Topic: Bitcoin Specie Project sponsored by the makers of New Liberty Dollar - page 12. (Read 88390 times)

I haven't seen the Mulligan Mint coin in person, only in photos. Aesthetically, I think the Mulligan Mint coin looks much less sophisticated (reminds me of a token I used to get as a kid to play video games at the mall, rather than what comes to mind when I think of a silver coin).

Damn, those gold ones look awesome. Great job dude!

I purchased one silver and one gold plated coin from New Liberty and asked that they represent a normal retail (not first strike) sample.
Unfortunately so far only the gold plated coin made it through the mail and I would encourage future buyers to always get a tracking number.

I took a few photos comparing the coin to the Mulligan Mint coin and to American Eagle Silver, Gold and Platinum 1 oz. coins.

Unlike the Mulligan Mint coin, the Liberty coin comes with an airtight case. The Liberty coin has a more interesting complex design on the obverse and reverse.
Both coins have mirror (highly reflective) and satin finish areas on both sides. The Liberty coin is a slightly smaller diameter than the Mulligan Mint coin. It took me several seconds to scan the QR code on both coins. The Mulligan Mint coin links to their web storefront whereas the Liberty coin links to a site which indicates the current
1oz silver value.
 
I will post additional photos when the silver coin arrives.

http://postimg.org/gallery/7m4h6h04/

We have received enough interest that we will be offering the gold electroplating on the fine silver as a standard offering going forward.  Gold does not have the same toning quality as silver so the QR should not be expected to become increasingly readable with use as it would with the normal .999 fine silver, however for the collectible editions, hallmarked pieces and etc it may be an optional addition.  We will be interested in seeing how these hold up over time, I suspect that if subjected to use, it will fade significantly as the gold is VERY thin.

In other news, with the BTC/silver price, it is looking like the 2014 1 ozt is going to be a ONE BITDIME piece after all, and the premium will be discounted unless it heads back down.

I never received mine from them.  The ordering function probably wasn't working by the time I tried a month ago because I didn't see the charge on my card appear either, but I did get one from eBay so that I could examine it.

I'm eager for your input so PM me and we will sort something out to get you one.

Agreed.  Thank you for this.  Its on our list.  I will give it a +1 for your wise suggestion.

Things will become much easier as this project moves forward.  Soon it may do so under its own power.  We are keeping costs as low as we can to provide for some investment into these simple advances.

Here is a question for you all:
What do you think about also including the ability to create an account for one click order+delivery to a saved address associated with a personal Bitcoin payment address, or to specify a particular preferred local re-seller for swift fulfillment, etc?

In the years to come, we would like to have sufficient stores of Bitcoin Specie in all localities so that we can fulfill orders, the same day, worldwide.

This project is in its infancy, we dream of having the US national network begun by 2014.  We would like to have local pickup locations be as convenient as 7-11. 
Walk in.  Hand over a piece of paper.  Walk out with silver pieces.  There are vast opportunities available ahead.  We consider all those reading and responding to this as valuable contributors, so thank you for all comments.

There needs to be a link on the QR page for those wishing to purchase additional Liberty coins.

I finally received my 1oz silver physical bitcoin from Mulligan Mint 6 weeks after payment. It has a nice weight and high luster with mirror and frosted finish areas. The QR code is easily scanned but unfortunately only accesses their homepage. I would like to buy a Liberty Coin to compare and give a review on this forum when possible.

D Wolk
Bitcoin Foundation Member
KnCminer Slogan Winner

I've had some messages come in with requests for making these Bitcoin Specie better for holiday gifting.  Christmas is a time for family and friends to gather. So many of us are the only one of our family to be involved in Bitcoin.  Or maybe one of a few in our extended family to have discovered Bitcoin and taken the time to understand its merits. If your family is anything like mine, I am a bit of an outlier.  Not really the same as the others.  
 
As much as I would have liked my closest friends and family, those with whom I share these special days, to have been able to participate in the joys of profit, and financial protection through the rest of the year, these notions are always met with much more skepticism than I often receive from strangers. Some of my own family do not even have much use for computers, but they could still receive the benefits of Bitcoin and gain the understanding that it brings.


I don't just give gifts to family but also to friends and folks I work with or employ.  I  have a small farm that I share, (which is a great way to get exercise and fresh food) some immigrant workers that help me there have been a bit skeptical about the virtual currency talk, even though they send money to their relatives in Mexico through expensive money transfer and would benefit from this more than most people. They do not have much to send and do it out of dedication and love for their relatives, and so much of it is taken by the banks.  It wasn't until I showed them the Silver Bitcoin Specie that it seemed real.  Mexico has a long tradition of silver and it was immediately recognized as valuable.  I know my friends' sons are pretty good with the computers so I asked him to show it to them.  When I saw him next, he wanted to invest in Bitcoin.


These thoughts and experiences are a part of what drives me to be making the Bitcoin Specie pieces. The is part of what went in to designing the piece, and the website, and the QR code, which can teach the novice how to use some of the very basic tools of using Bitcoin and understanding Bitcoin that we take for granted. By making it fun, not too expensive, and easy, and tangible, and dare I say attractive, the hope is to provide a way for each of us to bring our family and friends along with us on this adventurous journey that is the world of Bitcoin.

And so after some thought and some research, we have come up with some ideas that I would like to share with you as we approach the holidays.  There should be some that will see something tangible and have their families or friends helped by it.

