What Makes A Geocoin A Geocoin?

[+UOTrackers]

This is sort of a spin off to Renegade Knights recent post about coins and commercialism. It is NOT ment to start arguments, more or less to get your views and opinions on this.

 

What makes a GeoCoin a GeoCoin?

 

Does it have to be minted by a company (ex. coins and pins, coins for anything, oak coins etc.)

 

Does it have to be numbered?

 

Does it have to be trackable?

 

Does it have to be metal?

 

Does it have to be placed in a cache? If so can it be placed into a cache and then sold?

(ex if trackable, activate it, drop it in a cache grab it out sell it and let the buyer adopt it?)

 

Why isn't a wooden nickle a GeoCoin? It seems to me these get placed in caches a whole lot more often then the metal coins.

 

Is the value of a metal coin more because it's metal? It seems to me signature items take a whole lot more care, time and thought from the actual cacher.

 

(Personally I like the GeoCoins, I'm not fond of tracking as I dont like to pay for someone else's advertising. I do however prefer hand made objects, and even seek them out in caches. I've never found a GeoCoin for keeps in a cache, but many wooden nickles. If I were to leave a coin in a cache I would write to the owner right away and let them know it was there so they have first dibs on it as it's my way of thanking them for such a great cache, experience, view etc.)

 

Please feel free to add your own questions on what makes a GeoCoin a Geocoin as well as anythign else that relates!

Edited March 22, 2006 by UOTrackers

[+nfa]

To answer your questions in order (in my opinion, of course):

 

No

No

No

No

No, although it's nice for geocoins to travel through caches.

I consider the wooden nickels I've placed in geocaches to be geocoins, along with some kiln-fired pottery ones.

The value of a geocoin is based on how much the owner (or a potential buyer/trader) values it, regardless of the material from which it is made.

 

Jamie

Edited March 22, 2006 by NFA

[Phantom_Dog]

To answer your questions in order (in my opinion, of course):

 

No

No

No

No

No, although it's nice for geocoins to travel through caches.

I consider the wooden nickels I've placed in geocaches to be geocoins, along with some kiln-fired pottery ones.

The value of a geocoin is based on how much the owner (or a potential buyer/trader) values it, regardless of the material from which it is made.

 

Jamie

 

Ding! Ding! Ding! Jamie gets it! Well stated.

 

Geocoins are about your signature and presence and have nothing to with generating profit or selling.

 

You can take that as the "purist" definition of geocoins.

[Jake - Team A.I.]

One question missing from your list is

 

Q. Should should the coins (regardless of material) be geocaching related?

 

A. Yes, very much so. A coin that identifies with a cacher or team or group or region. A coin that identifies with a type of cache or in the geocaching genere.

 

There are some coins that I've seen come out lately that I'm putting on my "not even for a trade list", because I see them has having no relationship with geocaching.

[+Renegade Knight]

What makes a GeoCoin a GeoCoin?

 

My first definition is that they are by caches and for cachers. The best coins are Organizations Coins (State, Country, City…) and Signature coins. A signature coins is created by a cacher specifically as a signature item for caches. Personal coins are the first level of dilution. Trade only coins, coins sold, where the intent changes from purely cache coins to something else that takes some of that thrill of finding it in a cache away.

 

Does it -have to be- minted by a company (ex. coins and pins, coins for anything, oak coins etc.)

 

Not at all. You can use soapstone molds and make your own. A local cacher uses a machine shop to make his coins. I’d be happier to find one of his in a cache than I would be to buy virtually all coins that can be had for a price.

 

Does it -have to be- numbered?

 

No. Numbering helps collectablity and allows other things to happen with the coin but numbering itself doen’st make a coin a geocoin.

 

Does it -have to be- trackable?

 

No, Trackable is a form of numbering and any coin that is numbered can be tracked on any of several sites current and future. It adds to the price and collectablity but when it comes to signature coin it also eats up some of the coins real estate for personal art.

 

Does it -have to be- metal?

 

Yes and no. Wooden nickels are much less expensive, can be just as pretty but just don’t have the sizzle of a coin made from metal. Metal geocoins are pretty much the apex of cool signature items. Having said that if someone carved a stone coin I think it would get assigned as much or more intrinsic value as a metal coin. Polymer clay coins…not so much but above nickels etc. Coins are metal though and so a geocoin in general should be metal. Most of the time.

 

Does it have to be placed in a cache:

A signature coin does or it’s not a signature coin. A personal coin can avoid that step but it’s not nearly as much of a geocoin as a signature coin. State/Country coins were made for the enjoyment of cachers and that’s a different spin though in my state cachers like playing cat and mouse with them. “I lost an Idaho coin while caching this weekend” If you look at their profile they hit 60 caches….

