Bitcoin Forum

The solid gold Titan One coins are here.

It was worth the wait, because these are really beautiful coins.  The depth of relief on these is higher than our other coins and I've gotten some extremely positive feedback from gold dealers and industry leading coin collectors on the quality of these pieces.  

https://www.titanbtc.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Titan_One_Gold_Front_1600.jpg

While we can't make any guarantees, we are conservatively suggesting that they will grade at MS66 or better (for those are numismatically inclined.)   These coins are all assembled with private keys underneath the hologram (Casascius style).  

https://www.titanbtc.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Titan_One_Gold_Back_1600.jpg

We're happy to accept BTC or wire transfer as payment.  These won't be available on our website until we've replaced our current merchant account provider with another one that isn't evil...so this is a bitcointalk exclusive right now.  If you've bought from us before, you know that we add a fixed dollar premium over the current spot.  

These coins are priced as follows.   Spot price of gold  +  Spot price of BTC (bitstamp)  +  $475.  
At the moment, that's BTC 3.76 per coin (includes shipping and insurance within the U.S.) and we'll adjust the price for each order as the market changes.

Shipping gold overseas is way more complex than you might imagine, so please reach out if you want them shipped internationally.

These are extremely limited edition coins.  The production of this batch took over 6 months and almost a dozen iterations to get to the level of quality we demand out of such a high value coin. 27 have been sold so far and we have 99 remaining in the current batch.  The edition is limited to 1,000 coins this year, but given how long they are taking to produce, I would be surprised if we're able to make more than a few hundred in 2014.  If you were on the email list for these coins, we'll honor your place in the queue regarding low serial numbers.  Just PM me.


Email sales@titanbtc.com with your shipping info, or PM me here to purchase.  

Thanks for being an awesomely supportive, guys.  I've met a lot of you at different events and I continue to be impressed by the caliber of people that count themselves members of this community.  



  

Oh.  We'll throw in an awesome bitcoin propaganda poster for free as well.  Just ask.

https://www.titanbtc.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Onward_To_Victory_sm.jpg

I love it that you're making gold coins, because I love gold, but the design is just horrible. I don't want a human on my coin. I like the BTC logo on the coins like Mike's designs. 

I personally love the look of these, and think they look like some of the most professional designs out there.

That said, I would have preferred the front of this gold piece to have a different design than the current alloy goldline.

I'd love to get this piece, but the price of gold and markup makes it a little pricey for me.  

Any thoughts about making a 1/2 ounce gold in the future?  Only issue is the diameter may be really small.

Fair enough  ;)  We're catering to a crowd that likes a high-quality product.  I have some of Mike's coins and I'm a big fan of his, so there's no love lost for Casascius.  I will say though, that you seem to be in the minority.  

The "human" is a symbol of the warrior spirit that the members of the bitcoin community have exhibited as they have pushed bitcoin onward towards global acceptance.  The letter B just doesn't quite communicate that as elegantly as we desired.

The gold on these is already thin enough that it cause production problems for a deep relief coin, so 1/2 oz would definitely need to be smaller diameter.  When we started production on these, BTC was in the $900-$1,000 range, so the cost was closer to a 50/50 split between gold and BTC value which is what I'd prefer.  If the price of BTC stays down around $600, a 1/2 oz coin makes a lot of sense and we'll look into it.

The premium is high, but I can honestly guarantee based on our past experience that you will recover that premium and more when you resell the coin later.

What is the diameter of these coins?  Any plans to venture into a platinum coin?

These are 34 mm in diameter.  Just slightly larger than a 1 oz gold buffalo coin.

Platinum is definitely on our to do list, we've just been slowed down by our partners that produce the precious metal blanks for us. 

I have had one of these for a while now...beautiful coin for sure.  If you guys make a platinum I will buy that too!

Thanks Blazed.  I'm biased of course, but I think these are stunning.

Glad you like it!

I have #26 and mine has a small scratch on the face.  I can take pictures if you like.
 
Just a quick edit.  I think I should note that I'm not interested in returning my current coin, it's beautiful even with a scratch and I love it.  But if the option is there to buy another that's cleaner, I'd explore that too.

I love the idea of a dual gold-bitcoin investment.  I really wish Mike made some solid-gold coins that didn't stash 1000BTC.

