Have you ever found a geocoin?

[+mamomo]

Sounds like a strange question, but I was just wondering if I'm the only one who lives in an area where every single geocoin goes missing? As in: all the caches that show geocoins will not have geocoins in them, guaranteed. I'm wondering if there's a person/persons monitoring the area on geocaching.com just so he/she can take the coins.

 

Is it my area? Is it everywhere? Is there some "alternative" geocaching bunch that has the sole aim of stealing geocoins?

[+Jayman11]

Strange, I've run into a few MIA's here and there and have lost some myself. But it has not been that bad.

[+GATOULIS]

Oh! So things are so bad in your area??

 

Here... some coins and TB's were stollen from some caches...

 

One was droped by me and belonged to a friend cacher and the poor geocoin never even loged a milimetre!!!

 

A cache was moogled.. an other one was probably known to a guy who was stealing coins...

 

I felt strange since I was the only local cacher in the area and... I do not know what others may think...

 

I think I am not the only local here now..

 

anyway.. I have lost many coins too! I think I have a loss close to 50% of my travellers!

 

Some guys are unbelievable!! What can I say....!

[+hikingirl3]

I think maybe coins are more confusing than the TB tags, so inexperienced people mistakenly pocket them. I find in a lot of caches the trackables that are listed are no longer there. A lot of times if you look on the trackable's page, someone will have notified the owner that they did not see their trackable in the cache listed, but then the owner doesn't set it to missing, so the cache looks like it's supposed to have a bunch of trackable items.

 

One thing that might work is to stalk your coin So if it seems like a few people have visited the cache without picking it up, you could ask them if they saw it in there. Then you will have more of an idea of when it went missing, and possibly who might have it.

[+MoonCatKDT & Peanut]

Around here, it doesn't matter if its a TB or Geocoin. The chances of it actually being in the cache are extremely slim. I've found a few, but not a whole lot. I put a laminated tag with instructions on it with all of my TBs and Geocoins. Hopefully that'll give them a fighting chance.

[+Fiery Searcher]

I have found coins in caches, and moved them along!

 

Whenever coins or TBs are listed but NOT present, I always post a note on the pages of the coins and TBs. This lets the owner know that the website is not necessarily accurate.

 

Hopefully those of you who are frustrated with missing TBs or coins are doing the same...

[+Tonyalynnm]

Finding a coin was what got me started with my obsession! I found one & moved it, it went from Arkansas to Hawaii, & found another as a FTF gift.

[+Butterfly_lady]

I think maybe coins are more confusing than the TB tags, so inexperienced people mistakenly pocket them......

 

And I get emails from some who state they cannot log a trackable because X cacher has not yet dropped it.... so instead of them grabbing it, I grab it and log it....

 

Anyway - never send your geocoins out bare. Most come in a flip plastic envelope. Put some info in the 2nd half, and the one who picks up up cannot remain ignorant.

[+Degai]

Oh, Mamomo, you are not alone! Every coin I have released in the United States has gone missing and now all of my TBs are missing, too. I have a few still traveling around overseas, but now a few of them have gone missing!

 

When I first started releasing Geocoins, I was naive enough to think that no one ever stole anything. (Mine were clearly marked with an insert that told what the Geocoin's mission was.) That was short lived. I do not send out any Geocoins with missions because they will never make their mission. (Once I was in a contest in which I was given a coin, along with Geocachers from 49 other states, to see which one would travel the farthest. My coin never made it out of the cache before it was stolen. And to add insult to injury, I was sent a replacement Geocoin and guess what? The exact same thing happened in a different cache! ) Now, I just give away Geocoins when I go out caching.

 

I know many people here give people the benefit of doubt when Geocoins and TBs go missing, but for the most part, I just think people like them and keep them. The Geocaching website is too informative for someone not to be able to find out what they are and what is to be done with them.

[+Droo]

Whenever coins or TBs are listed but NOT present, I always post a note on the pages of the coins and TBs. This lets the owner know that the website is not necessarily accurate.

 

Hopefully those of you who are frustrated with missing TBs or coins are doing the same...

 

Very good advise.

[+JarOfEyeballs]

I have found only one, and it has been traveling for 5 years! It started in California and has been in New Zealand, China, the Middle East and now Belgium.

[hungry4danish]

There's nothing worse than when a TB or geocoin should be in a cache only to see it missing when you arrive. It's horrible when people collect geocoins because they look so cool. SO If you guys have found any really great looking geocoins and want to share pictures of them before moving them on their way to another cache I would suggest checking out http://thebestgeocoins.tumblr.com/

[+aka Momster]

Your question made me curious about how many geocoins I have found in caches. So I went through my list, discounting coins seen or picked up at events, non-traditional items, such as tags, slugs, Cachekinz, gems and the few proxies. The result was over 100 geocoins in less than 3 years! Not all of those were from my home location, some geocoins were picked up while traveling. Many of them were coins that may surprise some forum readers: Dark Side of the Cache, Magic GC, 07 Compas Rose, Leprechan, Danish Geocoin 2006, Norwegian GC 2007, CacheDragons, Wykenwizard, StarGeezer, Rein-Nahe GC 2007, SnowWolf, Geosquid v2, and Groundspeak Lackey & Volunteer coins, to name a few. Most of the coins in my list that were seen at events were traveling, not from collection discovers. Some I picked up and dropped into caches and some were discovers that other geocachers moved on. If I had included those in the count, the result would have been even higher.

 

When the el chat rampant reprints arrive, and I hit my 1000 milestone, some more of my coins will go wild, too. They have to come from somewhere (or someone). While I can't afford to match the generosity of some members, in appreciation for all of the beautiful geocoins others have released for me to enjoy, some from my collection are periodically sent traveling, a few get dropped unactivated, and others are adopted out or given to other geocachers.

[GregsonVaux]

Wow, I don't know why, but my experiences have been different. I have not visited very many caches owned by other people, but in the few that I have visited, I have seen enough coins. I own five caches, and coins pass through them on a regular basis. It is too late at night for me to check right now to give actual statistics, but I have released a number of coins into the wild and most are still traveling. Several are now in other countries and overseas and I hear from them on a regular basis. On the whole, my coins are still reporting back to me. I have only been contacted once and told that one of my coins was muggled.

[GregsonVaux]

Wow, I don't know why, but my experiences have been different. I have not visited very many caches owned by other people, but in the few that I have visited, I have seen enough coins. I own five caches, and coins pass through them on a regular basis. It is too late at night for me to check right now to give actual statistics, but I have released a number of coins into the wild and most are still traveling. Several are now in other countries and overseas and I hear from them on a regular basis. On the whole, my coins are still reporting back to me. I have only been contacted once and told that one of my coins was muggled.

 

About coins that have gone missing, I am really curious to see if any of them turn up again. I don't know how long geocaching will last as a sport and I don't know how long the database will be maintained but I think that there is a real chance that it could still be around in 100 years. If the information in the database does last more than five or ten years, I would not be too surprised to see coins that have been inactive for ten years going back into circulation. I would imagine that those long lost coins would be highly valued. The more outragous the history, the more it will be treasured.