Making my first coin- questions about trackables

[IndianaGentry]

OK, I'm a complete newbie to this. I've been reading the board for 2 days now, and I've found numerous links regarding having coins made. I've also found lots of info about how to "use" a trackable coin. Lots of good info, but maybe I'm not understanding something...

 

If I have a coin made, it looks like most places have a 100 coin minimum. If I want to make a trackable coin, do I have to get 100 coins, each with an individual number? I would like to start out with maybe 10 trackable coins, and the rest as just "regular" coins that people can find and collect. Is this possible? (Better yet, I'd like to find a lower minimum number of coins to have made as trackables.)

 

Hopefully this hasn't been asked before, but I did not find the answer when using the site's search feature. Maybe I just used the wrong search terms... after all, I'm a newbie, and I'm just learning the lingo and all that. Maybe the particular links I've found thus far just didn't have this exact info. Who knows. If anyone can point me in the right direction, I would greatly appreciate it.

 

For such a seemingly "simple" hobby, there is a lot of info to take in as a beginner!

[avroair]

Each number is unique you have to buy them from Groundspeak, they are $1.50 each. There is a minimum of 50 coins. The more coins you make, the less the cost of the dies are spread over the coins.

[+Bhob]

most of the informatinon that you seek is here

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/lofiversi...hp?t116641.html

(it is pinned thread three at the top of this topic)

[+Droo]

Geocaching IS a simple hobby... it's when you mix in trackables and collectibles that brings in a new order of magnitude.... especially if you want to produce them.

 

Edit to add.... it helps to have found a cache or two, found and moved a trackable or two or even released one to travel before getting into the production side of things. But that's just my opinion, mileage always varies.

Edited December 20, 2010 by Droo

[JohnMac56]

Check out this thread for info on making custom coins, you can make 1 or as many as your heart desires...

 

My Personal Geocoin

[IndianaGentry]

most of the informatinon that you seek is here

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/lofiversi...hp?t116641.html

(it is pinned thread three at the top of this topic)

Yes, I read through most of that. I don't know if I've missed something or misunderstood something, but I guess I'm not getting it.

 

Ultimately, the idea of trackable coins leaves me wondering, "why would I want to track a bunch of coins that look alike?" Wouldn't it make more sense if each trackable coin looked different? Or do Geocachers just view the coins as something more like a "business card?"

 

Geocaching IS a simple hobby... it's when you mix in trackables and collectibles that brings in a new order of magnitude.... especially if you want to produce them.

 

Edit to add.... it helps to have found a cache or two, found and moved a trackable or two or even released one to travel before getting into the production side of things. But that's just my opinion, mileage always varies.

Droo, I'm sure you are right. I should probably spend more time researching my GPS unit at this point. I like to tinker in Photoshop, and since it has been really cold lately, I guess I'm just having fun playing around on the computer and coming up with ideas for coins. I designed a challenge coin and had it minted several years ago, and designing it was half the fun. (The other half of the fun was when my coin was flown on the space shuttle.)

[+Jackalgirl]

Howdy --

 

Not sure what you mean by "Wouldn't it make more sense if each trackable coin looked different?" Could you clarify? Are you talking about geocoins in general, or individual runs of geocoins?

 

For individual runs, part of the problem has to do with the cost. If you are making metal coins, you do so by bashing a piece of metal between two dies. A single die can run $50-$200, depending on its size and complexity (and you need at least two, sometimes more). That is prohibitively expensive if you're talking about a run of one coin. Add to this the fact that most mints require a minimum number of 100 pieces in an order (some will let you get away with 50, but it's very expensive to do it that way), and it just isn't feasible to make one coin. When you had your challenge coin minted, I'm sure you ran into a minimum quantity.

 

Likewise, color: the more variation in an order, the higher the cost. This is because the factory has to mix colors for your order, and human beings have to sit down and actually apply the color. The more varied sets of color combinations you have, the harder and more time-consuming the setup is, hence the higher cost. So even if you did a run of 100 coins, having each one colored differently so that each one is unique is going to be incredibly expensive.

 

What about hand-making coins, so that each one is slightly unique? It's done, often, usually in glass, ceramic, wood, slate, coal, or other non-traditional media. Some people even punch/carve/engrave their own very limited edition of coins in metal. But it's pretty time-consuming, so it's not the norm.

 

If you're talking about geocoins in general, then it's definitely a mistake to think they all look alike. There is an incredible variation in geocoins, even between the ones that are all, say, round (which all geocoins most definitely aren't). Some "coins" are actually miniature models, really, and stretch the definition of "coin" to the breaking point -- case in point: the Viking Helmet, the Quiver and Arrows, the MOGA Six Shooter (in Holster). Some coins are functional navigational pieces (the Nocturnal, the Compass Rose 5th Edition, the Quadrant). Some are sort of coin shaped, but surprising in that they move or do something interesting (Brahean, Little Wing, Morpho Butterfly).