What kind of air-tight case do these ship in?  Can you show me a picture of you holding the front/back?  I'd like to see a real-life picture. 

These come in H-sized air-tite cases.  The size is just about the same as our copper-alloy 1 BTC coins.  You can see a picture of one of those in hand here:  https://www.titanbtc.com/product/titan-one-gold/

Does it look like something that might have happened in transit?  

We don't have the capacity to produce truly proof grade coins, as the production facility doesn't have the handling procedures in place to maintain proof-grade, but we try to get as close as possible.

I'd like to replace it if it has a problem.  

Please do send a photo.  Tim@titanbtc.com

Wow beautiful coin as always. And this is the first time for a solid physical gold bitcoin. Are those pictures of the actual coin, or is it a render? I can see some flaws around the edges of the coin, so I'm guessing that's a high res shot of the real deal. I would love to have one, but the premium is higher than popular proof gold coins.

Actually Casascius already did a 1oz solid coin gold loaded with 1000BTC

sexy ass shots.  i love the gold. so fucking cool.

someone needs to make gold plated coins.

gold plated... solid gold or GTFO

Also Titan I own at least 1 of every coin you have made..and I do not have the fancy poster  :-\

That's a high resolution shot of the coin.  We actually have to stitch a number of photos together to get everything in focus at that magnification.  Once the photo is stitched together, it get's a bit of retouching to remove dust and the odd reflections that show up under really bright lighting, but that's the coin.    

When you're buying proof coins of something like a 1 oz. krugerrand, the mint that produces them is typically also refining the gold or owns a partnership with a refinery operating at a volume of billions of dollars worth of throughput.  They are getting their gold significantly below spot value.

Since we're working on a much smaller scale our cost is much higher.  There is a margin built into that premium to allow for discounts for resellers and customers buying in quantity, but we're not trying to gouge anyone on the prices.  As such, you can expect to maintain that premium when you resell the coin.  

We're considering acting as market makers for this coin, buying them back on request to ensure that reselling them is easy for our customers.  
I don't expect many people will take us up on that though, because our other coins typically sell for a healthy markup when resold on craigslist or eBay.

Dude.  PM me your address and I'll mail one out.  Or a few.  We give them away at the bitcoin conventions we attend.

Never realized that the poster looks similar to the cryptolator design with the bank crumbling and people running from it.  Hmmm

Ha.  I hadn't made that connection, but you're right.  They do share some similarities. 

We commissioned that poster to be done by a graphic-novel/comic book artist who is a friend of mine.  He's going to be doing a few others for us, all around the style of 1930s-1940s propaganda posters.  I'll make sure we don't have anymore fleeing bankers.  ;)

You guys going to be at btcchicago on the 19th?  If so I will swing by and grab a poster for sure!

Following

We probably won't be there in Chicago, because I personally can't be there, but I'm considering having a booth at the show anyway.  We're working out the details now. 

A friend just forwarded this on to me and told me to check it out...

GOOD LORD that is sexy.

I have the weirdest bitcoin boner right now.

lolz. gold is sexy. if that gave you a boner, this will giver you an orgasam: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=54845.0

I was about to join in here.  But I'm gonna take the high road.

What karat gold is it?

Says .999 pure gold on the back. That's 24k.

Thanks.  I was looking for a karat and completely ignored the .999...  I should've known better...

You don't even need to look at the back of the coin. The title says 999. And typically all modern coins are pure gold. The only time you really see mixture with other alloys is in jewelry.

It could be a lie too! Ya never know. I've bought gold plated shit before I thought was real. :)

This coin seems to shine like the american eagle gold coins.  Not like the fine .9999 buffalo coins. Thank god it isn't as ugly as the south african coins with a copper tone.

Love the coin. Great design and great job.

I have >1 of each of the coins.

Even though the pictures are of high quality, it's more amazing when it's actually in your hand.  They are beautiful.

It's great to be able to pay with bitcoin as well.

Just a note here....
Coins have not been handled by hands.  Titan mint does have them in airtights.  And, the black felt bags.  And certificates of authenticity.

I REALLY like the idea of a Human on the face instead of the bland B (even if the B is in gold).  Everyone making a coin with simply a B is simply a copy/clone.

