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Blemished coins as proxy coins?


tsunrisebey

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Quick question....

 

I'm not sure if this has ever been addressed so I'll ask and if it's not ok because of 'for sale issues' then I guess the thread will be closed but to be honest, I'm not really sure if this is crossing the line and if it is, I am not intentionally doing so.

 

Anyhow, I know crake has done this with some of his coins, he makes a 2 part coin, 1 that travels and 1 for you to keep in your collection but it is part of a set essentially (both have the tracking numbers though, right?), so my question/comment is this:

 

On rare instances, some trackable coins show up and they look like crap. The mint normally does not want the coins back because it costs to much to ship back and isn't cost effective. So a vendor ends up with blemished coins. The tracking numbers are normally resubmitted to the mint for the remade coins. Which leaves the vendor with a 'nontrackable' coin.

 

For those of you who actually release coins would you be interested in purchasing a blemished coin as a set with the trackable? So it's basically the travel companion with the tracking number etched out, you keep the good one and release the blemished version. You'd just have to attach the actual tracking number from the good coin for people to log.

 

Thoughts about this?

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I think it could potentially mess up tracking on the one that is released. If done right, it may help people release more coins if they have one to keep and one to release. But then you get messed up logs where the coin is sitting in a cache in Washington and 5 people discover it at an event in Ohio.

Edited by RifleMan81
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I think it could potentially mess up tracking on the one that is released. If done right, it may help people release more coins if they have one to keep and one to release. But then you get messed up logs where the coin is sitting in a cache in Washington and 5 people discover it at an event in Ohio.

 

I think I know what you're saying but it's no diffferent thatn releasing the paper coin to a cache and keeping the actual coin. You would have to make sure the "good" coin isn't in your traveling to be logged collection. It just sits pretty at your stay at home collection. Or bring it with but don't let anyone log the good coin. Make sense?

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Probably not - added cost is tough. I only took the 2 part coins because of the subject matter. The second part sits on my fridge as a magnet.

As to "proof of ownership", what does it matter to a thief who has not intention of returning it, or to a muggle who thinks it's his anyway, and does not know about tracking.

 

For us international customers, add on a margin of exchange rate transactions and extra costs are a real downer.

Sorry, but better to be honest here, than give you hope that is false.

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I think it is a great idea. I have a couple of the blemished turtle coins and if given the opportunity would have released the coin with the same tracking number and kept the blemished one.

 

It seems more and more coins are being done incorrectly and it is a shame to just let them sit around doing nothing.

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Probably not - added cost is tough. I only took the 2 part coins because of the subject matter. The second part sits on my fridge as a magnet.

As to "proof of ownership", what does it matter to a thief who has not intention of returning it, or to a muggle who thinks it's his anyway, and does not know about tracking.

 

For us international customers, add on a margin of exchange rate transactions and extra costs are a real downer.

Sorry, but better to be honest here, than give you hope that is false.

 

Well International shipping the cost to you would be a bit more, the proxy coins could potentially be offered very cheap. For arguements sake $1.00 for a traveler coin? The idea behind the blemished coin isn't to make money for the vendor (so most probably wouldn't do it, lol) but just to get some coins out and about. Heck now that you mention it, between paypal fees, cost of shipping/customs fees, maybe it isn't cost effective for the vendor to do it either :rolleyes:

 

As far as being stolen, if the coin is taken, it's only the proxy coin, you can still grab it back, have the 'good' coin and heck even delete logs if you wanted. I'm not saying to do that but they are options.

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I think it is a great idea. I have a couple of the blemished turtle coins and if given the opportunity would have released the coin with the same tracking number and kept the blemished one.

 

It seems more and more coins are being done incorrectly and it is a shame to just let them sit around doing nothing.

 

I still have a huge box full of those blemished coins sitting at home too. I need to break out the dremel and etch out the rest of the numbers, they make fun prizes for caches too :rolleyes:

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I think it is a great idea. I have a couple of the blemished turtle coins and if given the opportunity would have released the coin with the same tracking number and kept the blemished one.

 

It seems more and more coins are being done incorrectly and it is a shame to just let them sit around doing nothing.

