Help me understand Geocoins better.....

[BelchFire]

Certainly I understand the concept of the Geocoin; that's not my confusion. But having never made one or owned one from another, I'm at a loss to fully understand how the process is intended to work.

 

Were they intended to be only traded, or is selling them the original idea? Which is preferred; selling or trading? Is there an unspoken connotation that selling is bad, or good? Are other people allowed to sell your coin if they traded for it? Where's the etiquette in all this?

 

If you don't have a personal coin (in quantity anyway), how do you get a lot of other folks' coins? Can you trade other swag for coins, or can you just pick them up? (I guess you'd have to know the coin owner's intent on that one?).

 

Do you start a collection primarily by buying a bunch of other folks' coins that appeal to you or do you start out trading? What if you don't have your own coin to trade?

 

Do you trade one-for-one, or do some coins garner higher trades than others? (I could just about guess this one based on baseball cards and other collectibles, but I thought it best to ask).

 

There are some fantastic looking personal coins that folks are making themselves. To me, that's the best way to go as it adds a personal touch that's truly unique. And a hand made coin, just means something more than a purchased coin. But I realize that a lot of people don't have the time and/or the talent to make their own coins so they buy; that's fine too. When you purchase coins, what are the most common options?

 

What is the most common size?

How many do you buy?

Do you have a coin minted hoping to sell them and make money, or just trade for other coins?

Do you leave them in a geocache without swapping anything or are you expected to receive a like coin in trade from a cache? Perhaps a better way to ask this is "How do your coins get their start?"

 

Give me a primer on geocoins; I'd love to make my own or buy some.......

[+Wandering Vikings]

<snip>

 

Give me a primer on geocoins; I'd love to make my own or buy some.......

 

There are probably as many answers to these questions as there are people on the forum!

 

When we started out, we would buy coins we liked and just purchase one or two extra to use as trades. That is how we built up our collection originally.

 

For coins in your collection, generally it is considered good etiquette if it is a personal geocoin to check with the person who made it before selling the coin. If it is a commercially available coin it is usually fair game to do with it whatever you want. If it was a mystery coin then generally it should not be sold and should only be traded with permission.

 

However, the vast majority of coins in caches are designed to be moved, very,very few are in a cache as swag!

 

What is the most common size? between 1.5-2 inches but there is a huge variety

 

How many do you buy? depends on how well I like the coin and how much spare money I have!

 

Do you have a coin minted hoping to sell them and make money, or just trade for other coins? A little of both. There is little profit in minting coins but our collection has increased a *ton* since we started minting.

 

Do you leave them in a geocache without swapping anything or are you expected to receive a like coin in trade from a cache? Perhaps a better way to ask this is "How do your coins get their start?" If it is *really* swag then you should trade as good or better for it. Mosy likely it is in there to be moved, in which case you would just move it on to another cache.

 

Hope that helps a little, I'm sure you'll get a variety of opinions!

[+Belfrypotters]

Wow, that's a lot of questions ! Others will answer most of them, but I'll answer the one about how many to buy - the one thing I've learned is that if I only buy one, I soon regret it. So now I buy three if I can, because then I have two to give away and still one left for myself. Several times I've given away one of my keepers, and then paid a premium to get a replacement on ebay.

 

I sometimes leave coins in caches, usually in our own caches as Next-to-Find gifts, but the easiest way to start a collection is to browse through these forums or check the list of vendors in the pinned thread at the top, and get out your wallet. Warning - coins are addictive!

[+Droo]

Lots of good questions here.... answers to which can be found at the GeocoinFAQ located off the Trackable Items tab on the top left corner of any Geocaching.com page.

 

You will also find a long list of approved vendours and manufacturers to purchase your own geocoins or have them made. If you want a longer list of available coins and like the hustle and bustle of the auction block look at Ebay and search for geocoin listings... you will see hundreds and hundreds. Be forewarned that many reach their final sale prices at the last second so what you see if not what you'll get it for.

 

Some very good information is in the pinned topics at the top of this forum. Some good reading to be found if you know where to look.

 

Edit to add link to Geocoin Home

Edited April 24, 2009 by Droo

[+tadpole379]

The original geocoins were made as signature items to leave in caches, and they were non trackable personal coins. Eventually, since coins were being left in caches, the idea of adding tracking to them caught on so that their travels in caches could be watched.

 

Now, the vast majority of coins are minted for sale. Every once in a while a coin is minted to only be left in caches, or only to be traded.

 

Many people both buy and trade coins. Some people do sell coins on ebay that they have purchased from vendors or that they have traded for. Some people frown on selling other people's personal coins, especially if it was a coin that was originally only available for trade from the maker of the coin. Trade only personal coins, and Mystery Coins, coins that were minted with the intent to anonyously gift them to other cachers, are generally not sold, and people who do sell them often get called out for it here in the forums.

 

The best way to start a coin collection is to buy coins that you like from vendors or even ebay (be careful). Buy an extra or two, keep one, and have the extras available for trade. This is a good way to get coins whose sale you may have missed or older coins.

 

Most coins are traded one for one. There are some coins, mostly older coins that are considered hard to find, that will trade for more than one coin. Some people will not trade a trackable coin for a nontrackable coin, or micro sized coin for a regular coin. Don't be afraid to ask if you are unsure of a trade for a certain coin.

