Topic: CASASCIUS PHYSICAL BITCOIN - In Stock Now! (pic) - page 43. (Read 130354 times)

I received some 1 BTC coins yesterday and they're brilliant. I can't wait to get my hands on some more

cool!

Good work coblee.

I really like it better than the other site that tracks all the coins!  I hate to be nit picky but the green background on the other site makes it hard to read.

I was fooling around with Google's AppEngine and decided to put this together: http://casascius.appspot.com/

I made a pic a while back. It's somewhere in this thread, here it is:

Perhaps Mike could add a warning right on the sticker: "Honeycomb pattern visible after opening" or something to that effect.

I replaced the stickers on mine. Honestly, on a couple, if you don't know about the honeycombing, it's not immediately obvious that they were already redeemed.

There is a picture in post #1 of this thread showing a removed sticker.

Mike, I suppose it would make sense to also put up a picture showing what they look like after someone tries to put the sticker back on.

Well, considering the kinds of videos like this out there (people showing off a new product as they open the package, etc.), I guess this makes sense.

After I distribute my Casascius bitcoins, I'll see if there are any left for me to make a video peeling one off.

It would be useful to see this video so people can know what a sticker looks like when it has been peeled off, so we can better determine if a coin is still valid or not.

You can also use Pywallet to import it into your local wallet.

I think you can use this though I haven't tried: http://blockchain.info/wallet

I have imported coins into both Mt Gox and StrongCoin.  I just did not make a video of it.  Do you really need to see my ugly mug peeling off a sticker and then typing at a computer?  It is that simple.  You just peal off the sticker and then type in the number you find under the sticker into either of those two accounts.

I do have a question though:  Is there any other places, besides StrongCoin.com and Mt Gox that import private keys in the mini-private key format?  It seems like others should be doing this by now.

I've been looking for a youtube video of someone removing a sticker from a Casascius coin and can't find one.

Furthermore, importing it into mtgox would be cool as well.

Let me know if you find any.

Very nice, I might have to pick one up

  Check Out What Came In The Mail Today!

This means you should probably set up a recycling system for the redeemed bars

It should be cheaper for you to get them back than to make new ones, right?

Thanks for your feedback.  You have probably heard I'm doing a real gold coin.  So if you'd like to dress 1000 Bitcoins in an ounce of gold, and can afford the cost of the coin, the real gold is a real option!

Second to that, the imitation gold bars are serving an important purpose in the Bitcoin economy right now.  They are enabling MemoryDealers to sell bulk Bitcoins for PayPal and credit cards and to ship them a plausible valuable object so they are selling a "thing" instead of "virtual money".  Because of that, anybody with a credit card has an easy way to get into Bitcoins, if they would rather pay a premium than hassle with the exchanges.

Look at the 46 gold bars on Casascius Bitcoin Analyzer (http://www.uberbills.com).  All but 2 (I tested a couple) have all been sold to real customers, I will be funding BTC to another batch of bars shortly.  I find it interesting that 26% of the gold bars have been redeemed, versus less than 2% of the 1 BTC coins.  It means a healthy chunk of people buying the bars...just want the bitcoins... and I guess the rest are being saved, or given as gifts.

I just wrote a comment in another thread that might be on-topic here. It made me remember some opinions on the Casascius coins I'd like to share, hopefully to make future coins even cooler! In the post, which is not really worth quoting here, I called Casascius coins "a little conservative" and called for avant-garde design, listing extreme ideas like rectangular coins or a modified yin-yang disc as examples for what I mean by "avant-garde". Let me explain what I'm being negative about, then use the opportunity to compliment what I like.

A gold bar imitation instead of a high-value coin? It uses the form of a gold bar as emphasis for value. That's not the Bitcoin statement. 100 BTC, let alone talk about 1000, should be worth more than a <5 ounce gold bar if the project succeeds. It feels like coating my coins with a downgrade. The same goes for the silver coin; it's cool, but its classical design draws attention away from the novel concept of Bitcoin. The hologram saves it from looking like just any coin from just another funny minting project. And holding one might convey the thought "hey, if Bitcoin fails, it's still silver". Almost a symbol of doubt in Bitcoin, at least until the silver value of the coin is significantly below the face value.

Don't get me wrong, the silver coins and gold bars look cool, I'm not saying they're ugly. But in my opinion, they don't live up to memory-stored Bitcoins, so I don't buy any. However, I don't feel that way for all of the products...

Here's my personal best-of-Casascius-design, the reason I love importing from Casascius:

• 1st place: Backside of the 25 BTC coin. The photos on the wiki do not do it justice. The different-size bit-string rings with gold surface give a mystic texture and reflection of light. they almost, but not quite match color and structure density of the hologram, making both fit together yet marking them different. The result is awesome. Just totally awesome. At first glance, it looks like gold from a pirate movie, but at another look it might be Sci-Fi instead. Did I say awesome? I need more of these coins.
• 2nd place: New holograms, a.k.a. backside of the second series 1 BTC coin. Futuristic hologram with 3D-effect, window with the identification key, denomination in black bars, I love it all. Admittedly, I only saw the changes for 2nd series on photos so far, but unless something was downgraded from the first series that isn't visible on photos, this will look epic.
• 3rd place: Front of the 1 BTC coins. Brass is a beautiful, yet inexpensive material; the whole design speaks "merger of the old and new". The Latin motto and the different structure between the inner disc and outer ring give the coin a very sophisticated look.

One special mention: on the 25 BTC front, the black text against the gold surroundings is very cool. Ah, the 25-coin; just had another person who wants one, time to resupply.


On my wish for avant-garde: the examples given were probably too extreme, and I see that something from my speedy brainstorming would just look stupid. But my gut feeling tells me there's another step up possible; something to distinguish higher-value Casascius coins from ordinary coins around the world. But maybe not so much the "heavy gold thing" way, but emphasizing complexity and beauty of design, just the way the Bitcoin protocol does (in the parts I don't complain about ).

Remember you are the dominant minting facility of the dominant currency of the future! This is the "feel" customers ask for. It's quite justified to add some sort of trademark design element. The backside has the holograms, and these serve the purpose very well; but the shape itself... mh, I dunno. Maybe it's time for me to realize I've produced a sufficiently large wall of text on pointless and subjective thoughts.