I have contacted the maker of some of the containers and they have provided me with some samples of cases that can be used as either holiday ornaments or jewelry pendants. The results so far is that these Bitcoin Specie are not just great gifts on their own, for their educational capability, they can also be ornaments and jewelry.  Most importantly, they can bring in new people who don't know much or anything about Bitcoin.  I also had a few pieces electroplated in gold, I wasn't sure that they would make good gifts though so I wanted to get some sampling of reactions from people that don't really care about Bitcoin at all.  When I ran in to a friend at a coffeeshop and she had her fashionista daughter with her, I saw an opportunity to try it out and as a test, I handed a necklace with one of these pendants to this young woman and she immediately lit up and started posing and taking pictures of herself wearing it. It seems to have made her feel special and attractive.  I managed to snap a quick shot with my phone while she was pre-occupied.


It was fun to make her feel so good.  This is a girl that thinks nothing of spending $200 on a T-shirt and $300 on jeans and here was this very inexpensive jewelry that costs only a little more than it's metal value and to her it was the best thing she had.  If only she knew how little it costs.  When she got around to scanning the QR code she was shocked and wanted them for all her friends.  All I had at the time was the sample, but I promised her that I would have more electroplated so that she could use them as gifts.  She not only wanted to learn about Bitcoin she wanted to get involved in this project, she offered to model for them.  (Maybe its an excuse for her to get hair and makeup, but OK I have very few pictures and need more so after clearing it with her mother, I said yes)

I would be happy to get any feedback on ideas or experiences with these if any of you would like to share.  This is the sort of information that helps guide the development of this project.

The bitcoin price of silver (rather than the dollar value) is the formula input on the calculation to reduce the premium based on the moving average of bitcoin.

For those who are familiar with the "move up" triggers for the Liberty Dollar (and mostly adopted by the now defunct AOCS) the formula may be somewhat familiar, however it is not based on Dollars, but on Silver/Bitcoin.

It is getting closer to potentially being triggered, and will track it in this post and in the OP.  
The 30 day moving average of the Silver Price in Bitcoin went under 0.175 on Oct 18th.  
If the 30 day moving average for silver stays under this for 14 days we discount the premium.
(OP updated with this)

The 0.05 BTC premium is now an amount worth more than $8.

I am going to keep an eye on that auction. Let's see how much he gets.
I will keep mine for a little while longer, because it's awesome :3

I was just informed that one of our buyers has listed one of their Commemorative Hallmarked 5th anniversary Satoshi Nakamoto whitepaper peices on eBay who asked if it was OK to do that.  I let them know that it is a free market and it was theirs to do with as they please.   It looks like they used my pictures though.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Satoshi-Nakamoto-White-Papers-5th-Anniv-COLLECTIBLE-1-ozT-Silver-BITCOIN-Specie/281191054197

I've had some inquiries from folks wanting to get these, but they have only been made available to the few who pre-ordered and those who have met one of our team at conferences or other events.  As far as I know this is the only one that has been offered for sale publicly.

I'd bet they spent it all.  It is going to be hard to get anything out of them.  My condolences go out to anyone that has had to deal directly with them.

You aren't the only one warning about Mulligan Mint.  Looks like they've been reselling MJBmonetarymetals' designs and refusing to pay him royalties... 

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.3362455

I got one of the special ones, yes. I am still very happy with it

Hey, did you get any of these before I left the country?  I ran out while I was there, but I have plenty now.

In the last few weeks we have had an outpouring of support.  It has been very heartwarming.  As Bitcoin grows as an international currency, the need for off-chain transactions using real-value bitcoin-denominated specie pieces will become increasingly important, and we are honored to put forward this project to serve that purpose.

One of the challenges we have currently is one where YOU CAN HELP, and by helping, you can make money, do good, and have fun!

We have been receiving many small quantity orders from folks all over the world, and although this is very encouraging, it does not provide the best service to the wide world of bitcoiners.  Since this physical currency has to be shipped, small quantity long distance orders are not the best bargain or best distribution model.  These transactions are perfect for bitcoin but not for bitcoin specie, which is best for local.

We have started to reach out to regional distributors who can purchase in quantity and distribute locally.  The great benefit to these distributors is that they get a much lower price per piece than any individual buyer can get.  This allows them to profit by the difference of what it would cost to have a single bitcoin specie shipped and insured overseas (high), and the cost of a local transaction (low).

So if you know someone in a position to serve such a role, or you yourself are one of these rare and special people.  Please do not hesitate to contact us.  It will be good for your own bitcoin wallet, and good for Bitcoin in that it will help spread the Bitcoin economy in your local community.

Be a Bitcoin ambassador, use bitcoin, and bitcoin specie in transactions.  Use Bitcoin Specie to educate and bolster your outreach efforts.  Be the local distribution hub and give yourself a Bitcoin job.

When you do this, we will encourage people local to you to buy from you, instead of from us.

It looks like the Mulligan Mint has some trouble.
http://www.coindesk.com/capital-one-closes-bank-account-bitcoin/

Personally I think that their bitcoin coin is not the reason for the account closure and that CoinDesk not only has it wrong, but is reporting the wrong story.
http://blogs.wsj.com/bankruptcy/2013/09/20/texas-coin-maker-for-fed-estranged-files-for-bankruptcy/
Those folks talk the talk, but they don´t walk the walk.
There is nothing mutually voluntary or ¨libertarian¨about taking things that don´t belong to you, and cloaking themselves in bitcoin as if that were the reason for the banking closure is not going to help that crew, and only hurts us.  They do not give private minting a good name by doing this.  

I did manage to acquire one of the ¨bitcoin coins¨before they were shut down, and was a bit disappointed with it, but nevertheless encouraged to redouble the effort to provide the best specie pieces we can produce in order to be worthy of the elegant monetary architecture into which they are integral.

In other coining news, it seems even the Vatican is not infallible when it comes to minting.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/10370809/Vatican-pulls-medals-bearing-name-of-Lesus.html

Attention to quality is of critical importance.   Metals are an unforgiving medium in which to work one´s art and every tiny aspect interrelates to make the whole.

I really like the way it looks. Well done