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Geocoin Collector's Book?


Fluttershy

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A few of you probably collected Beanie Babies at some point, as I did.

There was a great Beanie Baby Collector's Book that was published.

I have a dog-eared copy somewhere.

 

I do use a few online databases to keep track of my collection, but

I keep thinking it would be nice to see a Geocoin Collector's Book published.

 

As the Coins keep being produced steadily, it would be nice to

have a printed time line of what coins have been produced, and who their owners (and artists) are.

 

There are certainly enough coins to fill the pages of a nice book. You could include so much information

regarding each coin itself, it's design... it's travels per Geocaching, etc.

 

Of course, Coins continue to be produced... but there could be a beginning to the end of 2007 edition,

and so on? Who knows...

 

Just a thought...

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I like the idea of a list or book that tells who put the coin out (personal or company maybe) what year it was minted, how many were minted, types of metals, where to get the activation codes and other good stuff like that along with the picture of both sides. I don't think that is too much to wish for! :):)

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It actually shouldn't be too difficult in these days of print on demand services like cafepress.com and lulu.com.

 

What it would take is someone sitting down, deciding on the details, and getting all of the information together. I've thought about it quite a bit in the past, but there are just so many coins to get it all right. Getting started would be the hardest part, I think.

 

Perhaps another community project?

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Isn't that what geocoincollection and cointracking are for? :)

 

Re:

 

I do use a few online databases to keep track of my collection, but

I keep thinking it would be nice to see a Geocoin Collector's Book published.

 

I can see including minting numbers etc, but the problem would be a time factor, by the time it's made there would be 100 more coins to add! It would be outdated, unless it was kinda like a dairy or binder where you could add pages.

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The book would have to have a cut off date. Since it would take some time to get it put together, coins up to 2007 (or maybe 2008) could be included. Then future updates could be provided on a yearly basis, with an accompaning index of all coins.

 

One problem that I've seen is that the numbers of coins are sometimes protected and minters or owners don't want to have the number get out.

 

I think it would be great to have a quality color picture of each coin, who designed it, minted it, owns it. How many coins of each metal were made, trackable or numbered, and what was the numbering sequence. Then also have a section with the history of the coin. Why that design, what does it mean to the owner.

 

This would be a great book, but one that would take a massive amount of work. I would be willing to be part of it and help out with what little I could too.

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I can see including minting numbers etc, but the problem would be a time factor, by the time it's made there would be 100 more coins to add! It would be outdated, unless it was kinda like a dairy or binder where you could add pages.

 

RE:

 

Of course, Coins continue to be produced... but there could be a beginning to the end of 2007 edition,

and so on? Who knows...

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I could not and would not ever take on such a project. I believe someone who has a higher knowledge and a keen intelligence and experience about Geocaching and Geocoins would make the best impact.

 

It would be expensive, but it's expensive to Mint coins, just the same.

 

I hope one day someone takes hold of this and runs with it. It's also a way of sharing

our delight in this venue of Geocaching.

 

Perhaps it could be done very tastefully, and be full of information that many Geocachers aren't

aware of, for instance, concerning the respect of handling Geocoin travelers?

 

Again, just ideas... but it's nice to think about.

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I think it would have to be a community effort. It's just too big a job for one person (unless they were being paid to do it), and there's so much info to collect.

 

I've been doing something like this for Canadian coins. Last year I decided to focus my collecting on them, and at that point there still weren't a ton of them out there. I rooted around and found out what I could, and came up with what seemed a pretty comprehensive list of Canada coins for the time. After a while posted a list in the Canadian forums to get feedback on it, and found out about a few more.

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=139065

 

I decided to make a website to capture the info and add some more details. I started it on Christmas break and it's still not done. I have tried to keep on top of new coins, but I still have e-mails from months ago with info that some people contributed that I haven't gotten around to entering yet. I was waiting till I considered it fully updated to announce it, but hard to say when that will ever happen. :) If you want to take a look at the work-in-progress, you can find it here.

 

http://islander1988.atlanticgeocaching.com/

 

So the rambling point is, the flow of Canadian coins is still small compared to the US (or the world), but trying to track them all still takes time, and info is hard to find on some coins. If I was just starting the site now I wonder how many coins I would miss and how much info I'd have problems tracking down. I still wonder how many coins I've missed. :) So to do something like this for all geocoins would be a huge task. If people volunteered to take on a state/province in each country and find all the geocoins produced by people/groups in it, then a project like this has the potential to make progress. Of course, once everyone gathered the info, combining it all into one repository would be a whole other can of worms.

 

That being said, I agree Fluttershy, it would be really cool to see something like this happen. And if some company/industrious individual took the project on to produce a printed book of geocoin info, there'd probably be a lot of people interested in the result.

Edited by islander1988
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This seems similar to the online databases that several folks have tried to start. I haven't seen much new happen with those projects lately.

