Topic: Press Release: New Physical Bitcoin Goes on Sale January 2 at AlitinMint.com - page 2. (Read 3795 times)

If the reputation of the company is good, there's really no reason to doubt the weight and purity of the coin as stamped on the coin.

I would be interested to know if Alitin mints their own bullion, or if they source it to a third party minting service, but if the reputation of the mint is good, I see no reason to doubt the authenticity of the silver.  One nice thing about these physical bitcoins (and Casascius' bitcoins, and Lealana Litecoins) is that I can verify the balance of the coin at any time, with little difficulty.

One more thing.  Outside of a density test which most people are not equipped to do, other methods of testing are destructive to the coin, like the acid test (to test for purity) or a scratch test (to test for plating).

These are bullion coins ...silver bullion to be specific based on the assay written on the coin's face.

You are speaking in terms of current silver prices. Now if silver went to the moon you would likely retract your statement as 2 oz of silver could be worth much more than $40 to $60.

My question still remains unanswered. Hopefully I will get a response from the OP.

The other issue I can see is that because said radiologist claims the casing is secure enough not to be broken with current technologies is not enough for me to believe it. I've claimed this all over this forum and in real life that talk is cheap.

Just because someone says something, doesn't make it true. Now whether or not the casing mentioned does what is claimed remains to be proven publicly.

Defcon perhaps?


Edit: My comments above are basing the word BULLION on the statement of "FINE SILVER" on the coin's face. I presume this means at least .999 Fine Silver.

Let's be clear I am making no accusations here. Merely questioning the modes of verification of said claims both in the metal content and the security of the casing made by the radiologist.

Does the "acid test" of which you speak do anything to deface the silver?  Does it determine whether it's solid silver or silver plated? 
I think your point would be more valid if these were  bullion coins. Given the value of the attached two bitcoins, it seems unlikely that someone would be attempting to defraud on the silver content of the coin.

There are acid tests, but you could also measure the coin's weight in troy oz. Using the normal volume of silver per mass this could be established. Of course I am no expert in this area but not having access to the coin at any point prior to redeeming removes any verification of the coin being actually silver.

I'm sure there are other way to determine this.

Just out of curiosity... How would you verify that they are silver if you had them out of the cases?
How can anyone "verify" that something is solid silver vs silver-plated?

Currently going for 2.9294 BTC each.

How does one actually verify that the coins are indeed silver? Without access to the coin itself given the case needs to remain closed how does one confirm this?

Not sure if I would ever claim that something is "Tamper-proof" as nothing is tamper-proof if attackers are given enough time and resources to find ways around security mechanisms.

Other than that this is an interesting concept/project.

 

* morgan dollar

I received my shipping info today, along with USPS tracking number.  I will post a picture and my overall thoughts when it arrives.

I pre-ordered one, paid with BTC and had my order confirmed on Jan 2nd.  I believe I may be one of the first to actually receive the coins.  I will post a pic when it arrives.

I ordered 10 of them. I am related to the artist John B. Andelin. I paid entirely with bitcoin and my understanding is that the 6-8 weeks is only if you pay with a credit card. They anticipate getting them shipped in 2-3 weeks if paying with bitcoin. That's my understanding.

Don't most press releases usually involve, you know, the press?

Feel free to use me as an Escrow if required.

I would still be interested if you are willing to send first.

Thanks for the response.  Looking forward to ordering once I hear some good reviews

Fair enough.

I will PM you with an order and a few escrow suggestions to look at.

We have made most of them, and in most cases they will ship faster than 6-8 weeks.  Many have already sold.  But assembly is slow and very meticulous.  As you can imagine, we have many security concerns, so there are very few people who get to handle these things and the process, by design and necessity, is extremely slow to produce a finished product.  And only one person ever sees the private keys before they are destroyed from our records--and that person is me.  I am the CEO and I engrave the coins myself.  I also do the ciphers and much of the packaging.  Tamper proofing cases like this is a challenge.  It's slow and tedious work.  But thorough.  We built in 6-8 weeks just in case we got big orders.  We would rather our customers be pleasantly surprised than disappointed.  

As to your fraud concerns; i.e., waiting to deliver them to see what the market does, or cancel the order: First of all, we are a licensed money transmitter and a registered MSB.  If we mess around like that, we get shut down pretty quick.  We'd rather have a successful business than play games. As a money transmitter, we are bonded with the government.  That means they have a lien on a huge pile of money that we fronted, and if we mess with you, they take it and probably throw us in jail.  Doing stuff like this is very challenging from a regulatory compliance point of view, and very expensive.  

This, by the way, also answers the question about markup.  In a business like this, you have to build some costs in to markup because it is VERY expensive to comply with the government's requirements.  This is also why we couldn't get these things out in 2013.  We had the coins done, but the government got in the way of our selling them legally.  But we do things by the books here at Alitin Mint, albeit resentfully at times in the case of government regulations.  And you will get your coins at the price you ordered them, whether or not, or how, the market fluctuates.  Try us.  

Another comment on cost: you're not buying an arcade token here.  Much respect to physical bitcoins that have come before us, but this is not like other physical bitcoins.  These coins are a limited edition set designed by a very prestigious sculptor, and they are pure silver.  They will last a lifetime or longer.  And unlike the arcade tokens, there are no corny stickers that deface the coin or decrease its aesthetic once redeemed.  Our public addresses and private keys are *engraved* on these coins.  Permanently.  Then they are sealed in a tamper proof case with many layers of security.  I could go on, and I did detail some of the advantages in my original post, but to summarize: these are just different.  Our site explains more.  www.alitinmint.com.  

And yes, we will work with reputable escrow, but we will do our own due diligence on any escrow services or escrow agents before we agree to it.  The "trust but verify" thing works both ways; we don't want to be cheated either. And we will charge a fee for escrow as well.  TBD on a case by case basis.  

I hadn't noticed this. Why would you need 6/8 weeks? This does seem strange. You get the bitcoins and ten send the next day surely, unless you haven't made them?

Would love tor eview one of these for the up & coming Bitcoin/altcoin magazine... should make it in time for Issue # 2

I am interested in buying one of these as well.  Only thing that concerns me is the 6-8 week delivery time.  Makes me wonder if these guys will just be gambling with the money we front and fail to deliver if btc price rises and of course fill the order if it drops.  I'm OK with the premium, just wish they would ship out faster

I also would like to buy one or two of these. Are you happy with escrow first to gain some trust?

If you feel like sending first all the better, you should be able to see I am not a scammer.