 

you would have kept the blemished one? why not release the blemished one because someone is going to steal it anyway. that way you at least have the good one to keep.

 

rsg

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I think it is a great idea. I have a couple of the blemished turtle coins and if given the opportunity would have released the coin with the same tracking number and kept the blemished one.

 

It seems more and more coins are being done incorrectly and it is a shame to just let them sit around doing nothing.

 

I still have a huge box full of those blemished coins sitting at home too. I need to break out the dremel and etch out the rest of the numbers, they make fun prizes for caches too :rolleyes:

Out of curiousity, what do you use to etch out the numbers?

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Aren't those blemished coins free for the "vendor"? Since they are being replaced by the mint without returning them?

 

I knew that would be asked, well yes and no. The coins are remade but the vendor paid shipping and customs and will pay it again when they get shipped for the remakes. You'd basically have to add/divide to estimate what the cost of the coin truly is which would be under a dollar. i've only had it happen once on the ET's and I had the remade ones ship with the remint. So I don't remember for sure if I got charged for shipping since it was altogether but I did get dinged on brokerage charges based on weight again. Not to mention all the time I had invested in getting them redone i.e.: writing all the tracking numbers down, putting to excel file, taking pictues of the coins to send to the mint so they could see the blemishes, rechecking each coin and then scratching out numbers. Very much a hassle and I expect most people think vendors time should be free huh? :rolleyes:

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What I did:

 

I ordered some limited remints of my personal coin. The mint used some wrong enamels on both versions. I contacted the store I was going thru, reordered the remints, sent in a list of the tracking numbers. Eventually I received the coins - with the correct enamels used this time. Since the mint did not want the flawed coins back I paired the matching tracking numbers up & traded the coins as a set - 1 mistake to keep or set traveling & one correct to keep in collections, both with the same tracking number. I certainly didn't need all those mistake coins and since I wasn't going to lose anything financially I thought it best to send them out in pairs.

 

I guess another option would be to remove the tracking numbers & use them as swag or FTF prizes & the like but I didn't want to do that, myself. :rolleyes:

 

CF30

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I kinda like the error-blemished coins my first coin I found in a cache was the Ohio coin that had one number wrong on it and they left it in a cache because they coulden't activate it.Since then I have about 12 error coins in my collection.So my answer would be yes I would like the mistake coin to set free and the good one for my collection as I deface any coin I send out to travel now.I'll buy blemished coins :rolleyes:

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I would love to get two coins with the same number. And I would sent out the blemished one, in the hope it might survive longer...

 

I would be carefull with scatched out numbers though. If it looks tempered, it could be that folks think, well it is tempered with, why not I temper with it as well...

 

But I like non trackables as well, so if those blemished have scratched out number I would like to trade for them, or buy them. But then not for the regular price of a trackable obviously...

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We had this issue come up recently with our Celtic Star coins. The antique finish was really bad on a bunch- we contacted the mint and had them remade. Rather then just throw away the inferior ones we included them with the good quality ones when we sent them out (as a kind of apology for the two week delay the remint caused).

 

While we were going through this process it seemed like there were several posts in the forums about coins coming up missing and how unhappy it made cachers. It started us thinking that maybe people might be interested in a 'double coin' set so they could release one and still have one in their posession. The added cost would be minimal if both coins shared a tracking number and could use the same mould.

 

But after sending them out I had a little bit of worry that someone might not understand that they shared a tracking number and try to resell one of the coins. The only way to get around that would be to have one coin that stated somewhere on it that it was a duplicate coin. That however would result in a new mould and up the cost quite a bit, eliminating some of the affordability of the two coin set.

 

So far the double coins we shipped haven't been an issue and hopefully wont become one in the future, but the resale issues did discourage us from intentionally pursuing a double coin mint in the future.

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Well, I haven't made any final decision on how to use up an entire minting of defective Look Twice Coins, but one idea I like is to remove the tracking number, and epoxy a magnet over the spot, for fridge magnets, as swag. the mistake is only on the back, so that would work for this Coin. I also have considered matching up sets for ones I send out(to people), but that will not happen with those that are purchased(the good and bad versions of the sold coins will never be in the same place at the same time).

