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2011 Alaska Jade Geocoins Now Available


Ladybug Kids

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2011jadeicon32.gif The Alaska 2011 Geocoin is manufactured from a 2" x 1.5" x 0.25" (5.1 cm x 3.8 cm x 0.6 cm) piece of the Alaska state gem, jade, extracted from Alaska's Kobuk River Valley. The sold out (via Alaska sales and early notification to prior GeocacheAlaska! geocoin purchasers) limted (LE) and extra limited (XLE) editions feature the Alaska state metal, gold. The geocoins are trackable on geocaching.com and have a custom icon (pictured above).

 

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2011 Jade Geocoin (130 minted, $30), limited edition (50 minted, $70), XLE (20 minted, $125)

 

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Back of each geocoin

The Jade Geocoin is packaged in a jewelry quality slider box and the LE and XLE Geocoins are packaged in an engraved birch display box.

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Each jade geocoin comes with a matching acrylic proxy to keep or release to the wild for traveling adventures.

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As stated above, the LE and XLE versions of the geocoins are sold out, but there are still plenty of the regular jade geocoins left. Click here to order your Alaska 2011 Jade Geocoin.

 

These are Alaska's 2011 geocoins. Skyrocketing precious metals prices and die-making expense coupled with declining sales volumes led to the decision to try something new. We know the made in Alaska proof quality precious metal geocoins had their devote followers, but we just couldn't make the numbers pencil out this year.

 

We hope you will take advantage of this opportunity to buy a piece of Alaska!

 

GeocacheAlaska! is a 501©(3) tax exmempt organization and all proceeds from sales of these geocoins go toward our mission to educate geocachers, the public, and land managers about geocaching.

Edited by Ladybug Kids
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A high-level summary of the manufacturing process is given below.

 

A slab is cut from a large jade boulder. The jade slab is then cut to size for cutting the jade blanks.

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The jade blanks are then polished using progressively finer grit.

polish1.JPGpolish3.JPGjadefin.JPG

 

While the jade blanks were being laser engraved and inlayed with golden foil, raw gold nuggets were hand selected at a local assay office.

golddigging.jpg

 

More complete details about the process may be found by clicking here.

Edited by Ladybug Kids
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A high-level summary of the manufacturing process is given below.

 

A slab is cut from a large jade boulder. The jade slab is then cut to size for cutting the jade blanks.

jadeboulder.JPGjadeblock.JPGjadeblockslide.JPG

 

The jade blanks are then polished using progressively finer grit.

polish1.JPGpolish3.JPGjadefin.JPG

 

While the jade blanks were being laser engraved, gold nuggets were hand selected at a local assay business.

golddigging.jpg

 

More complete details about the process may be found by clicking here.

Reminds me of my geotechnology class...except we sliced our rocks a lot thinner :D Cannot wait to get mine in the mail!

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Very Nice!! What is the approximate weight of the gold nuggets?

A little less than an average of 1/40 ounce for the Polaris/North Star nugget on the LE and XLE editions and about the same weight for the combined seven Ursa Major/Big Dipper XLE nuggets.

 

The nuggets were not individually weighed, but they were selected from collections of nuggets that had been passed through #6 and #10 classifying screens, respectively, so they are the same approximate size.

 

Like each piece of jade, each nugget is unique, making each complete piece unique aside from the tracking number.

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Got my jade coin today (Regular Version), but have a few issues:

1. The inlays for one of bottom stars is outside the outline. 2. the top arm on the "K" is really wavy - it looks too skinny compared to the rest of the letter. 3. The dot on the letter "i" in the word "frontier" is is missing foil inlay completely. 4. The white wolf printed on the back of the coin has a scratch through it. :(

Considering how well it was packaged, I don't think it got this way in the mail. I don't think the gold foil inlay was a wise choice; I'm actually afraid to touch the front of the coin with my fingers, thinking the gold stuff will rub right off, it looks so fragile. I guess I will have to see if anyone else finds any problems when they get theirs.

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Got my jade coin today (Regular Version), but have a few issues:

1. The inlays for one of bottom stars is outside the outline. 2. the top arm on the "K" is really wavy - it looks too skinny compared to the rest of the letter. 3. The dot on the letter "i" in the word "frontier" is is missing foil inlay completely. 4. The white wolf printed on the back of the coin has a scratch through it. :(

Considering how well it was packaged, I don't think it got this way in the mail. I don't think the gold foil inlay was a wise choice; I'm actually afraid to touch the front of the coin with my fingers, thinking the gold stuff will rub right off, it looks so fragile. I guess I will have to see if anyone else finds any problems when they get theirs.

That certainly isn't acceptable by our standards, either. I sent you an e-mail discussing options depending on whether or not you activated the geocoin.

 

If properly applied, the golden foil is actually pretty tough. We had to remove the foil from the stars for some of the LE and XLE editions and it application of the pointy end of a knife.

 

Anyone with a quality concern about the coin(s) they received is encouraged to e-mail me.

Edited by Ladybug Kids
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