 

Signature coins and others do tend to get left in the caches that people enjoyed more. Your idea about emailing the owner is a fair one.

 

To me it takes more than a tracking number and a geocoin label on the coin to make a coin a geocoin. I can number a washer and write “Geocoin” on it and that doesn’t make it a geocoin. However if I write Redneck Geocoin on it and stamp a number on it and actually leave them in caches…maybe it is a coin and maybe the first one worth less than a wooden nickel. Cool I have a new signature item. Home Depot here I come!

 

Edit:

Between this and other topics and events taking place within the coin buying clubs there is a loose sliding scale that is forming.

 

Signature coins left in caches and geocaching organization coins are at the top of the list. Their geocoin factor is about 100%.

Then the scale starts getting fuzzy but the geocoin factor starts dropping. Personal coins where 500 are made but 450 are sold still have a geocoin factor but it's not 100%. Charity coins, commercial coins, and others trickle down the scale until there is a coin that someone may be calling a geocoin but it's geocoin factor is 0%. Again this is fuzzy. There is a local who leaves Challenge coins as a signature coin. They have a geocoin facter in my personal estimation higher than some trade only trackable geocoins because I assign a lot more value to signature coins than others. For lack of a better way to say it, a lot of the debate in the forums is over the geocoin factor. How a coin is made and how it's sold impacts the factor as well.

Edited March 22, 2006 by Renegade Knight

[Not So Lost Puppies]

Quick answer... I agree with most the previous posters...

 

Maybe we should stop calling them geocoins?!?! why not GeoToken? since that is really all any of them are... tokens, left as a "token" of our appreciation of geocaching/geocaches/geocachers. Since there is not any governmental value to it, is it really a coin?

 

I think that geotoken will cover all the signature items... wooden nickels, shrinky dinks, molded clay, magnets, pens, washers, bolts, nails, 'coins', etc.

 

I think trackable is just another novelty of most of them. It is just an alternative to a TB tag. No extra 'value' in my opinion, though I will be releasing more of the organization/commercial ones I have as travellers (but not personal signature tokens of others)

[+WWC-World's Worst Cacher]

These threads have become so predictable.

 

Post One: Some takes a shot at what are "Real Geocoins".

 

Post Two: The next post go something like: I agree that you agree with me, and if you don't agree with me then what you are doing is NOT a "real geocoin" and therefore anyone who doesn't agree with us is suspect.

 

Post Three: Geocoins are what ever people want to call geocoins and if you don't like it then don't buy it crowd.

 

and on and on . . . . . . .

 

I bet I could just about write all the posts and put Geonicks with them and hit about 85%.

 

Ops, can't write anymore gotta go make some more of the non-geocoin, geocoins.

 

[+nfa]

These threads have become so predictable.

 

Post One: Some takes a shot at what are "Real Geocoins".

 

Post Two: The next post go something like: I agree that you agree with me, and if you don't agree with me then what you are doing is NOT a "real geocoin" and therefore anyone who doesn't agree with us is suspect.

 

Post Three: Geocoins are what ever people want to call geocoins and if you don't like it then don't buy it crowd.

 

and on and on . . . . . . .

 

 

You forgot post #7, the cynic, who knocks the whole discussion and its participants, and laments that these threads have become so predictable...

 

Jamie

Edited March 22, 2006 by NFA

[+Renegade Knight]

...Ops, can't write anymore gotta go make some more of the non-geocoin, geocoins....

 

Ok, we know your opinion about people who have an opinion about what geocoins are. What we don't know is your own opinion on what geocoins are, or is that last bit it?

[+Kealia]

Between this and other topics and events taking place within the coin buying clubs there is a loose sliding scale that is forming.

 

Signature coins left in caches and geocaching organization coins are at the top of the list. Their geocoin factor is about 100%.

Then the scale starts getting fuzzy but the geocoin factor starts dropping. Personal coins where 500 are made but 450 are sold still have a geocoin factor but it's not 100%. Charity coins, commercial coins, and others trickle down the scale until there is a coin that someone may be calling a geocoin but it's geocoin factor is 0%. Again this is fuzzy. There is a local who leaves Challenge coins as a signature coin. They have a geocoin facter in my personal estimation higher than some trade only trackable geocoins because I assign a lot more value to signature coins than others. For lack of a better way to say it, a lot of the debate in the forums is over the geocoin factor. How a coin is made and how it's sold impacts the factor as well.

 

I agree with RK's entire post but especially this last section. This articulates well what I've thought in my own mind for a while.

