Bitcoin Forum

I request offers and/or annoucements of interest in buying 1 btc brass Casascius coin with typing error in hologram. The coin is in good condition and has no scratches, altough I haven't stored it the whole time in isolation but touched it some times by hand. I am the first actual owner after buyng the coin in 2012 from a local wholesaler.

The coin has never been opened and has its value of 1 btc loaded. According to Uberbills, the coin is created in 2012 even though the face of the coin reads 2011. Both the coin and I are located in Finland.

This is not an auction. I tried auctioning earlier on this forum and unfortunately couldn't come to an agreement about shipping and payment methods with the highest bidder. Instead of auction I ask for offers starting at 1,5 BTC or the equivalent in euros or USD.

I reserve the right to decline or accept none or whichever offer at my discretion.

My preferred order of method of delivering the coin is 1) face to face or 2) using an well-known established institution such as traditional bank for example as an escrow. Other methods for delivery may be negotiated as well if needed.

For price of 2 BTC I'm interested in closing the deal as soon as mutually agreeable method of delivery and payment is found.

Otherwise I will be asking for offers until end of this week, meaning Sunday 10th September 21.00 East European Summer Time or 19.00 British Summer Time.

All of your questions and comments are welcome.

Photo https://cdn.pbrd.co/images/GJa7Zaa.jpg

How exactly would you use a traditional bank as an escrow?

Thanks for your question.

It needs to be taken into account that I don't know yet where a possible buyer might be located or which banks there might be situated. Nevertheless, I would ask for something like safety deposit box in a bank where the buyer is located. Buyer could see the coin in advance. if the buyer is satisfied, s/he should transfer the money to seller via the same bank and then the ownership of the coin would change to the buyer.

Something like that. Never done anything like that before but could be worth finding out.

Luckily got to answer your question quickly.

Unfortunately I have to apologize that immediate answer might not be always the case. Sometimes it can be that I can't reply even the same day. I try though my best to check in frequently.

Man, you're just insane. Do us and yourself a favor already and peel the damn thing, as you are never going to sell it here with such ridiculous bs terms.  ::)

Edit - have you tried selling it in the local Finland sub section of the forum?

Ok, i'll play along. So where do you live? Given that you're going against the well established and rarely (if ever) violated trading policies established for these coins on this forum, I'll assume that you're willing to travel to the buyer to conduct the in-person formality of the exchange.

Actually, if you're requiring that the buyer meet with you in person, what's the point of escrow again?

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We need to see a good picture of the hologram side too. We'll need to be able to ensure:

(1) The hologram is intact,
(2) Check the first bits (ourselves) for verification of the funded amount, and
(3) I always forget this one - verify that this is in fact an error coin

For anyone wanting to deal with this seller, please note that he doesn't accept any of the in this community commonly accepted payment and shipping methods. As the highest bidder I can confirm that he didn't want to use minerjones as an escrow because minerjones is, and I quote "eagerly recommended by the members of the forum". ::)

Would hate to see someone loosing his precious time on this. 

Thanks for your straightforward feedback. It's good to realize that this strongly divides people's opinions. Even though might be that I'm alone on the one side.

Oh, that's a good tip about Finnish sub section. I wasn't aware of that, need to check it out. (Though I would guess if I as a new user found this section, other Finns probably will do as well).

I live in Finland, as told in the original post. I rather fly to eg. continental Europe or Scandinavia than send an unopened Casascius coin to a stranger from the Internet.

In case of meeting in person, there's apparently no obligatory need for an escrow.

But instead, if the only interested buyer would come from say, US, I would prefer a traditional bank if it would seem to work out well.

Many thanks for the three requirements.

1) For the first one, there's already a picture on the original auction thread https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1955202.0

2) I'll provide this opportunity to a trusted buyer candidate with the condition that if this and all the other prerequisites are met, the deal will happen.

3) Is it enough that you can see it on the photo linked to the thread above?

 Hope these thoughts will alleviate your doubts.

If you were a newbie, and there were thousands of strange anonymous people in front of you, would you give your money to one that a few tell to be absolutely trustworthy?

It has surprised me how strong community spirit there is on this forum.

Don't get me wrong, but because I'm cautious and suspicous person, strong recommendations for one user to act as possible escrow got me alerted instead of feeling secure. Could that be for something the users of forum could learn from?

It's almost too good to find out that there's an online community where people help make money and help each other out doing something that's kind of like a hobby or something as enjoyable (well many might be total professionals as well). It could be like this and that would be a perfect situation, but I would need to follow the forum and its users for months to come to such conclusion and be sure about it.

As a less-than-active forum member who checks in only from time-to-time...  I used MinerJones as escrow (at the recommendation of the seller no less) for a recent purchase based solely on his reputation/trust feedback.  It would be quite the ruse for an entire forum to back MJ's service if it were the least bit scammy.  MJ makes decent commission when all the deals add up... It would be a detriment and risk to himself to abscond with forum member funds.  Why shoot a cash cow when you can keep on milking for eternity?  Everything went smoothly and I'll be using his services again soon.