 

I think the first step would be to get the online database loaded. The information for a large number of the coins can be found here in the forums. With each coin that was released, most of them had a thread to announce them. The particulars for each coin was usually posted in those threads... ie. metals, numbers, tracking and icons.

 

Trackables would be the easiest to research, Groundspeak has published a nice page with all of those coins listed. It would likely be a google search away.

 

Things I'd like to see in the book if it's made.

 

1. Clear images of the coin (and icon).

2. Name of coin

3. Date it was released

4. Trackable/Non-Trackable

5. Designed by/Minted by (Caching name minimum, real name if possible.)

6. Number of coins per metal, or at least the hierarchy of minting.

7. A history or a description of special features.

 

Cointracking.com wouldn't be the best place to start since they don't have a standard to the naming and images. I know that geocoincollection.com has been working on replacing their database with something more robust. When that project completes, coupled with the monster list, would probably be the best place to start.

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The problem with the current coin lists is that they rely on submissions, and often not by the "owner" of the coin, so the descriptions and finishes are often inaccurate and sets incomplete. Given that any register of coins would be based on a working practice rather than a formal requirement I see these current lists to be the way to go. I had wondered about Groundspeak - but as someone mentioned this just picke up the trackable ones and then not all the finishes. Let's work on getting these existing ones complete rather than starting a new one. Searching on recent additions and then being able to print these you could start your own book. Ask owners to be more proactive is submitting their own coins. Even getting the registers asking the owners to confirm accuracy. It's a lot of work any way you look - good idea though. I'd only be worreid that it added more to my wishlist :)

 

... and yes I had Beanies (still have some) but never had the book. And horrors - even cut the tags off the early ones!!! Bit like activation or not, cut the tags off or not.

 

Sue

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I do think that a good thing to have would be a description of what the coin represents and why it was created. It always bothers me when I see a coin in a cache or someone's collection and wonder why it looks the way it does, and of course the person's coin page doesn't say anything about it. Unless you can find a thread about it or possibly the designer's website (and how can you, if you don't even know it's name?) with all that info, sometimes you're just left wondering.

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I do think that a good thing to have would be a description of what the coin represents and why it was created. It always bothers me when I see a coin in a cache or someone's collection and wonder why it looks the way it does, and of course the person's coin page doesn't say anything about it. Unless you can find a thread about it or possibly the designer's website (and how can you, if you don't even know it's name?) with all that info, sometimes you're just left wondering.

Yes that is the reason I collect coins. I have a few coins I need info for because i traded with someone who didn't make them eg. jumpingjack cache

The first coin I ever got still one of my favourites the greenman ( "proof like" same as the alaskan coins) came with a little booklet that taught me about the coin and the minting process. I started saving the pages written about the coins as comments in my personbal database when minters started pulling them down instead of archiving them. A search throught the forums sometimes yields the information. I've uploaded a few here http://www.trackablecoins.com/index.php?ti...ckable_geocoins also there's marky andjoani's wiki does untrackables too.

If everyone did their own or just two of the coins they know most intimately it would be great.

 

Then you could print out your own little book. I made some little photo sized 8x4print outs which slide into a cheap photo wallet with my mystery coin collection for when it is out for viewing. It's a quick way of putting a book together when you don't want to lug the entire collection around. They are a decent size for putting out with travelling coins too.

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Sounds like a Bentley's guide (I have one for my Longaberger baskets - another addiction that I had a few years ago). Although a book would be nice to have and flip through, I don't know how easy it would be to gather all of the information. I remember being contacted for an online database for my coin's info. Although I provided the information, I wonder how many people did not. I guess that an image of the coin could still be included, with a footnote that the other information is not available. It seems like it would be a HUGE undertaking.

 

PodCacher is making a coffee table book with sig items (they have a sig item cache that features sig items that listeners sent to them). The first book will include 100 sig items that were featured in this cache, and some background about the items. Shold be interesting.

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I do think that a good thing to have would be a description of what the coin represents and why it was created. It always bothers me when I see a coin in a cache or someone's collection and wonder why it looks the way it does, and of course the person's coin page doesn't say anything about it. Unless you can find a thread about it or possibly the designer's website (and how can you, if you don't even know it's name?) with all that info, sometimes you're just left wondering.

Yes that is the reason I collect coins. I have a few coins I need info for because i traded with someone who didn't make them eg. jumpingjack cache

The first coin I ever got still one of my favourites the greenman ( "proof like" same as the alaskan coins) came with a little booklet that taught me about the coin and the minting process. I started saving the pages written about the coins as comments in my personbal database when minters started pulling them down instead of archiving them. A search throught the forums sometimes yields the information. I've uploaded a few here http://www.trackablecoins.com/index.php?ti...ckable_geocoins also there's marky andjoani's wiki does untrackables too.

If everyone did their own or just two of the coins they know most intimately it would be great.

 

Then you could print out your own little book. I made some little photo sized 8x4print outs which slide into a cheap photo wallet with my mystery coin collection for when it is out for viewing. It's a quick way of putting a book together when you don't want to lug the entire collection around. They are a decent size for putting out with travelling coins too.