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Well, anyway, I guess I never addressed the actual question. I like the idea of giving a buyer both coins with the numbers intact, as long as they know they are copies of the same coin. This way they could decide which one to release, and keep the other in their collection. or they could release the copy if the first one goes missing, like the TB tags. As far as one traveling, and the other being discovered in a collection, I don't think I would do that.

 

As a designer though one must consider your reputation if bad looking Coins are seeing the public.

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There have been a couple of coins in my collection that have come as a pair...with one being a blemished coin. I think that it is a great idea...one to keep, and one to release. You could offer it as an option for those that purchase the coins...if they want the blemished coin, then you can include it with their order...if not, then you can remove the tracking number and use them for cache swag.

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I love the idea :rolleyes: I just bought a couple of suncatcher pairs from crake and sat staring at them for 10 minutes before I spotted the error :rolleyes: Good affordable way to get some (really nice) coins traveling without worrying about them turning up missing. It'll take a bit of searching, but I like how he matched the tracking numbers up instead of grinding them off.

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...Thoughts about this?

 

Before you get to the blemished coin, you first have to look at the promise made on how many coins there will be. If no promise was made, then you look at your agreement wiht the mint/maker.

 

Where I'm going with this. If you as a maker sold the coin with the expectation that there would be a limited run. The blemished coins should be destroyed and thrown away/recycled for scrap. If you told the mint you were destroyign them, ditto.

 

If there are no such promises or obligations. Sure, why not. It's your coin, it's your trackng number. Do with both as you see fit. Most folks would rather find a real coin even if it's blemished than a paper proxy.

 

Groundspeak likely expects that only one tracking number will be in play on one item at a time. That would be another constraint.

Edited by Renegade Knight
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...Thoughts about this?

 

Before you get to the blemished coin, you first have to look at the promise made on how many coins there will be. If no promise was made, then you look at your agreement wiht the mint/maker.

 

Where I'm going with this. If you as a maker sold the coin with the expectation that there would be a limited run. The blemished coins should be destroyed and thrown away/recycled for scrap. If you told the mint you were destroyign them, ditto.

 

If there are no such promises or obligations. Sure, why not. It's your coin, it's your trackng number. Do with both as you see fit. Most folks would rather find a real coin even if it's blemished than a paper proxy.

 

Groundspeak likely expects that only one tracking number will be in play on one item at a time. That would be another constraint.

 

Sometimes I wonder about you, lol.

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I agree there is little or no harm in sending them out as a set or grinding the number off and using as swag. The US Mint has a way of doing errors that could help with this. If a bill is defective after a serial number has been issued to it, it is remade and has the same number as the original bill but has a red star next to it designating it as a remake. There may be room to stamp a symbol next to the tracking number showing that it is a blemished coin with remake. Hope this can help.

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oh lucky you just a few. I found made in the USA doesn't help - I just scored for the first ever time 100% etched backwards. Goodbye price reduction possibility for glasscoins :D

 

Previously cause China is so good at replacing although sometimes with a different error :D i just automatically sell them as sets or at a reduced price later. I think they make great travellers cause the blemish discourages collecting. The blemishes are usually quite minor and of no consequence to a travelling coin and often in a spot one can drill a hole for a chain.

 

Some are nice - the ones with odd enamel colours.

 

ps back when Hogwild and caching coins did the first intentional pair they had one coin with -- where the prefix should be. That was your stay at home coin. It would have to be released if it was with a note about what prefix to use.

 

My other pairs - a satellite and a loggerhead have the tracking numbers intact.

Edited by forthferalz
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I like the idea of releasing a "blemished" coin and keeping the "good" one in my collection. My problem is, with the Crake ones mentioned, I can't tell which one is the good one and which one is the "bad". They're really that close. They're great. I don't feel like I'm releasing an "inferior" coin at all, yet if it goes missing, I won't be too disappointed either. So I think it's kind of the best of both worlds approach.

 

Also, I got one of those sets made by Caching Coins a couple years back and those were nice too. They had one coin w/ the real # and the other with PCxxxx or something like that so that you knew which one was to keep and which one was to be released.

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