Bitcoin Forum

https://en.bitcoin.it/w/images/en/thumb/7/7f/10_btc_silver_round_in_case.jpg/648px-10_btc_silver_round_in_case.jpg

https://en.bitcoin.it/w/images/en/thumb/0/06/10_btc_silver_round_reverse.jpg/636px-10_btc_silver_round_reverse.jpg

29 BTC
Comes with the gift box and capsule.  (Wondering how much interest there is WITHOUT the box - approx. 2 BTC savings - still would include the clear capsule).

This is a limited release at a limited price, available for immediate shipment.  There are only 40 of these as pictured.

The regular run of my 10 BTC Silver round has 24kt gold plating on the B so it stands out!  The factory is plating the B's on the rest of my order now and I'll have them next week - I picked up just the 40 to help make sure Christmas shoppers could get theirs in time.  The coin will cost about 4 BTC more with the complete gold B and I plan to stop selling the non-plated one when they run out.

This is so tempting. Must resist... diversifying... Bitcoins... into Silver...

*holds hand away from keyboard*

Awesome Mike!  I'm buying one right now...

This is beautiful.

these are cool, will make a nice gift! ordering a few

Very nice, might order a few.

Is the clear capsule sealed shut or just pressed together (and can be opened)?

I'd like to order one of these without the gift box, if that's possible.  I'm tempted to order now, but I'll wait until I hear back from you on skipping the gift box.

Thanks.

The clear capsule is not sealed shut.  They seem pretty good.  They aren't too difficult to open, but also seem like they will stay shut and not open very easily by accident.

To order without a gift box, just order, underpay by 2 BTC, and write in the notes NO GIFT BOX.

Heh. It's strange how the ounce of silver is worth about as much as the 10 BTC contained. But this time, it might not be like with the silver coins of the past -- the face value might totally dominate in the future. ;) Should Silver finish crashing, and Bitcoin prevail, maybe you'll make all the coins like that. When nobody needs silver for speculation anymore, it can still serve its classic purpose like that. ;D

BTW, no offense, but your marketing has gotten worse. The main casascius.com website is missing photos of:

• 25 BTC backside
• 1 BTC Series 2 hologram
• Gold plated bar
• Any of the coins' insides
• 10 BTC + 1 ounce silver round, both front and back
• Gift box included with the silver coin

But you have many of these photos! Put them on the site, lol!

IMO, you need a little info page with pictures for every product. And a few good pictures, with different lighting. It really should help selling them, don't make it look as if there are flaws to hide.

You are 100% right, I have been swamped with orders, and have neglected to take steps that would open the floodgates even more.  This is probably why MemoryDealers is selling a ton of this stuff - they are actively marketing it, and I am just passively accepting orders (and posting on the forums of course).  I think they blew through their first order of 10 gold bars in 1 or 2 days.  I do need to take some good photos of this stuff and post it, I agree.

As you can see, I am also getting away with charging an outrageous price.  I have to, just to keep it in stock.

Another thread suggests somebody should start doing this so that "Casascius" isn't the only game in town.  I sort of agree.  The demand for this stuff is hot enough I am practically inviting competition... The whole reason I did this was mainly to promote bitcoin and to prove it can be done... mission accomplished.  I just hope that any competition does the job right and doesn't have any scandals or cause Bitcoin any bruises or black eyes.  Anyone who wants to get in on the game and seriously has the capital and resources to do the job right is welcome to pick my brain for assistance.

it just .. gets .. better!

awesome job, Mike.

btw: was giving away 2 casascius coins and sold 3 at the conference. Demand was high, could've sold much more, but only took some. Too bad delivery to Prague didn't work out.

Europe is totally underserved.  Huge demand, but it's not as practical for Europeans to buy coins from me.

Someone who wanted to take a boatload of my coins to Europe would sell a ton (especially the higher value items) because people are apprehensive to order them straight from me, if they have to worry about customs, duty, and choosing between worrying about loss/theft versus paying for registered mail or premium shipping.  I notice that I sell far more larger value coins within the US than internationally.

Of course, someone in Europe could also just start making their own coins too, and they would have a market that resembles shooting fish in a barrel.

it would look much better if the hologram had silver-colorrs, too. Of course on the other hand: the price is already quite high, that would probably only add to it.

If I thought I was going to be doing silver when I ordered the holograms, I could have gotten silver ones at no charge.  But that's the price of making a spontaneous decision to do these.

Ordered mine earlier today, can't wait to get it! Thanks!

Ok, thanks!

Ah. Well, you can't foresee everything, otherwise it'd be too easy, right?

If you're already selling these faster than you can make them, and have to bump the price up in order to keep the sales in check; does it make financial sense for you to sell a large amount to some European reseller?

Selling faster than I can make them on 1 BTC coins.  But mailing 1 BTC coins to Europe is minimal risk, they just aren't worth that much.

A European reseller would do well to resell my 25 BTC coins and up.  Their bigger value means I don't have to make as many, which keeps the premium down.  These are also what would be most frightening to buyers to lose in the mail.  A large quantity of them would also make the most sense to send using premium shipping just to make sure they arrive - the cost per piece would be minimized.

