Make a non-geocaching coin trackable

[+Nemz]

I'm in the Navy and collect different coins from various commands and commanders I've worked at and for, respectively. Some are serialized, some are not. My question is: Is there a way to assign a code to a serialized Navy coin to make it trackable if I were to place one in a cache? Or are they only trackable of they're an "official" geocaching coin? Just curious.

 

Thanks!

 

R/

Nemz

[Odyssey Voyager]

hmmm...thats a good question. almost any item can become a "trackable" if you think about it. if you were to legibly engrave a "real" tracking number on your coin/s from another trackable item/s you own, you could basically "convert" a nontrackable into a trackable, although the icon would still remain associated with the original geocoin. you would need to keep the original out of circulation to avoid confusion. i'm also not sure if this process would violate any geocaching.com or Groundspeak rules. so take that advice for whatever its worth.

 

you could also go the very easy route, and just drill a hole in your coins or somehow attach a travel bug tag to them, essentially making them trackable travel bugs. i'm sure you already considered that route.

[+Droo]

To add to what O.V. said... you can take the tracking number off the TB Dog tag and engrave it on your Challenge Coin too, though I think hanging the Dog Tag on it will prolong its travels.

[+River Cacher]

I thought all trackablke items have to have ( Track At Geocaching.com ) Or other approved sayings to be trackable.

 

Wil Taking the number off the TB be alright then without using the proper quotes ?????

[Odyssey Voyager]

I thought all trackablke items have to have ( Track At Geocaching.com ) Or other approved sayings to be trackable.

 

Wil Taking the number off the TB be alright then without using the proper quotes ?????

 

yes, the "track at..." statement is required for approval in "designing" and minting a quantity of geocoins. i believe this detail is required as an effort to help those unfamiliar with trackables find the correct website. it might also prove useful for someone altering or converting a non-trackable item into a trackable item, but adding a written note or some other detailed information along with the converted item would also assist anyone that wanted to discover, or move the item.

 

.

[+BlueDeuce]

Just make sure you aren't releasing more than one trackable with the same tracking number.

[+Jackalgirl]

Good morning, Chief --

 

What kind of code you use also depends on what icon you want (if it matters to you, of course). The easiest thing to do, as has been mentioned, is to drill & tag the coin with a Travel Bug dog tag. It'll have the Travel Bug icon.

 

Another alternative would be to purchase 50 geocoin codes (at $1.50 a pop) from Groundspeak. You could then engrave these onto your challenge coins (but, as has been pointed out, you'd also need to engrave "trackable at geocaching.com" on there, and each individual design would need to be approved by Groundspeak). This would get you a generic "personal geocoin" icon.

 

Yet another alternative would be to talk with the good folks at Groundspeak and see if they'd let you buy a custom icon ($150) for your 50 codes. I'm not sure they would, but you could pitch it as an umbrella icon for a set of trackable military challenge coins. For example, you could call the set "Chief Nemz' Traveling Challenge Coin Exhibit" and all of the members of the set would have display your custom set icon. It'd be interesting to see if they'd allow it.

 

Yet another alternative would be to approach the approved vendors and see if they'd be willing to sell you a couple of tracking codes. They'd probably have the generic "personal geocoin" icon and, as always, the individual coins would have to be approved by Groundspeak (and I'd ask to see if this is even possible).

 

Lastly, you could see about having a low-cost aluminum "coin" or tag minted, which would bear the image of your "traveling exhibit" icon and have all of the required "trackable at" text, etc on it. You could then drill your challenge coins and attach this tag to it. Think of it as a label, where the label is the thing that's trackable and you can attach it to anything, in this case your challenge coins. The same requirements (minimum of 50 purchased, $150 for a unique icon) would apply to the making of this tag.

 

I hope this isn't "tl;dr" and I hope I'm not being hopelessly confusing. But good luck, because I really like the idea of travelling challenge coins!

 

V/r,

 

-- STG1(SW) Jackalgirl

[+EscapeFromFlatland]

Good morning from Iraq-

I have had the pleasure of discovering and/or finding several TBs that are unit coins with small holes drilled into them attached with a cable tie to a TB tag.

 

Another option is if you have several geocachers in your unit to push for a unit geocoin. Example that I just received in the mail from another MAGC member.

[+AstroDav]

I think there are also tags that you can buy, sorta like a genuine Travel Bug, that have serials on them, just like a TB. But they are designed to attach to another item by way of chain & hitchhike along. You are actually tracking the TAG, but it stays attached to the item. (Well, suppose to anyway). They are cheaper than TB's, but I can't remember right off hand where I saw them. Something like "travel budies", "travel helpers", "travel hitchhikers", or something like that.

 

There are also coin holders that you can buy, which fit around the outside rim of a coin & provide a hole to loop the chain through. A touch of solder on the "latch" will keep the coin from ever falling out, or someone replacing it with a wooden nickle. Of course that just works with an honest thief. The others will simply pop the chain or hacksaw the holder. This will also keep you from having to bore a hole in the coin, which can, with certain finishes, lead to rapid rusting & the outside coating flaking off. This is typically just a problem with very cheap plated coins however. Engraving a number would accomplish the same bad result on these el-cheapos also.

 

Personally...I know exactly what coins you are talking about. I'm a disabled vet of over 13 years service & collected around 30 of these unit coins, including a very limited solid silver one. They are a thing to be proud of & I would NEVER send one of mine out in a cache. It saddly just may not come back. If I were interested in doing this, I would take a high-quality image of my coin, upload that to the travelers page, and also attach a laminated copy to whichever hitchhiker I chose to represent my coin.

 

Sure, it's not NEAR as exciting for the finder....but unfortunately all people who might potentially find it aren't 100% honest. Most are, especially in the geo-caching community. But non-geo'rs sometimes stumble onto a cache. It's very difficult for a large percentage of them to resist taking something pretty home with them. I'm fairly new, but have already sent out 4 bugs. One of them has, I'm 99.9% sure, already found it's way into a "1-find-only" cachers junk drawer at home. No big deal...it cost 5 bucks & I have LOTS more important things to worry about than that. But if it had been that once-in-a-lifetime silver unit coin, I'd have been pretty devast........pretty pi#$ed about it.

 

By simply representing the actual product with a picture, it can always be placed back into circulation if that disappears.

Edited August 25, 2009 by astrodav