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"proxy" coins/bugs


RadishSpirit

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This applies more to coins, but I suppose it could also apply to bugs.

 

I'm relatively new to geocaching, but I've found a couple of instances where people have placed a "proxy" for their coin (people could also do the same with a bug, I suppose), and the "proxy" is traveling in place of the coin/bug.

 

This is where the owner is sending out something with the code on it, so that their coin/bug is still safe at home.

 

In one case, a person is using a wooden (or maybe plastic?) replica, attached to a tag (not a travel bug) with the code written on it.

In another case, a person is using a laminated piece of paper with a picture of the geocoin and the code typed on it.

 

This second one in particular seems kind of lame.

I'm just a noob, but I wonder what people's thoughts on this are? Is this common practice? I can see why people wouldn't want to risk losing their cool coin, that may cost quite a bit of money. Heck, even bugs cost money.

But a piece of paper with the code on it? B)

Seems to go against the whole point of travel items.

Edited by RadishSpirit
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It is a common practice and is done when the original is lost, or someone doesn't want to release the original. Some finders don't mind, and others are so aggravated at not finding the real thing, they want to throw it away. (But that's wrong) Travel Bugs are sold with a copy tag, in case the original is lost. Geocoins are not, and geocoins is where you will find most proxies, and proxy discussion, and so, geocoins is where you will find this thread. You will have more responses there, and so I am moving this from the Travel Bug forums to the Geocoin forums.

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Not only the above, but it has been said that thieves have been looking up what coins are in caches, making copies and then take the real coin and leave the fake.

So Maybe when people ask" How do I locate caches with coins in them"

We shouldn't freely give out the info.

Real cachers KNOW how to find these things.

 

Opalsns

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Not only the above, but it has been said that thieves have been looking up what coins are in caches, making copies and then take the real coin and leave the fake.

So Maybe when people ask" How do I locate caches with coins in them"

We shouldn't freely give out the info.

Real cachers KNOW how to find these things.

 

Opalsns

 

Very, very good point.

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I, personally do not like to find proxy coins. I love geocoins and like to see them, feel them and carry them. BUT I also understand the draw to release a proxy instead of the real thing, as I've lost quite a few geocoins. Now I just keep the ones I do not want to lose. Also, I can choose to not move along a proxy when I find one. the4whites B)

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I, personally do not like to find proxy coins. I love geocoins and like to see them, feel them and carry them. BUT I also understand the draw to release a proxy instead of the real thing, as I've lost quite a few geocoins. Now I just keep the ones I do not want to lose. Also, I can choose to not move along a proxy when I find one. the4whites B)

It's disappointing reaching a cache that allegedly has a coin in it only to find it's been gone for weeks or months but it's icon is still firmly embedded in the cache's inventory. Compared to that a laminated photocopy of the coin is almost a relief.

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Not only the above, but it has been said that thieves have been looking up what coins are in caches, making copies and then take the real coin and leave the fake.

So Maybe when people ask" How do I locate caches with coins in them"

We shouldn't freely give out the info.

Real cachers KNOW how to find these things.

 

Opalsns

 

And maybe, when one finds a proxy in a cache, instead of being all disappointed, one should first check the coin's page, see if it was made a proxy by the owner and if no mention of "proxy" is on the page, the finder could ask the owner if they sent out a real coin, or a proxy coin, and if this is done soon enough, one might be able to figure out where/how far back it was changed. Just maybe. A real thief wouldn't log anything.

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We always send the real thing but when one of our coins disappear, instead of wasting that tracking number, we start a proxy coin so the journey can start over. We always write it down on the coin's page so people will be aware of that. We do the same with our bugs.

Don't under estimate those proxy coins or TB, there may be a good explanation behind their cheap images B)

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OK, I can kind of understand if the coin/bug has been lost, but the ones I've seen say that the original is sitting at home with the owner.

I guess it's just one of those things I can expect to see occasionally!

But I have to admit, if I find nothing but a piece of paper with a code on it, and the coin is sitting at home with the owner, I'm not very inclined to move it along. B)

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I, personally do not like to find proxy coins. I love geocoins and like to see them, feel them and carry them. BUT I also understand the draw to release a proxy instead of the real thing, as I've lost quite a few geocoins. Now I just keep the ones I do not want to lose. Also, I can choose to not move along a proxy when I find one. the4whites :rolleyes:

I found a proxy coin today it was a coin to celebrate the owners 100th find and I suppose the owner would like to keep the original.

As I didnt know what it was or what to do with it I left it alone.....

I just cant understand why someone would go to the lengths they do to have a coin minted and not put it into circulation.... <_<

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At least in the United States - a coin doesn't usually last in circulation very long. It may see only 1 or 2 caches before it disappears. Many people feel it is stupid spending $10 or more for a gift to a random stranger of low moral character, therefore they make a proxy/copy and release that.

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I, personally do not like to find proxy coins. I love geocoins and like to see them, feel them and carry them. BUT I also understand the draw to release a proxy instead of the real thing, as I've lost quite a few geocoins. Now I just keep the ones I do not want to lose. Also, I can choose to not move along a proxy when I find one. the4whites :rolleyes:

It's disappointing reaching a cache that allegedly has a coin in it only to find it's been gone for weeks or months but it's icon is still firmly embedded in the cache's inventory. Compared to that a laminated photocopy of the coin is almost a relief.