I imagine that if someone had bought fifty 25 BTC coins and took them to Prague, they would have sold every one of them at or above the prices on my website, and made a nice little profit as well because I would have given a discount.  Even now that the conference is over, I expect there are probably many potential European buyers who are simply not buying from me due to the shipping cost or the increased potential for loss/theft/customs hassle.

Ok, I've decided I can do a GOLD COIN too.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=53569

Received my 2 silver coins today. They look awesome.

But wow the first-bits are hard to ready that small.

must ... not ... fap ...

sir, what's your premium over spot?
are you willing to ship to europe?
p&p?

- I do not need the box (just air capsule is OK)
- I do not need the bitcoins (just the silver round is OK)
but swapping bitcoins is OK, be my laundry ;)
- I do not need to get them on time for X-mess

what's the available number of silver 10 btc rounds?
(PM is ok) - I'm thinking abut 5-10-15 pcs to buy, depending on the premiun

Holy Crap!

It's, it's... It's Beautiful!
https://i.imgur.com/Sl9qLl.jpg

Got a couple of these this week, very nice.  When are the ones with the gold plated B available?

Looks like a great product.

Do want

me too. but he's not responding to shipping price inquiries.
looks like they are not available at memory dealers (or any other partner shop) but only at his home page, the 29 btc price did not changed since a long time (seems fixed) and I want them badly

I recently lowered the prices to account for the BTC exchange rate.

How much would it cost to have it shipped to europe?

Without the gift box, it's just like any other coin.  (this is perhaps a preferable way to ship as well, as it will fit in CD mailers, possibly less subject to customs scrutiny).  Asking for no gift box (in the notes) gives you a 1.5 BTC discount.

With the gift box, it costs the equivalent of about $15 to ship between 1 and 6 coins.  At 6 coins, the flat rate box is full.

How do these things "work"?  I mean, so let's say I was to use this as money.  So I find someone who's willing to exchange something in return for this 10BTC coin.  So the embedded key is tied to what wallet?  I mean someone somewhere created the wallet that has the key.  If the person who takes my coin decides to transfer those 10BTC to their wallet, how do they do it? 
 
I mean I know it's cool to know that that 10BTC coin is backed by actual 10BTC, and maybe that user would perpetuate that coin.  It's cool that the key can be verified so you know you're getting 10BTC worth or not.
 
This has probably been asked/answered elsewhere, so I'm sorry if so. :)
 

Think of it this way: The coin has a paper wallet inside it.

There isn't a corresponding wallet file.  The code inside the coin is what allows the original wallet file to be regenerated.  Without the code in the coin, the bitcoins are otherwise effectively lost and unusable.

A custom program I wrote was used to generate single-use wallets for the purpose of making these coins.

(apologies if this info is on your website, but I'm at work and haven't found it yet)
 
How does one go about using the codes to make a wallet?  Like let's say I am given a coin, and and (pretend I'm a user who's never used bit coins before) install the bit coin client, and I now have a newly made (albeit 0 balance) wallet on my computer.  So I then decide to put the 10BTC from the coin into my newly created wallet... how would I do this?
 
(or is there a link to an existing thread or on your site to keep duplication down?)

I'm asking because I have a couple friends who might get into bit coins, but don't yet see the inherent value... if I presented them with a coin with real "value", it might pique their interest.  :)

There are utilities that can do it (e.g. pywallet), but the most user friendly way is to just go to MtGox -> Add Funds -> Redeem Private Key, type in the code, let Gox do it for you, and then withdraw the balance to the destination of your choice.  Only drawback is you have to wait for 6 confirmations before being allowed to withdraw.  And it goes against your daily withdrawal limit (though for 10 BTC that is not really a big deal)

Tonto I think your complicting the idea here. I gave a couple of these out and showed the user the balance can be viewed anytime on blockexplorer with the visible first bits, but can't be spent off the coin without peeling the tamper evident hologram to reveal the private key. So as long as the hologram is intact you can be sure the balance is still on any coin given or received.  Personally I don't think the silver rounds are the best coins to be opening.

Casascious I'm looking to get a few more of these and see the price has been adjusted but you now have 2 box prices in this thread (2 and 1.5). How much should I take off when ordering with no box?

That's sexy.

Take off 1.5. It's $6 you are taking off, bitcoin was $3 not too long ago which is why it was 2 and is now 1.5.

Ok I figured it out using one of my keys on block explorer (just using the first few bits of one I had).  Thanks!   ;D

Casascius:
 
If/when (hopefully) bit coins increase in value to the point where it makes sense to cover the manufacturing costs, would you consider making .1 BTC coins (or .5 or whatever smaller denomination)?  It would be cool to have things like this in circulation and not just a sweet display piece. :) 
 
Hopefully at some point bit coins will be worth $100 or more each, but then buying a 1BTC coin to give to someone would hurt the wallet a little more. :)

Now while I do have 2 of these coins, I can't really consider the btc on them secure. There's no way to guarantee that the private key on the coin is not also duplicated any where else. If I could send you an encrypted private key to store on the coin, then I would feel safe in using the coins as a permanent wallet.