:) Thanks for the extra info.

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Since info is sometimes hard to find on many coins, we could go to the 'mint' and ask for the info that they provided for their advertising of the coin for sale. As a reward, each participating 'mint' could get a full page ad in the book.

However, for coins that were not sold, there wouldn't be much info the mint could provide without contacting the owner.

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Since info is sometimes hard to find on many coins, we could go to the 'mint' and ask for the info that they provided for their advertising of the coin for sale. As a reward, each participating 'mint' could get a full page ad in the book.

However, for coins that were not sold, there wouldn't be much info the mint could provide without contacting the owner.

 

Considering that it's private information between the customer and the mint, I'd be leary about using any mint that released private sales information to a unauthorized third party. They'd likely be opening themselves up to a law suit by disclosing such information... so I don't think that route is going to work.

 

An alternate would be to not purchase coins from companies that don't disclose their minting numbers. Since there's likely a majority of coin collectors that would rather have a coin than a published index of coins... I don't see a boycott getting off the ground. Especially when that book could be published with an asterisk noting that the minted number was not released by the producer(owner).

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Since info is sometimes hard to find on many coins, we could go to the 'mint' and ask for the info that they provided for their advertising of the coin for sale. As a reward, each participating 'mint' could get a full page ad in the book.

However, for coins that were not sold, there wouldn't be much info the mint could provide without contacting the owner.

 

Considering that it's private information between the customer and the mint, I'd be leary about using any mint that released private sales information to a unauthorized third party. They'd likely be opening themselves up to a law suit by disclosing such information... so I don't think that route is going to work.

 

I wasn't suggesting to get private info (without customer concent), but mostly to get the info that they published in an attempt to sell the coin. Of course, most of that info is still on the web somewhere and it could probably be obtained with a little bit of searching, without getting the mint involved.

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Since info is sometimes hard to find on many coins, we could go to the 'mint' and ask for the info that they provided for their advertising of the coin for sale. As a reward, each participating 'mint' could get a full page ad in the book.

However, for coins that were not sold, there wouldn't be much info the mint could provide without contacting the owner.

 

Considering that it's private information between the customer and the mint, I'd be leary about using any mint that released private sales information to a unauthorized third party. They'd likely be opening themselves up to a law suit by disclosing such information... so I don't think that route is going to work.

 

I wasn't suggesting to get private info (without customer concent), but mostly to get the info that they published in an attempt to sell the coin. Of course, most of that info is still on the web somewhere and it could probably be obtained with a little bit of searching, without getting the mint involved.

 

I think the best route would be to contact the coin owner/producer/designer would be the more ethical. contacting mints for information could get ethically dicey. If they don't wish to provide the information, it's their prerogative. If the mint is solely responsible, then thats another case.

 

It has been stated in other threads that some people believe that minting information is proprietary to their business operation and won't be released.

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This sounds like a good idea. Alot of work. I do see a few issues with this though not sure how it may play a prob with it. I might pick up one if it came out. I have never seen a Beanie Babies Collectors Book. So I am not sure of all the info in the book. How often does a version come out? For all the new ones / updates. Also how about all the versions not listed on the internet or what not.

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I really think that any book printed today would be out of date in three weeks at the rate that coins come out. And who would compile this information? With all the coins out there, both trackable and non-trackable, it sounds like an astronomical undertaking, one that I would not want to volunteer for. Good luck with it.

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The book would have to be an eBook and subject to continouse updating. What you buy would be out of date in a week. It's entirly possible to do such a thing and it would dovetail well with another project of mine that has gotten exactly nowhere because I don't have the time or programming talent to pull it off.

 

Maybe a Wikcoinpedia, where you, the public, can edit their own coins in.

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The book would have to be an eBook and subject to continouse updating. What you buy would be out of date in a week. It's entirly possible to do such a thing and it would dovetail well with another project of mine that has gotten exactly nowhere because I don't have the time or programming talent to pull it off.

 

Maybe a Wikcoinpedia, where you, the public, can edit their own coins in.

 

Not a bad idea. It's about the only way to keep up short of getting paid for it.

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I think if the book covered a defined date-to-date time frame it would be good. Especially if it included only retired coins so you would know there would be no changes to those editions. You would be able to see what came out in the first 2-3 years. If people wanted their personal geocoins included they would have to agree to put the minting numbers in.

Who wouldn't want their coin listed in a book for more people to see and want it?

I buy a new Red book every year for regular mint issue coins and nothing changes about mint issues or quantities from past years, it only changes prices and adds new coins if they are pricy.

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I was thinking about this and I remembered what my brothers, dad, and I did when we were collecting HotWheels. We use to print them out from a site and have the list on paper or you could use Windows Excel. With Windows Excel you could just print updates for your list. This is just my thought. Also Fluttershy if you still collect Beanie Babies let me know I still have 2 from when I worked for McDonalds. They were given to McDonalds Crew.

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