That's very true, Droo! I wish cache owners would be more diligent in booting AWOL coins. (Myself included... :lol: )

 

*snip*

I found a proxy coin today it was a coin to celebrate the owners 100th find and I suppose the owner would like to keep the original.

As I didnt know what it was or what to do with it I left it alone.....

I just cant understand why someone would go to the lengths they do to have a coin minted and not put it into circulation.... <_<

 

Buy some coins and let them go in caches. Then you will.

 

I completely understand someone putting out proxies. As satisfying as it is to hold the coin and examine it closely, the "icon whore" in me says, "WooHoo!! Another icon!" :D

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I, personally do not like to find proxy coins. I love geocoins and like to see them, feel them and carry them. BUT I also understand the draw to release a proxy instead of the real thing, as I've lost quite a few geocoins. Now I just keep the ones I do not want to lose. Also, I can choose to not move along a proxy when I find one. the4whites <_<

I found a proxy coin today it was a coin to celebrate the owners 100th find and I suppose the owner would like to keep the original.

As I didnt know what it was or what to do with it I left it alone.....

I just cant understand why someone would go to the lengths they do to have a coin minted and not put it into circulation.... :lol:

The coin owner (the one who activates the coin) is not usually the coin maker. Activating a coin may cost around $10 but minting one is closer to $1000.... well, you'd get more than 1 for that much dough. :rolleyes::D

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What everyone seems to ignore is that when someone keeps a TB it;s journey is over. Proxies can make keeping a TB not tempting, thus enabling it to actually travel. I mean, when you put a coin out, you don;t really exoect to cross paths witnh it again, but you want it to cross paths with someone.

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Hello! I didn't like proxies too at the begining! It seemed not so nice to find a replica instead of a real coin.... As I said, this was at the begining! When I started having travellers and saw that some were stollen, some were lost, some were taken by ceocachers that kept them and didn't even respond to my polite emails.... Everything changed!! Coins cost money! More money than TB's! Some are quite expensive or they have a sentimental value for the owner!

 

I have a proxy because I didn't want to see this coins geting lost like the majority of my others of the same design! I had 4 of the same design and I lost the 2!! At the begining I didn't have many travellers out but there was a time that almost half of them were stollen!!!

If the coin is pretty it is almost sure that ou will not see it again! So... what to do?? To destroy it? Drill a hole to make it ugly and useless so it will not get lost? I prefer to let a proxy travel!

 

Now about paper proxies... it depends of how you make the paper coin!

 

do not think that a paper proxy is a cheap version....

So taking a piece of wood or a metal washer and put a photo of the coin with the code is expensive?? I do not think so!!!

 

My proxy is a paper one but I believe it is quite well made! the photos are real photos in the original size of the coin so all the details to be perfect, since the coin is a shaped one the photos were cut in the way to look exactly like the real one, the pieces was laminated with plastic foil, and then were glued with super glue! I even made it thick... not as the real one for at the 3/4ths of the thickness of the real coin! Just becasue the coin was gold, I took a gold pen and painted the edges too! the coin looked almost like the real one, and it was not costless!

 

If the coin is shaped, it is not easy to use other materials! Maybe you can use wood but.... if the shape is odd... you will need special tools to create the shape of the coin! If you do not have these...

 

anyway, it is up to the finder to move the proxy, no matter how it is made, or not! But throwing away a proxy because you do not like it.... it is not correct! So if I do not like a coin shall I throw it too??? If I find the copy tag of a TB, shall I throw it away because I wanted to find the real one?? Nope! B)

Everybody must understand the owner of the coin and why he did this... and of course as it was mentioned... sometimes not even the owners know that their coin turned into a proxy one somewhere between its travels!

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What everyone seems to ignore is that when someone keeps a TB it;s journey is over. Proxies can make keeping a TB not tempting, thus enabling it to actually travel. I mean, when you put a coin out, you don;t really exoect to cross paths witnh it again, but you want it to cross paths with someone.

A coin of mine that's been traveling for a couple of years just recently went up the road (fwy) that's nearly visible from my house and is in residence in a cache that's maybe 45 minutes from here. I am soooo tempted to go get it since I dropped it in Florida and here it is - nearly home!! But that wasn't it's mission.

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What we have found people doing is taking their collection of travel bugs to geocaching events, so others can "Discover" them. You get to see some Beautiful geocoins that way, touch them, but the owner keeps them in his or her possession.

 

I just spend $250 on Geocoins for my husband for Christmas, and I hope he does not move ANY OF THEM!

Many of them were the Navigation Tools from coins and pins. (Cosmolabe, Nocturnal, Northern Planisphere. There is no way he would send them out into the world.

 

Now, he did purchase 5 "Sextant" geocoins that he intends to place in caches (4 of them) as FTF prizes, so the FTF person can keep them, or move them. Again, #5 will stay in his possession.

 

At the November event of the River City Geocaching and Dining Society, in Sacramento, I discovered 92 Geocoins that are owned by HockeyHiker19. She has an awesome collection!

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