 

There are a lot of personal coins available that were designed by or for a cacher or a team of cachers. Personal coins usually have the cachers name on it and the design is somehow based on that person-hobbies, likes, personality, etc. Other coins are purely commercial and may or may not have a geocaching theme. These coins are minted and sold by one of the coin vendors for profit.

 

Welcome to the obsession

[+The Blorenges]

(All comments in my post below refers to geocoins which are trackable here on geocaching.com)

 

Some geocachers collect geocoins, just as some people collect stamps. They never intend to send them out into the wild world of geocaches, they keep them in private collections and often take them along to geocaching events so that others may enjoy them and log them (if they want to collect the coins' icons).

 

Other geocachers buy geocoins to release them to travel, just like any other trackable item. They enjoy seeing them travel and maybe they cry a bit when they go missing for whatever reason.

 

Then some geocachers are a bit of a mixture of both (like me ). I have about 8 geocoins that I will not part with, for various sentimental reasons. I buy occasional new geocoins because they take my fancy, or they relate to a new cache that we're creating, or simple because they are unique in some way. I usually activate these to our account, then share them with folks at events for the first 6 months or so... then they usually get released because some other shiney new coin becomes a favourite instead.

 

All the coins I have I've bought either from producers I've seen on this forum (that's where most have come from), a few I wanted particularly I've found on Ebay, and a few others have come to me from various coin missions on this forum.

 

Above all, I prefer to see geocoins out in the wild, in geocaches, but I know the risks of release and understand why many cachers choose to simply keep their album collections.

 

MrsB

Edited April 24, 2009 by The Blorenges

[+Belfrypotters]

... or even ebay (be careful) ...

I suspect what the tadpole means here is to be careful not to get caught up in the bidding frenzy at the last minute, especially if you have a competitive streak. Watching the auctions is a great way to learn about coins, even if you don't buy anything. Spend a few days watching the sales so you know which coins go for what price, and before you bid on a coin check to see if it is still available from the original vendor (I once paid quite a bit for a coin only to find I could have bought it for 8.99), and don't bid if your husband is looking over your shoulder saying "What the heck, go for it"!

[BelchFire]

Is there a distinction between geocoin and "personal" coin? I.E. If I had coins minted with my name on them and no tracking number, would it be a geocoin, or a personal coin? Would people trade for it, or would it be relegated to a novelty find in a cache?

 

Do geocoins sell/trade better with a tracking number?

[+WRITE SHOP ROBERT]

Is there a distinction between geocoin and "personal" coin? I.E. If I had coins minted with my name on them and no tracking number, would it be a geocoin, or a personal coin? Would people trade for it, or would it be relegated to a novelty find in a cache?

 

Do geocoins sell/trade better with a tracking number?

It's kinda fuzzy what each coin is defined as. There have been whole topics on defining the term "Geocoin". I think that most agree that if it fits a general description of a "Coin" and it's related to geocaching either by tracking, design, or personal association, then it's a GeoCoin. Some people will trade for non trackable geocoins, and some people will not. That just depends on what that person likes to collect. When I first started, I would buy several copies of coins that I felf represented myself in some way, and that most other people wouldn't already have. This would give me something somewhat personal that would allow me to trade. Now that I have designed a coin that was made available for sale(with the idea that they will get released as travelers) I also had some special versions made that are only available from me, and this will allow me to use them for trades and such(gifts/prizes/donations).

 

I think the simplest advice I could give would be to spend some time participating in these forums, and maybe try looking through some collections at events. This will allow you to refine your taste in Coins and help you avoid the impulse to grab up some coins that later don't please you as much. I think about half of the coins I got when I first started now make me say "Why did I want that coin?".

[+Bhob]

Is there a distinction between geocoin and "personal" coin?

two different attributes

 

there are many kinds of "coin"

geocoins

challenge coins

company reward/appreciation coins

legal tender/currency

etc

opinions vary, but a "geocoin" is probably best described as what the maker intended for it to be

as in, if they say that it is a geocoin, then it is, in fact, a geocoin (at least to them, anyway)

there are those who will say that a "geocoin" must have at least something to do with the hobby

(an image of an ammo can, a tree, a mountain, the name of a park, etc)

but there are plenty of things that most would agree are geocoins that have none of the above

typically, if it is coin-shaped and trackable on GC.com, then it could reasonably be called a "geocoin"

but there is not 100% agreement on that . . . or just about any other topic on these forums

 

in my opinion, a "personal" geocoin is a little easier to define

it has aspects that identify a person or team

a name or names, mention of a home base, the words "finding geocaches since mm/dd/yy", etc

other categories in this vein are event geocoins, commercial geocoins, commemorative geocoins, series geocoins, etc

 

and then there is the trackable versus non-trackable aspect

and whether the trackability is on GC.com or not

 

so, you can have . . .

a GC.com trackable personal geocoin

a personal non-trackable geocoin

a non-trackable event geocoin

a trackable (but not on GC.com) series of geocoins

etc, etc, etc

 

plus some coins that might be personal, but not a geocoin

and a whole lot more that are neither personal nor geocoins

 

and some things that different people will classify in different ways

 

my advice would be to acquire things that you like, without too much concern for whether they are trackable or not, personal or not, and even if they are geocoins or not

 

several years of lurking on this forum topic has convinced me that you will NEVER satisfy everybody

so, you might as well make it easy, and just satisfy yourself

Edited April 25, 2009 by Bhob