So, all this was a scam. Feel bad for tee. He/she worked hard on colllecting all 9 coins.
Do not feel sorry for me. I had almost all of the information when I took on this adventure of acquiring all nine coins (besides most of the recent detective work done by hilariousetc). This collection was never about finding a 5000
BTC treasure.. that was almost immediately wiped off the table through blockchain analysis and the search for 1000 transactions of exactly 5
BTC each (+ remaining at their load destination) through the time period of creation of WoodCollector's tale and months prior.
Would it have been nice? Fuck yea. Did I expect it? No.
This was about challenging myself to find all of the coins while meeting interesting people throughout the process. With the recent passing of TECSHARE, the original owner of
Coin 9, it goes to show how easily this collection could have remained broken and incomplete. Hardly any of these coins were ever put up for sale after their initial offering from WoodCollector. I reached out to each person individually and created relationships and trust while including each of them in their own way into being a further part in this tale. I'd say through this adventure I made my first "friends" in the world of bitcoin. Information was shared, laughs were had, promises were made and nothing will ever take any of that away. Some were excited to take the journey with me, while others were just happy to quell the burn they faced from the WoodCollector fiasco.
I always did wonder how somebody could create such a tale and persona across the Bitcoin Collectibles community and then never Google their name years later to see if any progress had been made. This is something that always puzzled me.. I always expected to be reached out to by a newbie account with even just a "Congratulations" or something of the like and then have a conversation with whom I'd figure to have been WoodCollector. Don't worry though I had always planned for fake Coin 10's and WoodCollector's to try and scam bitcoin from me, I had very precise questioning and information still unknown to anyone on the forum locked away in a notepad in case this ever happened. Do I want to reach out to the person unmasked by hilariousetc? No, that's not how the tale plays out in my mind.
Naysayers win this time as I do believe hilariousetc's information, this however does not change my love for this collection. I've found myself collecting more and more drama pieces with some of the most ridiculous history behind them. Alitin Mint Jeanne D'Arc.. loaded with 1
BTC still in it's case.. Microsoul Russian Roulette Coin's unpeeled with potentially a 1
BTC prize laying underneath, if the keys are there and in proper format.. these nine humongous wood coins... Casascius and Denarium coins a plenty, I just don't get the same feeling of excitement looking at them as I do with my little corner of potentially breached/mishandled/outright fraud coins/collectibles I have. I am proud of my collection and that will never change.
As always, I'll finish off my post with:
Hey Mr/Mrs. Coin Ten, if you're out there.. lets talk
I've got a treasure map and you've got the compass.