Bitcoin Forum

Hey everyone,

https://casascius.com/alcoins.jpg

I finally have my first run of generic aluminum Casascius Coins that I expect I will be bringing to the conference.  These are pretty much the only coins I plan to bring.

These are meant to be low-cost physical bitcoins that can be used as restaurant tips and such.  The coins have no bitcoin value or denomination - they simply have a blank back - you add your own private key, promotional message, or whatever you want, by printing your own sticker.  Sooner rather than later, an open source program will allow you to print your own private keys on labels which you can stick on yourselves.  The front says Strength In Numbers BTC Bitcoin.  I have them as bare aluminum, and then anodized in several colors.

They are larger than my other coin products, but also lighter in weight in a rather obvious manner.  They are 1.5 inches in diameter.

I will have 80,000 of them.  They come in boxes of 5,000.  I am guessing there's a likely possibility I could sell them all.  I anticipate them retailing for no more than the equivalent of 0.50 USD each.

Ideally I would like to just sell them by the box to whoever might already be running a vendor booth there.  I don't see myself wanting to run around selling coin products, my reason for being there is to meet people and participate.

The purpose of this thread is to gather ideas and suggestions for how I might sell them.  Are you running a vendor booth and would you like to carry these?

Wait so you're selling 5000 for 0.5?  

Might not be a bad idea to list an auction on here or sell them to users of bitcointalk, would love to fill a swimming pool with those ;).

Very nice looking, I have to say that I prefer "Vires in Numeris"  over "strength in numbers" though.

Best of luck with the sales and have fun at the conference :)

Way cool.

Are you going to sell this in your website?

These are now available for ordering and are listed on my website.

I have also lowered my price for FedEx international shipping and added FedEx overnight shipping within the US, as I now have a FedEx account and am able to get more favorable rates.

But does it fit into supermarket carts?

No, no, no - NOT a swimming pool.

You want to build a big, square vault-like thing, with one huge coin mounted on one exterior wall.  Then you fill the vault with these coins and dive in - just like Uncle Scrooge.

Hmmm.  A Casascius coin, twenty feet in diameter.  How cool would that be?

It's not a liquid! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JG5p9TVIm9o)

It's a liquid if you're a duck.

That's the wrong duck test!

I heard a rumor these are going to start showing up in orders shipped from a well known Bitcoin store.

Oooo!  And I need a new motherboard for Qubes...

They were going to,  but somehow they got lost durring the final packing up from the convention.

:(

Personally I can't think of anything sillier then making 'physical' crypto-coins, it's just such a throwback, a person has to be a real metal-bug with no idea how cryptography works to even find the idea attractive.

I saw some Cassascius coins made of gold and silver and I wondered them.
However I consider making physical bitcoins of aluminum as a very bad idea, because it would create the impression that bitcoin is something of less value.
It should be at least made of brass. Even iron is much better than aluminum.
Aluminum is very harmful for the health and would create also the impression that bitcoins are also harmful.
http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/concerned-about-aluminum-dangers/
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780444508119500276
Aluminum exposure is causing Alzheimer and you will forget the passphrase for your brain wallet but of course they are more important health concerns also.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium#Health_concerns
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alzheimer%27s_disease#Prevention
Dementia is also a major risk by low levels of aluminum in the brain
http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=102

Nobody said you should eat them, smoke them or otherwise put them or parts of it into your body by other means.  ::)

That's disappointing. I wonder where that box ended up.

Inaba's new quarters.

Bought a couple of bags, time to fund them with 0.01 and hand them out to pretty much everyone.

Wow, this is so cool, I was literally just looking up how to do something like this. Headed to your website now.

Way ahead of you ...

https://i.imgur.com/8GLczmT.jpg?1

Those are private keys (minikey format) on the back. I initialed each one to give it a personal touch.

Anyone have a bag of these they'd be interested in selling.

They look very good! I just wish they said "Vires in numeris" like the brass coins :)

This is great to spread the word! In my next order to Casascius I will take them :)

In Spain we need hard work, since almost no one knows about Bitcoin.

I just ordered two bags, will be selling them in lots of 10. Will post link here when I finish the write-up :)

Very cool!

Mike: what is the gold coloured one in the above photo?

I have some of them that are colored (anodized) - gold, green, blue, purple, and red.  I only got a few bags of each color (though I got quite a few extras of the gold)

They cost a bit more to color though.  It's about 18 cents more a coin.  I got them in the hopes I could laser engrave on the back of them (the bare coins just reflect the laser off and it does nothing).  For those who the extra cost is worth it, they're available.

Mike: I've sent you an email about this - can I check you've got it as I want to append some of these to my order before you ship if that's ok.

Am I being responsive to you?  (I can't tell by your username if you're someone I"m talking to in e-mail)... Regardless I definitely can add these.

Also, I have them available in gold, blue, green, red, and purple.  The colored coins cost (at current prices) 1 additional BTC per bag (18 cents a coin - $90/bag of 500 = approx 1BTC at current rates).  Can mix and match colors.

Mike: yes got your mail thanks, just didn't want to miss you if you'd already posted out my order.

Mike: am I correct in thinking 80,000 of these aluminium coins were minted? If so how many where silver and how many of those blue, purple, gold, green and red?

These coins are still available at casascius website. I ordered some for my project and d*mn they are (still) very nice coins.

https://i.imgur.com/JqLDkUc.jpg

I'm not sure I understand the point of these coins. So you minted 80.000 pieces and sell them at 0.50$ for 5.000 pieces? Why? Do you even cover your manufacturing expenses?

Wow, it's great that these are still available! I had just assumed... not. Thanks for the post.

The (standard) alumuniums are sold out Mike told me. Only anodize versions are left, don't know how much and what color...

Can you tell if they shipped the aluminium Casascius coins with the stickers holograms? Or do you know somewhere to buy the stickers for this coins?

Coins only are shipped.

Sticker holograms you can find on ebay, just do a simple search: http://www.ebay.com/bhp/hologram-sticker

I have one aluminum blank with the indentation on the back, and one without. Wonder how many of each there are?

I opened the beginning of one roll, they all have an indentation. Three coins have an imperfection that looks like a "1" but I guess it has something to do with the anodizing process and is not intended.

https://i.imgur.com/AxqTWoF.jpg https://i.imgur.com/FEwohGy.jpg