sing the praises of AllAboutCoins at every geocaching event I attend for the next few years. Anyway, the practical upshot is that we now have 300 of these beauties: 25 gold-finished ones numbered FTF01-FTF25 to leave in our own caches, 75 silvery ones for the caches that we find really memorable or inspiring, and 200 copper-toned ones for the more ordinary sort of cache. CAVEAT: these coins not for sale, they're not for trade, they're just our sig items and we plan to stick one in every decent-sized cache we can find. We're going to place our first one somewhere this upcoming weekend, after I print out little cards to include with them that explain that whoever finds a coin gets to keep it. I absolutely can't wait to hear what people think of them when they start to be found! *insert happy dancing sort of icon here* It's been more than four months since we started the process; I'm so very glad that everything finally came together. I'd love to find one of these! Hopefully you'll spread the love a little bit south! Quote Link to comment
+RealWorldAvatars Posted December 1, 2006 Author Share Posted December 1, 2006 I'd love to find one of these! Hopefully you'll spread the love a little bit south! So long as the Point Defiance Zoo still has a colony of naked mole rats, I've got plenty of reasons to keep visiting Tacoma. The fact that the city is covered in as-yet-unlogged geocaches is just an added bonus! Quote Link to comment
+0R0B0RUS Posted December 1, 2006 Share Posted December 1, 2006 Congrats! How about posting some real photos of the coins? Quote Link to comment
+RealWorldAvatars Posted December 1, 2006 Author Share Posted December 1, 2006 I shall indeed. I tried last night, but the camera flash totally washed out any visible detail on the coins. I plan to try again in direct sunlight... trouble is, that's in short supply here in Seattle, WA, heh. But as soon as I have photos, I'll post them here! Quote Link to comment
Ferreter5 Posted December 1, 2006 Share Posted December 1, 2006 Wow, those are cool! I can relate to the theme, being an ol' gamer from the hills. Wish I lived closer to chance a glimps at a real one. Congrats on getting the cool coin you wanted! Quote Link to comment
+ranger216 Posted December 1, 2006 Share Posted December 1, 2006 this is an awesome coin... good luck with it and keeping them out of harms way.. If you decide to send any out.. I will send you one of mine back and put it in a cache here in NE Pa would ask you to do the same with the coin(s) I would send you... Cache On !!! Quote Link to comment
+Shop99er Posted December 1, 2006 Share Posted December 1, 2006 Whaddaya gonna want in trade for one of these? Quote Link to comment
+Crowesfeat30 Posted December 1, 2006 Share Posted December 1, 2006 I'd love to find one of these! Hopefully you'll spread the love a little bit south! So long as the Point Defiance Zoo still has a colony of naked mole rats, I've got plenty of reasons to keep visiting Tacoma. The fact that the city is covered in as-yet-unlogged geocaches is just an added bonus! Hey!!! We have a colony of Naked Mole Rats in the St Louis Zoo also!!! And lots and lots of great caches. Come and drop a few of those nice coins around here, too! Hope to see some in good ol' St. Lou, CF30 Quote Link to comment
+stickerooni Posted December 1, 2006 Share Posted December 1, 2006 I'd love to find one of these! Hopefully you'll spread the love a little bit south! ...and a bit east as well. As a gamer in Minnesota, this would be a fantastic find! Quote Link to comment
+mudsneaker Posted December 1, 2006 Share Posted December 1, 2006 Shameless plug for the Olympia area caches. Lots to choose from!! what can I say....Im an gamer too. Quote Link to comment
+RealWorldAvatars Posted December 4, 2006 Author Share Posted December 4, 2006 As requested, here are the best photos I could manage of the actual coins. If you get the impression here that I suck at photography, well, that just means you're very perceptive. We'll be strewing 'em everywhere we can, just as soon as A) the weather around here gets better, or we go somewhere with decent weather. We'll also be bringing a set to the WSGA Puget Sound holiday party this month, 'cause we're looking forward to showing 'em off in person. (Why? Please see my earlier admission of inadequate photography skills. ) Anyway, that's the end of the story. Thanks to everyone who offered advice, opinion, and moral support over the course of my journey through minting hell. Happy caching to everyone, and cheerful wishes for a great holiday season! Quote Link to comment
+wyohunter Posted December 6, 2006 Share Posted December 6, 2006 As requested, here are the best photos I could manage of the actual coins. If you get the impression here that I suck at photography, well, that just means you're very perceptive. We'll be strewing 'em everywhere we can, just as soon as A) the weather around here gets better, or we go somewhere with decent weather. We'll also be bringing a set to the WSGA Puget Sound holiday party this month, 'cause we're looking forward to showing 'em off in person. (Why? Please see my earlier admission of inadequate photography skills. ) Anyway, that's the end of the story. Thanks to everyone who offered advice, opinion, and moral support over the course of my journey through minting hell. Happy caching to everyone, and cheerful wishes for a great holiday season! Very nice coins! Hope some come out to this corner of the northwest! Quote Link to comment
+chaosmanor Posted December 6, 2006 Share Posted December 6, 2006 (edited) As requested, here are the best photos I could manage of the actual coins... {photo cut; why take up band-width when the photos are just above this post? } We'll be strewing 'em everywhere we can... Anyway, that's the end of the story. Thanks to everyone who offered advice, opinion, and moral support over the course of my journey through minting hell. I remember this, now! At first, the design was "merely" another neat idea, but when I saw the photos, I remembered seeing, some time ago, an initial sketch of that tongue-out-of-the-box. I think I even suggested re-doing the drawing so that it was clearer what it was. The final coin really changed over time, didn't it? This is quite a fine sig item The only problem is that I'm not likely to ever see one in person Unless, of course, you have plans to bring a few to sunny SoCal Sunshine we have a lot of right now! Glad to see that you stuck with it; it appears to have been worth it Edited December 6, 2006 by chaosmanor Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.