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Geogems?


FastChapter

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Just a few minutes ago I saw a geocache in my area update to say it now contains a "GeoGem." Other than the obvious fact that I have this cache specially marked, my car gassed, and some warm clothes packed for an early-morning holy-crud-I-need-to-get-to-it-first excursion, I'm wondering what these actually are. Since there isn't a forum board for it, I suspect it's a custom item? Maybe not. Either way, the depositer never posted a photograph of the "gem" and I'm suspecting this is probably slang for something of sentimental value. At least, I hope nobody would put anything of major value into a cache so near a populated park.

 

The goal of the gem is to get it to travel as far and wide as possible before eventually returning to its original owner, so I figure I can help it to the next town over (along with this bovine bug I found today).

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Sounds like a sig item of some kind - what cache? Who placed the geogem?

 

This is the cache in question. From what I could find, the owner has three gems that they've placed, though they haven't actually logged any of them as out of their possession last time I checked. I'm not sure, it's odd. I was planning to hit this cache yesterday when I got my GPS, but it was so cold out after work (not to mention dark) that I cached today.

 

Oh now this is WILD.

 

http://www.geogems.us/

 

I guess this answers the question. *cough* Yeah... tomorrow is going to start early for me! :laughing:

Edited by FastChapter
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Interesting, curious what size they are? Didn't see a size listed nor anything to compare them to. Anyone know?

 

I wish they had that info when I just bought them. I got 2 gems and 3 pieces of 'geogold' (2 regular and 1 micro). 30 dollars wasn't bad for 5 trackable items. If no one has the answer to your question, I'll post when they arrive.

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They are a decent size, actually much bigger than I thought they would be and they were much prettier than I expected them to be! There was a decent heft to them, too.

 

My 9 year old received one as a gift, a pink pear shaped one, we were really impressed with them, I don't think anyone would be disappointed by them!

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I found the cache, and the sapphire, which is definitely a wonderful little alternative for FTF caches! It's made of a tough plastic as far as I can tell, has a bit of weight to it!

 

 

You might want to edit out the tracking number in the picture. Might cause problems for the gem.

 

But thanks for showing what these look like! I might have to grab a couple of these in the future.

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Interesting, curious what size they are? Didn't see a size listed nor anything to compare them to. Anyone know?

 

I wish they had that info when I just bought them. I got 2 gems and 3 pieces of 'geogold' (2 regular and 1 micro). 30 dollars wasn't bad for 5 trackable items. If no one has the answer to your question, I'll post when they arrive.

I would like to know if the tracking number is etched/engraved/stamped/whatever directly into the gold.

 

On the gold and gem I would like to know how likely the tracking numbers are become illegible due to jostling.