[+fox-and-the-hound]

When I first asked a similar question back in November I received a simply reply from Moun10Bike (a bit of an authority on this subject) and he was very straightforward. A rough summation of his answer: a coin by definition is struck metal from a mint and a geocoin is a coin used in geocaching. I think the operative term is "used". A coin that goes into caches is a geocoin. A coin carried by a cacher and shared with others is a geocoin. A traveling coin was the original intent by the very first geocoin maker though. Anything not put to use is just a dust collector. I applaud every cacher who has been brave enough to throw caution to the wind and release coins to travel. I'll admit that I'm going to buy/trade some to collect and buy/trade some to release, but our "geocoins" are going out there into the wild!

[Moun10Bike]

When I first asked a similar question back in November I received a simply reply from Moun10Bike (a bit of an authority on this subject) and he was very straightforward. A rough summation of his answer: a coin by definition is struck metal from a mint and a geocoin is a coin used in geocaching.

 

Well, that's a little stronger language than I think I used. When you called your sig item a coin, I reponded with this:

 

Just as an FYI, wooden nickels are usually not referred to as "coins" but rather as tokens or, well, wooden nickels! This is important when discussing trades, etc. - coins generally refers to metal, minted items.

 

I would have to say that I agree whole-heartedly with RK's post. How one decides what a coin's "geocoin factor" is differs from person to person. For me, the factor drops with any of the following things:

• Any of the coins in the minting are sold (this includes the same coin but a different metal - just because you are only selling the silver coins but the golds are trade-only doesn't make the gold non-commercial to me)
  
• The coin has your alias on it but is not produced by you
  
• The coin has little or nothing to do with geocaching
  
• The coin is minted by someone with little or no connection to what is being featured on the coin
  
• The coin is produced in numbers greater than the producer's number of found/hidden caches. (I know that I'll take some grief for this one, but let me explain my reasoning. It took many, many months for a geocoin other than mine to show up after I produced mine, and the current explosion is really only less than a year old. Today, people brand new to the game are producing a coin within a couple of weeks of joining the site. Why is this? The coin companies were around 5 years ago. I have my ideas why, but I won't go into them. I will say, however, that if the person producing the coin adequately shows me that their passion for the game is there and is firmly involved in their decision to make their coin, this "demerit" is quickly thrown out regardless of how new they are.)
  
• The coin is not metal
  

For me, the geocoin factor rises with any of the following:

• The design of the coin is unique to you and reflects your personality
  
• The coin is well produced and of high quality. This often means that it is professionally produced, but not always - Team SquareD22's Quahogs and Flukes are an outstanding example of personally-produced geocoins.
  
• The coin is produced by respected, established group or individual
  
• The coin is at least occasionally seen in the wild (i.e. is put in caches)
  

The following things have no effect on my geocoin factor rating:

• Tracking
  
• Custom icon
  
• Numbering
  
• Shape
  
• Flavor
  

The lists are, of course, subject to change without notice.

 

Lately I am only interested in coins that have a 100% geocoin factor to me. Perhaps this is because I see so few that even come close anymore.

[+Hula Bum]

<------bows to moun10bike

[+UOTrackers]

Thanks to everyone who has posted so far, I appreciate all the comments as I truely was curious.

 

To Moun10Bike: I understand most of what you had to say, and have a question. What if a coin is produced to place in caches and trade, but 10 of those coins are made specifically to sell for a charity? Does that diminish the geocoin factor?

 

Also, just my personal experience

The coin is produced in numbers greater than the producer's number of found/hidden caches. (I know that I'll take some grief for this one, but let me explain my reasoning. It took many, many months for a geocoin other than mine to show up after I produced mine, and the current explosion is really only less than a year old. Today, people brand new to the game are producing a coin within a couple of weeks of joining the site. Why is this? The coin companies were around 5 years ago. I have my ideas why, but I won't go into them. I will say, however, that if the person producing the coin adequately shows me that their passion for the game is there and is firmly involved in their decision to make their coin, this "demerit" is quickly thrown out regardless of how new they are.)

I first read about Geocaching 2 years ago and mentioned to my husband it would be a neat fun thing to do as a family, I was pregnant with twins at the time so I was thinking of the future. I didn't at that time visit the site or even look into it any further. In fact I completely forgot about it. My husband isn't always the greatest at getting presents for me but this past christmas he did it! He got me my GPS. So I dove right into the world that is geocaching. Everything I read about sounded neat and fun. I wanted to try it all, everyone else seemed to be. So first came signature items, wow some of them are amazingly creative and very appealing, of course I had to design my own, but there were so many things I could use. Then I found out about Geocoins, it blew my mind that such things could be made and I started thinking about all the possibilities. So I think that it's just that Geocaching once you find geocaching.com becomes VERY overwhelming. You don't know where to start, you don't know where to stop. You want to be an equal to everyone else but just can't compete. It's not grief, just one newbie cachers experience with such things. I do hope to have my own coin someday, I just don't know when. When I do I can't wait to place it and see who finds them. I enjoy seeing who picks up the things I leave behind! That's my joy in this game.

 

Happy caching!