geocoin collecting

[+gspleo]

I have recently started collecting geocoins that I do not intend to release into the wild.

 

Question: Should I activate them anyway or leave them unactivated?

[+Chi-Town Cacher]

I have recently started collecting geocoins that I do not intend to release into the wild.

 

Question: Should I activate them anyway or leave them unactivated?

 

I suspect you might get more responses from people over in the geocoin forum since that seems to be where the avid collectors hang out most of the time. I suspect any time now a moderator will move your thread to that area where it really belongs so you should not have to repost the question there. Sorry I'm not a collector so I can't even begin to give you an intelligent answer. Good luck! []

[crawil]

If you activate your coins, you can place them in some type of book or other collection vehicle and bring them to events, allowing others to "discover" them. You also get the icons on the "Trackable" tab on your profile page.

 

If you plan on keeping them at home, to never been seen by other cachers and don't care about the icons, then it doesn't matter.

 

Please keep in mind that I have a few coins but I'm not a real collector.

[+Chrysalides]

I have recently started collecting geocoins that I do not intend to release into the wild.

 

Question: Should I activate them anyway or leave them unactivated?

Thank you for asking a question I've been wondering about. I hope you get some other answers here. If you intend to sell or trade, I think it is best to leave them unactivated. I know you can adopt a TB just like a cache, but the other party may not be a geocacher.

 

My add-on question is, do you retrieve the activation code and store it with the coin?

[+bafl01]

my recommendation is activating them and creating a wooden coin or a laminated picture of your coin so that it can still travel around from cache to cache and you can keep it with you ... like a stunt double.

[+Jeep4two]

my recommendation is activating them and creating a wooden coin or a laminated picture of your coin so that it can still travel around from cache to cache and you can keep it with you ... like a stunt double.

 

I would never log a photo of a trackable. . . . I suspect most cachers wouldn't. I would imagine this is outside the guidelines as well.

[+bnpkidz]

my recommendation is activating them and creating a wooden coin or a laminated picture of your coin so that it can still travel around from cache to cache and you can keep it with you ... like a stunt double.

 

I would never log a photo of a trackable. . . . I suspect most cachers wouldn't. I would imagine this is outside the guidelines as well.

 

Actually, it is a fairly common practice. Geocoin theft is a pretty common and unfortunate occurence, therefore coin owners make a copy of the coin and release it into the wild to travel. The best ones are pictures of the front and back of the coin mounted on wood or plastic and look very similart to the original coin. It serves two purposes: the owner does not have to worry about it getting stolen, and the cacher still get to have the icon added to their find list and move it along like a normal trackable item.

 

While I always enjoy finding a real coin in a cache, I certainly understand why owners use this method with their coins. Imagine someone that owns and sends out 10 coins at $10 a piece...that would be quite an investment to lose.

 

To answer the OP question...if you plan on trading coins or selling them at some point down the road, unactivated coins are preferred. If you collect them to show off and want to own them so the cool icons show up on your profile page, then you would activate them. Or you can keep some for traders and activate some for travelling around with you (which is what we and a lot of other cachers do).

[+mfamilee]

I would never log a photo of a trackable. . . . I suspect most cachers wouldn't. I would imagine this is outside the guidelines as well.

Just logged for the first time a laminated proxy geocoin a few days ago. Sure, it's not the real thing, but it's still a trackable and we can follow its travels just the same. I definitely understand the concept after people have lost so many.

[+briansnat]

my recommendation is activating them and creating a wooden coin or a laminated picture of your coin so that it can still travel around from cache to cache and you can keep it with you ... like a stunt double.

 

I would never log a photo of a trackable. . . . I suspect most cachers wouldn't. I would imagine this is outside the guidelines as well.

 

I saw one that was so good you had to inspect it real closely to realize you didn't have the actual coin. The owner took a high resolution photo of both sides of the coin, glued them to a metal washer and placed it inside one of the hard plastic coin protectors.

 

I also saw a laminated card that had a photo of the geocoin. It called itself a proxy coin.

 

People seem to have no problem logging these. There is no guideline that prohibits it either.

 

Anyway moving this to the appropriate forum

[+Jeep4two]

I understand the problem with lost in the wild coins. I'm trying to decide what type/design/theme coin to go with because I'm interested in sending a trackable on a journey.

 

I'll be sending the trackable out - just doesn't seem the same to me otherwise.

 

One thing I love about a geocoin is the texture, colors, weight, shine etc.. I've got one in my inventory now that my wife and I enjoyed carting around last weekend to help it complete it's goal. We'll be putting in back in the wild this weekend and hope it makes a speedy journey back to it's owner. We'll supply the owner with lots of photos of the coin along it's journey and completing it's goal. I just don't see it as being nearly the same with a 'geocoin analog'.