I do agree that the GOLD coin should be/have been different than the Goldine/alloy coin.  This leaves room for a change or second series (which in turn will lift the value of rarity if the face changes in another series).  wink.

Several of Titan coins have been sent in to ANACS and graded at MS67.  (Keep in mind that anacs is great not only for the grade, but the sealed slab (sealed by date).

I would like to see a .5oz version (diff face).   How about a brass (meh) or Silver 5BTC coin?

Damn, those coins look beautiful.

Great idea, I would buy it if it wasn't that expensive - silver coins sound cool, or maybe a 10g gold coin.

Design looks amazing as well.

Thanks for the feedback, Michail.  The pictures definitely do not do the coin justice.

I've been hearing the request for a 1/2 oz. gold coin quite a bit.  We'll start looking into sizing and design.

5 BTC coins are coming and will be minted in a 1 oz. Gold and 1 oz. Silver version. 

No love for the krugerrand?  ;)

I've held the Gold Buffalo alongside these coins and, while I am biased, I would say that these Titans have a brighter shine.  We etch the dies on the sculpted areas, which is what produces the fine grain you see in those closeups.  This texture really catches the light. 

It's very labor intensive to get this finish right, but it adds a nice contrast that you just won't get in high production coins like the Buffalo or the American Eagle.

The purity is probably 9999+ fine, but there's a big difference between hitting that mark most of the time and legally certifying the assay as such.  

The gold for these coins is refined using the same process as the mints that are claiming 9999 on their coins.  However, we could literally be sued for fraud if one of these coins tested at 9998 purity and we were claiming four nines.   We talked it over with the refinery/Mint and decided to stick with 3 nines, just to be safe.  

The bottom-line is that these are as pure of a gold product as you can get using modern methods.

Thanks!  It's a labor of love.

Many modern gold coins including the American Eagle and the Kruggerand are not pure gold.

Well, since you brought up the Buffalo....
Basically, personally, I see the Titan being of far better quality than the US coin.  I only even bought 1 Buffalo, but never again.  I would rather have a regular Eagle over a Buffalo.

I would happily trade in my Buffalo for a Titan Gold.   Anyone?
This goes for a redeemed coin as well. 

I have the 2013 reverse proof buffalo PCGS PR70 Chicago ANA release and that coin is so much hotter it's not even close.

So, you're comparing a PR70 proof coin?  Umm, ok.
Want to trade me for my Buffalo (not proof, not graded) coin for a Titan Gold?  If so, I will happily pay shipping around and escrow fees.

I don't own any Titan Gold coins or any other buffaloes beside my reverse proof. I think the Titan Gold are great looking as well but the buffalo is an iconic design which has been around for 101 years.

Some element of this artwork remind me of something, just can't put my finger on........ :P

That's what I said earlier.  Great minds think alike.

Someone else just PM'ed and asked if we copied the poster design from cryptolator.  Just to be clear, the artwork was done and we were giving these posters out at BTC conferences before the cryptolator coins were released. 

I'm sure this was just creative minds thinking alike.

The buffalo is a great looking coin design.  No argument here.  I was just talking about the finish. 

If you hold a proof grade buffalo next to one of the Titan coins, you'll see that the texture on these provides a higher contrast that makes the Titan appear "brighter".  From what I've been told, this texturing isn't something that can be done on high-production coins like the buffalo because the dies wear down too quickly.

Haha, it's ok, It's just funny !

My design was made back in Janurary (Infact, the first drawing that I made date from December 2013) and I was not aware of this ;)

My next design will be completly different tho ! :)

Good job on your coins BTW !

Hence the key word "typically". If you compare all modern world coins from all country's mint, they're 999 gold. Americans are always the odd ball when it comes to standardizing, such as inches/foot and pounds/ounces.

How do you arrive at the $475 premium? That's a nearly 25% mark-up

The premium is calculated at about the break even point for this batch of 100, and includes the average cost of shipping and insurance, as well as a small percentage margin for coin dealers that are reselling these. 

We sold an initial run of 25 coins at a premium of $450 and ended up losing money, but we were also able to lower production costs by making 100 coins at a time for this batch.

Hopefully we'll be able to make more than 100 in 2014 and turn a profit on this product, but I'm mainly just happy to be able to bring them to market.