Though I appreciate and respect a certain level of caution, recognize that MJ has more to risk than gain by stealing funds. People send him physicals for escrow/reasons... meaning he's able to be relatively located... Years of service to gain his reputation that now nets him who knows how much yearly.  It's illogical to let all that business to fall to a competitor for a heist of 1.5 - 2 btc.

Further, perhaps the new buyer wouldn't want to be physically identifiable. I'd rather send btc via net than out myself as a holder with coins to spend in the public eye.  There's cautious and then there's full on paranoid. Deals of magnitudes higher value occur regularly. Just escrow it man.

Tip for OP: It is best to handle valuable collectable coins with gloves.

Thanks for solid reasoning. Your argument is valid and I don't have anything to dispute.

That's true.

If the mistake has already happened, I prefer not to try cover it up. Would be a frustrating fly to another country if the buyer declined only on basis that the coin is not shiny as mirror any more.

Unfortunately I don't know yet if the idea would work at all. Remains to be found out.

You're definitely right that banks probably take higher fees for such services. Hopefully I can find a buyer for face-to-face deal.

That's a good question as well. Might depend on the bank as well.

Oh, would you have shared this with us if I hadn't asked? You're burying the lead by not sharing a picture of the hologram, doing so keeps potential buyers moving on to another thread selling the same coin (there's an auction for the same type of coin going on right now  on this board!)

I suppose this is fair, but you'll get more serious offers if people can look at your coin and see that it is of a quality that meets the buyers interests.

I guess. But why make the people you need to complete your sale go through so much effort to want to make an offer?

Only because I don't honestly know how to handle all the details and make everything go smooth. I actually am quite sorry for that.

I appreciate all of you guys trying to actually help despite the amount of frustration you might have felt.

The only thing there that worries me is the leap of faith part. I guess I ask my insurance company and/or post or courier services like UPS or the kind if they offer full coverage for shipping valuables.

Thanks for your patience!

Just a quick update. I'm surprised, my own insurance company denied insuring bitcoins and UPS denied transporting "personal items, such as collections".
Too bad. I try to ask from a couple of another companies next week.

This almost seems like the same user as the Yoandy10 user name, comes off all sincere, acts like they know nothing to try to make a score IMO

See! You too doubt my honesty! Just like I suspect somebody who everybody else recommends as the most trustworthy choice for escrow!

I think it's just reasonable not to send considerable amount of money to a unknown stranger in the Internet!

But moving on from repeating myself, isn't the important question what can be learned here?

Can this community elaborate a risk-free escrow method for trading valuable physical items.

It might turn out already in Monday that I find an insurance company and/or and delivery company that carries these things insured.

That could be a way I could send the coin to an escrow user.

(And note: I first tried to auction the coin in June, now I have around three months of experience of this forum and of some of its users. I have more knowledge to estimate the risk. Saying that I'm not as totally skeptical about using an escrow as I was three months ago)

No worries, friend. In the future if you need help you should just ask one of us. A lot of us would be happy to help you set up a sale thread - we could give you the text and formatting for you to literally copy and paste into a thread.

It's a pretty helpful bunch here (most of us). Some of us are curmudgeons.

Thanks HabBear for the good words and help offer, I appreciate it.
(Thanks for also teaching new English word).

Thanks HabBear for also mentioning earlier the other similar for sale thread. I would have otherwise missed it.


Seems like right value for these coins vary between 1,5-2,1 BTC.

Unfortunately I haven't got any offers for this one. Could be partly because the seller is a newbie member. It might also affect significantly that I have different kinds of terms than what is customary.

I try to find out tomorrow if there's a delivery company who carries these coins insured.

If so, I could make a sale for 1,7 btc if anybody is interested.

Otherwise I'll probably end this thread and let it be for undefined time.

It is because your terms of trade are too complicated.

The better way:  Buyer sends btc to escrow.  You send physical coin to escrow.  Escrow sends you btc upon receipt of coin and sends coin on to buyer.

Thanks Lesbian Cow and congratulations for one of the perkiest usernames here :)

I start slowly to accept that the public opinion is on that side and I might have to review mine.

Damm, so much drama here  :D

I was a bit late today trying to find out about possibilites for insurance.  When I reached customer service for a home insurance company, they didn't have their back office any more open so they promised to get back to me tomorrow.

Practically same thing for another courier company, need to contact their customer service tomorrow again.

Turns out it's much more complicated than I had thought to get a Casascius coin insured when it is sent abroad.

I inquired about personal / home insurance and transport insurance for businesses. It is possible to get the insurance but depends for example on recipient's country.  Home insurance didn't cover valuable collectibles if they are sent abroad for sale. Luckily I'm an entrepreneur and can take the insurance for my company as well.

Seems that it could be even possible to take double insurance. For courier companies, DHL is probably the only one I know of that offers coverage for collectibles. In addition, one of the big bank/insurance companies offers additional insurance for items one sends via courier company.

So, next step would be to know the country of recipient.

I took today a little time to browse this Marketplace subforum for a little longer. Seems that there are lots of uncertainity and many different practices for terms of sales .

I would suggest the users joined together for writing down the best practices to minimize risks for both parts of a deal - an escrow included.

I think you should offer worldwide hand-delivery.  ;)

Yes  I actually do, but only for you, my friend, and for the special price of 2,5 btc. Where shall we meet? ;)