 

However in the end, it's a game. Play it the way that makes you happy. I'm sure that coin analogs get logged and are enjoyed by their owners as much as 'the real thing'.

 

Best to all.

[+Jackalgirl]

Okay, you've got a couple of questions that lead to a couple of issues.

 

1) Should I activate my coins or not?

Generally, unactivated coins retain their value better than activated ones. I'm not sure why (an activated coin can easily be adopted over to a new owner); possibly because of the sense that it is more "mint" or something. I'm sure folks will weigh in on this. Ultimately, my advice is this: if you're ever considering selling your coins in the future, leave them unactivated.

However, the cool thing about activating the coin is that you will get their icons (if they have unique icons) in the trackables list on your Geocaching profile. Some people like to "collect icons" as well as the coins. If you like that, then activate 'em. And as has been mentioned earlier, if a coin is activated and you attend an event or otherwise meet other geocachers, and if they "discover" your coin by leaving a discover log on its web page, then you have a handy record of all the people you've met through geocaching, which is pretty cool. : )

 

2) Real coins vs proxies

If you search this forum for "proxy", you'll find a lot of threads about this subject. Some people hate 'em, hate 'em, hate 'em and will not touch, move, or log them. Others have no issues. People who create proxies generally do so because there's a lot of geocoin thievery. And some thieves create proxies so that they can keep the real coin and still have a proxy traveling around, with (usually) the owner none the wiser. My own take: if you want to make a proxy, do it. But I would suggest that you do as much as you can towards making the proxy a really, really good copy (briansnat mentioned the washer technique, for example). Then, MAKE SURE you put something in the coin page's description that says something like "THIS COIN IS A PROXY COIN". In fact, if you release a real coin, I suggest you put in something that says "THIS COIN IS A REAL COIN, NOT A PROXY". That way, if a thief tries to swap out your coin, you stand a better chance of the next geocacher noticing that something's rotten in the state of Denmark and dropping you a note about it.

[+Clan Doyle]

Excellent answers, jackalgirl. We activate our collection, as "show coins", so that we can share the discoveries. Personal coins, we are leaving unactivated, but only because we haven't decided whether to activate or not. Since we're not collectiong to build value, this is the way to go for us. Of course, this doesn't mean we haven't bought some just as traders, either.

As for proxies, we used to hate them until we realized the amount of theft. But like so many others, the thrill of opening a "treasure chest" and finding actual, heavy metal coins is way better then finding a picture of the coin, no matter how hard and round it is. We do move the proxies, since that's what they are for, but if we think we really want to release a coin, we buy two. Or just go with the travel bug if you want a higher chance of the mission being accomplished. We haven't lost any of those yet!

[+fairyhoney]

" In fact, if you release a real coin, I suggest you put in something that says "THIS COIN IS A REAL COIN, NOT A PROXY". That way, if a thief tries to swap out your coin, you stand a better chance of the next geocacher noticing that something's rotten in the state of Denmark and dropping you a note about it." -

Jackalgirl - That is an excellent idea !

[+Flatouts]

All good ideas, can't really add much. I will say this, adoption of a coin is something folks ought to consider more. I say that because some folks put a good deal of time into creation of the coin's page. At least I do. If you were to adopt one of my coins, you wont have to wonder where to get the activation code, you wont have to got through activation which doesn't take that long unless like I said you put some substance into it.

 

Feel free to look at our coins pages, ones like Celtic Tree of Life and others that are really works of art. We spend a good deal of time to present the coins so that it is informative or perhaps share a story about it or how and who created it. I personally hate it when I go to a page and there is absolutely no effort not even a picture. I dislike caches of the same type as well. But that's just me. I guess we go with the if it bothers you then do something about it concept.

 

I agree with the Fake/Proxy coin concept - We've purchased some expensive quality coins that if released wouldn't last long. Sorry but even people in Geocaching don't respect other peoples property these days - then there is always the Muggle to worry about - I just don't need the stress - We do this to relax...

 

I hope that if you go through the trouble of collecting and generating a page for your coin(s) that you at least include a picture and perhaps share a story or tell about it. Show some pride...

 

I'm sure not everyone feels that same way - it's okay and it's certainly not my place to tell anyone what is right or wrong - so please if you disagree that's cool too - I really don't care.

 

Main thing is there is no right or wrong only opinions - so just Enjoy & have fun!

Edited May 8, 2009 by Flatouts

[+Tha Saint]

Its all just a matter of personal opinion. I like to activate most of my coins. But thats just me. Im not worried about "value". But I also have no problem trading for an activated coin if its something I want. On the other hand there are people that dont activate any of there coins & dont buy/trade for activated coins..

 

As for proxy's, well.....Ill just say do a search on the forum's and you'll get plenty of reading material.

[+Bhob]

keep in mind that many proxy/copy geocoins were released by the owner after they had released the real geocoin, and it went missing