As an aside, we're actively looking for U.S. mints that do high quality gold coin production and if we can lower costs, we will absolutely lower the premium.

OK...I think I'm close to being able to buy one of these.  I'm positive that these will be worth a ton in the future. 

Is there anyway I can pay in two installments to lock in a low serial number?  Do you have any for sale that have been graded by PCGS? 

PCGS or NGC won't grade these coins because they're not legal tender anywhere. However, you can get ANACS to grade them, as they're considered as "medallions".

PM me here or email me at Tim@titanbtc.com and we'll work with you.  We will have some ANACS graded coins (either MS69 or MS70) available in a couple weeks.

Beautiful coins! Sent you a PM. :)

Any idea on the price for those?  I may hold off and go for one of those.  And will they be numbered in the first 100?

Grading costs about $75 per coin once you factor in insurance and shipping both ways (when we're grading a batch of 5-10 coins at a time).  With the exception of coins that come back as MS-70, we'll just add our cost of grading to the price for the coins.  I'm not sure what kind of premium the MS-70 coins should go for, but we'd much rather that our customers make good money reselling them.  Any ideas?

As an aside...we don't usually do grading ourselves, but we're giving it a shot using a few coins to give us a better idea of what customers can expect when they're sending these in to be graded.

The graded coins are all in the first 100 production numbers.

 

If you paid for a coin with 3.76 BTC and never confirmed payment with me, please email me at tim@titanbtc.com. 

We would love to ship your coin but we don't have your mailing address. 

I wonder how many replies your gonna get claiming this !!  ;D

I will be the first to claim it  ;)

First come first served ?

(Seriously though, I will PM you, about actually getting one)

MN

Ask the person to sign with their address hey!

Yeah, I was just going to send them a random transaction and have them send it back to confirm they have access to the address that it came from.  Honestly, I've never run into this particular problem before and I've messaged everyone that I thought it could be with no response.

They look bloody gorgeous.

You mention overseas shipping can be complicated, what sort of price would it be to ship to the UK with insurance? It would be for 1 or 2 coins.

 

Are these graded coins private key included versions or 2-factor?

I think the gold is/was only available in PK. (currently)

Wow, that is one beautiful coin!

You have a choice when you order.

I thought you were talking about the current batch (Gold).

The OP said.....
"These coins are all assembled with private keys underneath the hologram "


And, you CAN'T currently order on the website. 

"You cannot add "Titan One Gold" to the cart because the product is out of stock."

 
You are correct.  I had a choice when I ordered.

What stops any of them from doing it?  Don't think for a second that no one thinks about this.

OMG that is one sexy freaking coin.  One of these days - oh yes, one of these days :)

The barcode is supposed to be scanned.  

Each coin has a unique webpage that shows its funding state, authenticity, address and current value.  Scanning that barcode will pull up that page so that someone that might not be familiar with these coins can learn more without have to know about bitcoins or understand how to look up the coins address and verify its value at blockchain.info.  

All of the sensitive information is underneath the hologram. :)

Shipping to the UK is an extra $60 for 1 coin.  If we're sending 2 coins, we'll lower the shipping price to $50 for the pair.  That's for Global Express Guaranteed service, which is 2-3 days fro the U.S. to UK. with full tracking.

Shipping gold internationally is definitely complicated.  Some countries don't even allow gold to be imported without a government licensed dealer involved.  The U.K. isn't too bad though. 

TitanBTC, I just saw your ad on a free doge coin site at http://freedog.co.in/?r-411000 (http://freedog.co.in/?r-411000), it looks slick!

It's a perfect ad placement on the mobile app view I saw it on and the picture definitely makes it look like "the premiere" bitcoin physical storage option.

Well done!

Thanks Possum!

This is good to know. Sucks that is the case.

Are these still for sale?

Very nice!! I really like the design guys!!

reserved

I was shocked at how many enormous coin dealers in the U.S. refuse to ship internationally.  I talked to a guy recently that does around $50MM in annual coin and bullion sales, and he was basically like "we just don't wanna deal with it".

I'm certainly not an expert, but the E.U. in general is supposed to have standardized rules on importing gold specifically.  If you can prove that an item is investment grade bullion it should be exempt from VAT. 