 

Forgive me if I seem to be belaboring something you already know, but I wasn't sure what you meant about stating that geocoins "look alike", whether you're talking about geocoins in general, or individual geocoin editions. If I haven't addressed your point, please do clarify. Thanks!

[+Chokecherry]

If you are looking to just release geocoins then you buy already designed and made geocoins from the vendors here.

 

Most people who make them make them in bulk and sell and trade them and don't release all of them into the wild.

[IndianaGentry]

Howdy --

 

Not sure what you mean by "Wouldn't it make more sense if each trackable coin looked different?" Could you clarify? Are you talking about geocoins in general, or individual runs of geocoins?

What I meant was, I wonder why you would want to have so many of your own Geocoins that look alike. I understand that you can give some of them "missions," and it seems like a theme might be involved with something like that... but who would mint 100 of the same coin to fit the theme of one mission? Challenge coins are meant to look alike- that's the whole point of a challenge coin. Based on what I've read about Geocoins, it seems like having variations would be more interesting.

 

As a side note... I got lucky when I had my challenge coins made, and found a super-cool retired Air Force guy who does it as a hobby/ side job. He found all kinds of ways to keep my costs down. We even waited to submit my order until some other coins were being made with the same colors, so I didn't incur a feel for mixing enamel colors. A couple of years after making my coins, we still chat on occasion. He even made a detour to pass through my area when on a road trip so we could have lunch.

Edited December 20, 2010 by IndianaGentry

[+Jackalgirl]

Howdy --

 

Not sure what you mean by "Wouldn't it make more sense if each trackable coin looked different?" Could you clarify? Are you talking about geocoins in general, or individual runs of geocoins?

What I meant was, I wonder why you would want to have so many of your own Geocoins that look alike.

 

This the part I don't understand. What do you mean by "look alike"? Are you talking about individual runs of geocoins (e.g., "Earth Turtle" geocoin), or geocoins in general? Can you give me some examples?

 

 

I understand that you can give some of them "missions," and it seems like a theme might be involved with something like that...

 

Every trackable (geocoin or Travel Bug) can have a mission; it's part of the setup you do when you activate a trackable. Some people do generate a mission that has something to do with the design of the coin, but that's not always the case. I think it's far more common for people to make Travel Bugs that fit a mission, rather than geocoins.

 

...but who would mint 100 of the same coin to fit the theme of one mission?

 

That's a good question. It's pretty unusual for a geocoin to be minted to fit specifically to a single mission. Do you have any examples of geocoins that are designed to be specific to a single mission?

 

From what I've seen, most geocoins are designed to express some kind of idea or theme (for example, a Boy Scouts coin, or a Breast Cancer Survivor coin, or a geocaching-specific theme/idea like getting scratched up while geocaching ["Unnecessary Bushwhacking"] or navigation-related themes ["Nocturnal"]). Is that what you mean? In other words, when you say "mission" are you talking about the actual design theme of the coin?

 

Challenge coins are meant to look alike- that's the whole point of a challenge coin. Based on what I've read about Geocoins, it seems like having variations would be more interesting.

 

There actually are (usually) lots of variations. Most vendors, when minting a run of geocoins, will split up the overall batch into "editions". For example, you might have a "Regular Edition", with a specific plating and color combination, that would consist of the majority of the batch. Then there might be a (often, but not always) smaller batch of "Special Edition" coins in a different plating/color combination or (more commonly) "Limited Edition" coins. The difference between Special Edition and Limited Edition coins is that the LEs will never, ever, ever be minted again in that plating/color combination, whereas with SEs, the vendor has the option to mint more if there's demand. If a limited edition is being produced in (relative to the overall production run) very small quantity, it might be labelled "XLE" (Extremely Limited Edition), "XXLE", and so forth.*

 

There is also the "Artist Edition", which is (most commonly) a unique plating/color combination that's produced in a very small run (typically less than 35 coins) that's given to the original designer in lieu of payment. This is the way that many aspiring designers get into the business, given that minting a run of coins is very expensive: they find vendors who like their designs and "sell" the design, being paid in coins instead of money. They can then sell those AEs, and being that they're very limited, they usually sell pretty well (it depends, of course, on the popularity of the coin). It's a way of getting a reputation without having to spend a lot of money up front on stuff that might not sell.

 

And there are project coins. In a project run, there's a common die set that everyone uses. But each member of the project gets to choose a color scheme, plating, and most often a name or text or label of some kind to be engraved on his/her coins. So each subset of the overall project is unique to the person whose order that is.

 

*Caveat emptor. There is no actual agreement that I know of regarding percentages or ratios necessary to designate a coin "XLE". So a coin labelled "XLE" isn't necessarily as rare as another coin labelled "LE" -- in other words, you have to know your coins. And many vendors won't release minting numbers, so it's impossible to know for sure.

 

Sorry if I seem dense with this. I'm still don't quite understand what you mean. So some specific examples would be very helpful, sorry!

Edited December 21, 2010 by Jackalgirl