Geocoin Collection

[+bpp_picnic]

I just have a question I would like some input on. I started collecting geocoins and I buy two of each and send one out and save the other. Should I activate the ones I save or keep them unactivated? I have not attended any events where I can display my coins. My question is it better to activate the coins I keep or keep them unactivated? If this has been discussed before just point me to that thread. I tried searching but got nowhere.

 

bpp_picnic

[+Renegade Knight]

Quick answer. Do what you would enjoy the most.

 

Longer answer.

Activated Coins are percieved to have less of a value. Someone else has tainted a pristine coin with their activation. If you are Elvis and pass along your collection maybe that would change. But odds are you are not Elvis or even Famouse like Elvish...

 

So unactivated are the ones collectors treasure. It gives them the option to activate or not as they choose. The option makes it worth more.

[Theotokos]

I haven't been doing this long either and when I got my first coins, I activated them. Now I wish I hadn't done that because it takes away some choices for me. I will now only activate those coins that I wish to send out traveling. Otherwise, everything else I will leave unactivated so that I can use them for trades or gifts in caches.

 

It easy to activate a coin when you need or want to..but you can't un-activate a coin. That is why I don't do it anymore unless I know for sure that I want it to travel or have it discovered at events - which I'm still unsure about doing anyway.

[+mousekakat]

If you think you're going to possibly trade the coin, don't activate it.

 

If you KNOW, without a doubt, that you're going to keep this coin and not trade or sell it, then activate it.

 

I activate all coins that are given to me as gifts. Coins that I buy, especially in doubles, I activate one and the other I don't.

[+MustangJoni]

You can do what you want, but you do take away trade and sales value when you activate them.

 

I do activate all coins in my collection. I like icons!

[+Accordiongal]

Trading stock I have is unactivated.

 

A lot of the coins I am "keeping" haven't been activated yet, thinking that maybe eventually I may loose interest in collecting and want to cash in for a return.

 

My opinion, I don't mind if a coin has been activated when trading.

Transfering ownership is easy.

 

When I look at purchasing an activated coin, I review the coins activities. Imporatant for me to know that the coin has only been to events and should be in very good condition.

 

Accordiongal

[+PLnauta]

This is haunting since i start collecting these coins.

 

Why is it impossible to unactivate coins?

 

I'm doing terrible decisions on what to do with my coins, and i came up with three basic groups.

 

1. Unactivated just for collecting purposes;

2. Activated for discover;

3. Activated for the real thing - travel and get lost

 

PL

[+AtwellFamily]

Can you unactive a coin after it is activated? Provided you are the owner of course.

[ATMouse]

I never active my keepers. Period.

[+sweetlife]

We activate all of our coins, we have over 400 in our collection and it grows every day, We enjoy letting people discover them at events, but we do not hand out lists (We used to but keeping the list updated is a pain) to discover our coins you will actually have to sit down and flip thru our coin books, then we will get a email addy and your geocaching name from you, when we get home, we will send you a link to our online listing of coins.

 

 

We have purchased many coins that were allready activated by the owners, they were only discovered at events, and had not traveled, to us a activated coins value should still be the same if you planned on activating it anyway.

 

 

just our 2 cents worth

 

 

Barry and Valarie of sweetlife

[+earthrooster]

....to us a activated coins value should still be the same if you planned on activating it anyway.

 

I've had this thought myself. I do see how some people value an unactivated coin higher than those that are. However, a activated coin can always be adopted, correct?

 

-Jesse

[+Nochipra]

I've always had mixed feelings about this issue too but when I think about the future and how these coins will be looked at I think the activated ones that have a history to them will be more valuable later on. If you really think about it, 10 or 20 yrs down the road wouldn't you like to be able to read the logs on the coins that you have and see how people got them themselves or how they discovered them and where. What would be the fun in getting a coin that you didn't know the history of? So, now when I receive a coin as a gift I do activate it but I also purchase some coins that I intend on using as tradables and for keeping. Any that I intend on keeping I activate as well. I think it helps safeguard them too if they were stolen somwhat?

[+T"n"T]

We activate all of our coins, we have over 400 in our collection and it grows every day, We enjoy letting people discover them at events, but we do not hand out lists (We used to but keeping the list updated is a pain) to discover our coins you will actually have to sit down and flip thru our coin books, then we will get a email addy and your geocaching name from you, when we get home, we will send you a link to our online listing of coins.

 

 

We have purchased many coins that were allready activated by the owners, they were only discovered at events, and had not traveled, to us a activated coins value should still be the same if you planned on activating it anyway.

 

 

just our 2 cents worth

 

 

Barry and Valarie of sweetlife

Tank and I do pretty much the same thing. If you run into us at an event we have four double sided zipper binders full, more to come, (man we have a bug here). If somene chooses to sit down and go through them, they can e-mail us and get list for discoveries. We activate all coins we personally plan on keeping. I collect coins to have the collection, so re-sale of those is not really an issue.

 

Everyone has their own feelings, that's just ours.

[+kifcog]

I've collected a few coins and activated the duplicates keeping some unactivated. I want to activate the ones I don't have duplicates of so that I can get the icons, however I don't want to have them listed in my inventory for putting into caches. How can I get round this?

[+Dr. Whoever]

I have activated over 900 geocoins. I don't consider the trade or sale value of these in my collection because I never plan on trading them or selling them.

[+MustangJoni]

I've collected a few coins and activated the duplicates keeping some unactivated. I want to activate the ones I don't have duplicates of so that I can get the icons, however I don't want to have them listed in my inventory for putting into caches. How can I get round this?

 

You can do several things to keep them out of your inventory:

1. Create a cache, but don't send it to the reviewer. This is an unpublished cache. I do this because only my collection is there, and no other coins have passed through it.

2. Drop them in an archived cache of yours.

3. Mark their location as unknown.

[+amagrud]

All trackable coins in my collection are activated. This allows others to discover them at events and "harvest" icons. I've been told that this will make them hard to sell when I pass on or otherwise get out of the hobby, but I don't plan to sell them anyway. For a final bit of fun, I will probably just release them all into caches and see how long they travel. Coins I get to trade remain unactivated so that the person I trade with has the option to do what they want with it. I will happily trade for an activated coin, because adoption is easy and I'm probably going to activate it myself anyway. BTW, if you are burdened with any tainted, activated moun10bike coins, just send them my way, I'm sure I can find someone willing to give them a home!