 

~~~edit~~~

Fat finger, see post below to spot.

Edited by Vater_Araignee
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Interesting, curious what size they are? Didn't see a size listed nor anything to compare them to. Anyone know?

 

I wish they had that info when I just bought them. I got 2 gems and 3 pieces of 'geogold' (2 regular and 1 micro). 30 dollars wasn't bad for 5 trackable items. If no one has the answer to your question, I'll post when they arrive.

I would like top know if the tracking number is etched/engraved/stamped/whatever directly into the gold.

 

On the gold and gem I would like to know how likely the tracking numbers are become illegible due to jostling.

 

Will do.

Edited by WatchDog2020
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I found the cache, and the sapphire, which is definitely a wonderful little alternative for FTF caches! It's made of a tough plastic as far as I can tell, has a bit of weight to it!

 

 

You might want to edit out the tracking number in the picture. Might cause problems for the gem.

 

But thanks for showing what these look like! I might have to grab a couple of these in the future.

 

Done and done! Though, isn't the tracking # for this gem listed on the website publicly? What sort of trouble could this have caused?

 

Regarding the gem though, it really is quite high quality. The bottom tip is sharp to the touch, crystal clear, and the tracking number is also engraved into the top of the gem. The decals on the felt bag are stitched in for an added touch, so constant use and reuse won't cause it to decay as fast as iron-on images.

 

Honestly, when I start creating my own caches, I'll be using geogems. They run about the same price as some geocoins, and seeing as how I don't have any kind of logos or teams of my own, this seems like a very nice item to use!

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Done and done! Though, isn't the tracking # for this gem listed on the website publicly? What sort of trouble could this have caused?

 

 

The tracking number is not listed, the REFERENCE number is listed. You can't move it without the tracking number.

 

Take a look at this travel bug, TBKFF4. I would put the tracking # here, but the mod would just edit it out. But not to worry, take a look at the galley pictures and you will find it. It has gone 72,000 miles, almost 2,000 in the last couple of days. One time when that little ducky was nestled in my bag he was running all over the country. I would say most of the miles are bogus. That is trouble that can happen when the tracking number gets out.

 

Jim

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I saw my first Geogems this weekend at a local caching event. They are lovely when new, but I do wonder how lovely they'll be after being moved around from cache to cache after a while. I foresee the bags getting moldy and the gems getting scratched.

 

The tracking numbers were *very* difficult to read... (and even the writing that says that they are trackable) will be easy to miss. I'm wondering how many will get traded as swag because of that.

 

The young'uns at the event were mezmerised by the gems, though, I must say.

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How can I find the nearest GeoGem near me? I'm NorthWest of Los Angeles.

 

I'm not sure that there is any way to search for a specific category of trackable item. If you go to this page http://www.geocaching.com/track/ and do a search in the box 'Trackable item by name' using the word "gem" it will bring up quite a few GeoGems.

 

I've seen some ebay but none of the auctions had a size so I passed them over. I cna't imagine they would travel very long in the wild.

 

I've released one of mine with a specific mission to be put into really excellent caches, so time will tell!

 

A Gem of a cache - Sapphire Award.

 

MrsB

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Just somethin' else to get stolen once you launch it....the way things have gotten around here anyway.

I'd just as soon fold $10 bills into little paper boats, set 'em on our river & watch 'em sail away....as far as the fun quotient goes.

 

YMMV of course -- whatever floats your boat's fine by me! But I got other needs. Food. Mortgage. Gasoline. :)

~*

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Just somethin' else to get stolen once you launch it....the way things have gotten around here anyway.

I'd just as soon fold $10 bills into little paper boats, set 'em on our river & watch 'em sail away....as far as the fun quotient goes.

 

YMMV of course -- whatever floats your boat's fine by me! But I got other needs. Food. Mortgage. Gasoline. :D

~*

 

:D

 

It's sad that things have got that bad in your section of the Orion arm. Over here, in our part of the Third Rock, most trackables seem to survive very well.

 

(I hope my above statement won't be a case of "famous last words"... :) )

 

MrsB

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Just somethin' else to get stolen once you launch it....the way things have gotten around here anyway.

I'd just as soon fold $10 bills into little paper boats, set 'em on our river & watch 'em sail away....as far as the fun quotient goes.

 

YMMV of course -- whatever floats your boat's fine by me! But I got other needs. Food. Mortgage. Gasoline. :D

~*

 

I just found a cache today that should have had a geocoin and three trackable dog tags inside, but all I found was a McDonald's toy, a fingernail file and the log. I don't know what happened to the dog tags (probably stolen) but the geocoin was logged on the cache's webpage as taken by a user, but they didn't mark it down on the site.

 

I wonder how many coins are mismarked on caches because of goofs like that?