However, where the rubber hits the road is that the customs department in E.U. countries seem to be authorized to make "judgement calls" on whether an item qualifies as investment gold.  We've seen it go both ways depending on who's working the desk that day.   

Yes.  These are still for sale and can ship same day.

Sorry I haven't been more active on the forums lately.  Had to take care of some family.

 

Leave you're family behind and produce more gold coins, mate.  What can they offer you that gold can't?

It's so precious. 

my precious.

$50 off for forum members until August 1.   We need to move a few more of these before July comes to a close. 

We can offer quantities discounts as well.  PM me for more info.

Not sure how to respond to that...

...we don't endorse "Lord of the Rings" references.  I'm sorry.

Have you received the graded coins from ANACS yet?  What is the lowest number available?

We don't have the graded coins back yet.  The $50 discount is for ungraded coins.

I will definitely post here when we've got the coins back from ANACS. 

How many did you send in for grading?

A total of 7 coins were sent in for grading.  3 of them were selected as "the best" out of a dozen that we picked at random.   4 of them are examples of what I subjectively identified as different levels of quality from the total batch of 100 (I did that so we can give customers a more realistic estimate of what these coins will grade at).

It bears repeating that we don't really want to be in the grading business.  I'm most interested in our customers making money, so I'd prefer to sell coins that customers can add value to by doing the grading themselves.

Hey Friends,

We have 4 ANACS graded coins here, now, ready to ship.  These are available on a first come, first served basis.  

These were classified by ANACS as proof grade quality coins, which is fairly rare for our production runs.  All of them are graded at PF67.  

https://www.titanbtc.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Front.jpg

https://www.titanbtc.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/back.jpg

Here's the web link for a few higher res pictures:  https://www.titanbtc.com/product/titan-one-gold/

These particular coins were pre-sold, but never left our shop and are now for sale again.  They will ship from our location in California with a numbered certificate of authenticity (production numbers are 40,41, 45, and 46.)  As always, we cover shipping and insurance for gold coins within the U.S.    

The current price, as of this moment is $2,109.00 ($1199 spot gold + $345 spot BTC + $475 Production costs + $75 grading service costs)  That price will float based on current market prices for gold and BTC.  Customers outside the U.S. should add $50 to the price for FedEx International Express service to ensure that you have adequate tracking info and insurance.

If you're just hearing about Titan Bitcoins for the first time, these are similar to Casascius coins, only made in very limited edition.  The private key for the BTC that comes with these coins is sealed underneath the tamper-proof security hologram on the back of the coin. These Private Keys are printed on permanently offline, "air-gapped" computers and printers.  Immediately afterward, all digital traces of the private keys are securely deleted.  Each coin has a unique webpage that tracks it's value in realtime, so that you can verify funding state and authenticity by simply scanning the barcode on the back of the coin.

While we do also offer 2-factor authentication for other Titan Bitcoins (cold-storage wallets for which are kept in our insured safe deposit boxes), these particular gold coins all include a private key on the coin, underneath the hologram.

Bitcoin is always preferred for payment, but we're happy to accept USD in the form of cashier's checks and wire-transfers, as well as cash or check deposits at any Chase Bank location.   PM me for banking details if you need them.

And thanks again for all your support guys!

The design looks beautiful to me. Considering to order one..

I'm glad you like it!

The Gold Market is in the process of taking a huge dump, so the price is lower now by about $35.  Just PM me for a fresh quote or email sales@titanbtc.com.

I just received the coins I ordered from Titan and I have to say, they are the most beautiful coins I own...  they look so professional and I really like the QR code on the back.  It adds a nice touch.  I bought a Titan One and a Titan Half.  Both are now my favorite coins.  The size and thickness are perfect.  Shipping was fast and coins were promptly funded. 

Oh man, love seeing this thread bumped to see those pictures of such a beautiful coin again. So nice & classy I would say these will be like the 2nd round of the Casascius coin market in the future. No way I could get a solid gold Titan right now, but I will someday. I've been consolidating my extra wealth into physical cryptos & PM bullion lately, and have been loving it. Still need to add a Titan to my collection badly, will check out the site now. Titan BTC were the first physical bitcoins that made my jaw drop and made me start getting really into physical crypto coins.

Oh, and Congratulations on the PF-67 grade! Nice work indeed!