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Just somethin' else to get stolen once you launch it....the way things have gotten around here anyway.

I'd just as soon fold $10 bills into little paper boats, set 'em on our river & watch 'em sail away....as far as the fun quotient goes.

 

YMMV of course -- whatever floats your boat's fine by me! But I got other needs. Food. Mortgage. Gasoline. :(

~*

 

I just found a cache today that should have had a geocoin and three trackable dog tags inside, but all I found was a McDonald's toy, a fingernail file and the log. I don't know what happened to the dog tags (probably stolen) but the geocoin was logged on the cache's webpage as taken by a user, but they didn't mark it down on the site.

 

I wonder how many coins are mismarked on caches because of goofs like that?

A lot, countless, In fact they are lousy with several rife multifarious crowds who's goofiness utterly teems with an innumerable plethora of yak yak yak yak.....

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My gems just came. They are very nice but if they get seperated from their little bags you would have no clue they were a trakable item. 'Trackable at geocaching....." on the face but real hard to see unless you are looking for it. The GeoGold is neat, but also hard to tell they are trackable items.

How deep is the writing?

If it is deep enough you could put white acrylic paint paint on it then wipe it from the upper surface leaving it in the writing its self.

 

I'm 1/2 considering ordering 2 rubies to decorate the eye sockets of a wooden skull which will then decorate a container.

I wouldn't want somebody to miss the discover opportunity but it wont be worth it if the TN could get obliterated quickly.

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I ordered some gems and some gold on the weekend when I read about them on the forums. I received my order today. I like the gems but I thought the gold was a little disappointing. I would have preferred to get something the same size as the gems. The gold is so small that when you feel the little pouch that the gold comes in, it's hard to even figure out that there's something in there. I wouldn't buy that gold again. [Edittted to add: One of the previous posts mentioned different sizes for the gold. I didn't notice that when I was ordering so perahaps I got a micro size. If that's what happened, I wouldn't recommend that size).

 

The gems will be fun while they are still a novelty. I bought two "saphires" and a diamond.

 

In answer to the previous question about putting white paint into the writing, the engraving doesn't seem very deep so I'm not sure if it would work or not. I guess if the paint was really thin it would be worth a try.

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My gems just came. They are very nice but if they get seperated from their little bags you would have no clue they were a trakable item. 'Trackable at geocaching....." on the face but real hard to see unless you are looking for it. The GeoGold is neat, but also hard to tell they are trackable items.

How deep is the writing?

If it is deep enough you could put white acrylic paint paint on it then wipe it from the upper surface leaving it in the writing its self.

 

I'm 1/2 considering ordering 2 rubies to decorate the eye sockets of a wooden skull which will then decorate a container.

I wouldn't want somebody to miss the discover opportunity but it wont be worth it if the TN could get obliterated quickly.

 

I tried nail polish and it didn't work at all. The writting is very shallow. The clear one they would miss. The green one I bought you can see somewhat better.

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I tried nail polish and it didn't work at all. The writting is very shallow. The clear one they would miss. The green one I bought you can see somewhat better.

Bummer, I guess I'll have to stick with glass gems for my treasure chest skull unless I can find some cool looking coins.

 

You ever see DICHROIC Cabs ? E-Bay example

Those are nice looking cabochons and could be nice trade items but they are to glittery for this plus a cut gem look in the eyes, well....I'm just set on it.

I wish I could find unsmoked beef femurs to make my skull with, that would be a sweet coup de grace.

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I tried nail polish and it didn't work at all. The writting is very shallow. The clear one they would miss. The green one I bought you can see somewhat better.

Bummer, I guess I'll have to stick with glass gems for my treasure chest skull unless I can find some cool looking coins.

 

You ever see DICHROIC Cabs ? E-Bay example

Those are nice looking cabochons and could be nice trade items but they are to glittery for this plus a cut gem look in the eyes, well....I'm just set on it.

I wish I could find unsmoked beef femurs to make my skull with, that would be a sweet coup de grace.

 

LMAO - you're just twisted enough that we would have fun hanging out together

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Those are nice looking cabochons and could be nice trade items but they are to glittery for this plus a cut gem look in the eyes, well....I'm just set on it.

I wish I could find unsmoked beef femurs to make my skull with, that would be a sweet coup de grace.

 

LMAO - you're just twisted enough that we would have fun hanging out together

I'm hoping I can find a close butcher in Tree Town for my next project. If I can find enough bone I'm gonna use some bending techniques to make a small camel back trunk. I figure if I boil the bone in paraffin it will not degrade before I do. :lol:

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My gems just came. They are very nice but if they get seperated from their little bags you would have no clue they were a trakable item. 'Trackable at geocaching....." on the face but real hard to see unless you are looking for it. The GeoGold is neat, but also hard to tell they are trackable items.

How deep is the writing?

If it is deep enough you could put white acrylic paint paint on it then wipe it from the upper surface leaving it in the writing its self.

 

I'm 1/2 considering ordering 2 rubies to decorate the eye sockets of a wooden skull which will then decorate a container.

I wouldn't want somebody to miss the discover opportunity but it wont be worth it if the TN could get obliterated quickly.

 

I tried nail polish and it didn't work at all. The writting is very shallow. The clear one they would miss. The green one I bought you can see somewhat better.

 

Just an educated guess here, but I'd imagine they're prolly laser-etched....which isn't deep hardly at all. Perhaps one of you 'customers' might contact the vendor or mfr & suggest a larger font be used, given what these pieces actually are.

 

Aside - saw a History or Discovery Channel show a couple weeks back, about the diamond industry. VERY interesting too -- that's one dirty li'l business!! (Did you know any executive of DeBeers (sp?) who steps foot inside the USA is subject to immediate arrest?) Anyway, they said something akin to all diamonds 'of note' being laser-etched now, making them more trackable/identifiable/traceable back to rightful owner.....just use your imagination. The etching can't hardly be even seen without magnification in this case, however....so tiny you almost have to know where to look.

 

~*

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Just an educated guess here, but I'd imagine they're prolly laser-etched....which isn't deep hardly at all. Perhaps one of you 'customers' might contact the vendor or mfr & suggest a larger font be used, given what these pieces actually are.

 

Aside - saw a History or Discovery Channel show a couple weeks back, about the diamond industry. VERY interesting too -- that's one dirty li'l business!! (Did you know any executive of DeBeers (sp?) who steps foot inside the USA is subject to immediate arrest?) Anyway, they said something akin to all diamonds 'of note' being laser-etched now, making them more trackable/identifiable/traceable back to rightful owner.....just use your imagination. The etching can't hardly be even seen without magnification in this case, however....so tiny you almost have to know where to look.

 

~*

They are starting to use that etching for decoration also. Basically it is etch here, oriannte in this direction and view from X facet. Looking directly at the etching it can't be seen but using the diamond to magnify you have a value add.

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There is an older thread on geogems over under "geocoins" and I just posted there. I'll repeat what I did there with a little addition.

 

I've gotten mine at ebay, spent more $'s for them than ordering directly, but I have the saftey of knowing I can pay with Paypal and my credit card information is pretty safe.

 

I've bought and got the ruby and it's very nice. I have coming the citrine and emerald and will be adding the sapphire and maybe the diamond to my collection in the near future. I don't much like the black geogem.

 

As for releasing them into the wild, into the field, not a chance. :lol: Around here (Northern Oregon/SW Washington) hitch hikers on TB end up missing from time to time, way to many geocoins end up missing in action and I can just imagine that a pretty gem like these would end up the same, in someone's personal collection. Geocaching is like any other activity, there will be those that are unethical, dishonest and thefts. :D

 

What I am considering is one or two ideas. Affixing a gem or two to a walking staff so that other cachers might discover them when we meet. I can also log them in and out of caches to get some miles on them. I have also seen a few geocoin owners create laminated photocopies of their coins to let out in the wild rather than risk them being stolen. This might be done with these geogems as well.

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After reading this topic I looked the geogems up. I ordered the black gem, a gold piece (the larger one), and a geocoin of the Cachestalkers. :lol:

 

My little package came Thursday and I was/am so excited that I took them all to Church today to show to people. I like looking at them far too much to let them go so I am starting my own little personal collection. The etching shows up rather well on the black gem. The gold nugget is "nugget-like" on the front.

 

My kids like the black one so well that I'm going to eventually own one of each color. I may end up with a silver nugget, too. My total spent was $29 and that included insurance and shipping.

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Got the emerald the other day and LOVE IT!!!! plan on getting the rest (ruby, diamond, citrene---just got that one, is in process of shipping now---, sapphire, even the black one). Got a design for an acrylic display case drawn up that has a small recessed light in the bottom to really make them shine. (yeah, it's winter here, snowed again, and I am sick of micros on street posts so I am finding something else caching related to do with my time, :unsure: ). Really like the gems. Kinda makes me feel like a little kid again searching for treasure.

 

The GeoGold however, was disappointing. I was sorta expecting a lump of gold roughly the same size as the gem. What I got was a flat piece of gold with a design on it and a very very tiny "trackable at geocaching.com" and number on the back. I mean if it has the space, make the writing bigger and there is PLENTY of blank space on the back of that. Still would have preferred it to have been a gold nugget shape.

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