• Photos: See live aution thread for photos.
  
  
• Starting bid: 1.05 BTC.
  
  
• Minimum increments: 0.01BTC
  
  
• End date and time: Saturday 2021-11-27 at 23:00 UTC
  
  
• Sniping: Any bid made within the last 10 minutes of the auction will restart a 10 minute clock for each bid thereafter*.
  
  
• Shipping: Not included. UK buyer: collection in person recommended from a secure facility. Overseas buyer: coin will be professionally packaged and dispatched by bullion dealers, with courier insurance offered for additional cost. Estimated shipping costs: Europe: BTC0.0005, International: BTC0.001.
  
  
• Custody: Coin is in the custody of https://twitter.com/bitgeiniog who will meet winner at secure facility or supervise its shipping by the bullion dealers.
  
  
• Payment:See live aution thread for payment address
  
  
  
• Payment window: The winning bidder has 24 hours to pay their final bid (to me or, if agreed, to escrow) otherwise, at my discretion, the next highest bidder may be notified and will have a chance to pay their high bid.
  

* In the event of sniping, the eligibility of bids will be determined retrospectively in accordance with the timestamp of bids posted, the winner being the highest bid received in accordance with the sniping rule above.

Quick update in that this item is to be auctioned from tomorrow, completing Thursday 2021-10-14.

Link to auction :https://scarce.city/auctions/casascius-1btc-coin

Thank you for your patience and your interest.

FYI, it is my brother, not me who is selling it although it was originally mine (bought from Mike).

Hi,
Quick update on this is that the auctioning of this item has been postponed for a couple of weeks. I will update you when I have a solid date from my brother of the auction time.

Thank you sir (hope you don't mind calling you 'sir' with your reputation round here )

Hi folks,

Two things: First to let potentially interested folks know that coin is being auctioned by my brother on scarce.city. Edit: Auction  link: https://scarce.city/auctions/casascius-1btc-coin

Second is a question he has to anyone who may have cleaned these up in the past - would using Brasso or something (on the non-sticker side) help bring back the shine and make it look more attractive? I seem to recollect the blemish in the top of the B was there since I originally bought it from Mike but the scuffs and scratches probably originate from when I was carrying them round in my pocket trying to see if I could buy lunch in the caffe with them






Incidentally, this is one of the same coins I was talking about where I gave more background on them in this thread back in December. Then with the rapid rise, those who had been thinking of selling just held on tight - until now... There are two silver tens still to be sold - in scarce.city, here or elsewhere, depending on how this first experiment goes.

...and I've got heaps of peeled 1s and .5s if anyone would like to make an offer on some of those

I fear there may be a misunderstanding here of the process Krogoth and I are advocating. It is not my place to tell anyone what to do or not to do; nor what anyone's risk tolerance ought to be. And I'm going to risk sounding patronising here by getting a bit preachy in the hope you and / or others who see this don't jump into doing this stuff, get it wrong and get robbed.

But above in this thread (here...


... as well as in this post: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5300639.msg55893024#msg55893024 )

...and, I suspect, in countless other threads and videos and books about the basics of Bitcoin, there are processes devised, tried and tested to handle and to use private keys securely. If dealing with anything more than what to you is 'loose change', I highly recommend not only following these processes but also taking the time and effort beforehand to understand what a transaction consists of; what is required to prepare a transaction, how most of the process can be separated from the vulnerable bit (i.e. its signing). Because once it is understood, you will be able to see why what may initially be a daunting many-step processes is necessary; you can follow the purpose of each step and where it belongs in the process; you can get a better appreciation of the design of Bitcoin and the transaction-creating process. And when it's safely done, when you did it, you can get the satisfaction not only of knowing that the funds are safe but also from knowing that, by following an understood step-by-step that you will have consolidated that knowledge by carrying it out yourself. And, as remote a chance as there may have been (see below) that the online machines were compromised, you will know that it was all done without there being a need for a 'hold-your-breath-and-hope' moment when there was a risk of losing the coins*. (The process of using a hardware wallet will also make more sense to you if you hadn't already gotten what that process consists of.)

/soap box rant

I think there may be confusion here arising out of a more generalised use of the word 'sweeping' i.e. 'to have moved the funds from a wallet' and the technical term (and the sweeping function in wallets). As far as I understand it, it is not possible to technically sweep a wallet without the wallet being able to ascertain the 'available balance' from the blockchain therefore not possible to do on an air-gapped machine which, by the processes recommended by those who understand, is the only place you want your private keys to be until the BTC balance is safely elsewhere.

Just to be clear, the use of a hardware wallet with Electrum (or with whatever software) is separate and outside the scope of this discussion (unless we extend it further   ). For our purposes, all you need with respect to your hardware wallet (if that is to be the destination of the funds you're moving from the Casascius coin) is that you need a verified address for that wallet. In other words, your hardware wallet will be set up with its own seed words and you just need a destination address for that wallet in order to prepare the transaction that will be signed by the physical coin's private key.

The use of Electrum (for the on-line machine) with respect to moving the balance from the physical coin is as a 'watch only' wallet whereby when setting it up, instead of inputting private keys (as you would to restore a low-value wallet with some funds on), you input only the bitcoin address (the part that was visible prior to peeling the sticker off). This enables that wallet, once you've put in the destination address, to find the balance on the blockchain and figure out how much 'max' is in order to create the transaction that you'll be signing on the air-gapped wallet. But I think we're going round in circles by now. I don't think I have any more to add on this process that hasn't already been said or isn't in the resources Krogoth kindly linked to.

I think Krogoth answered that one well.


The risk is simply that malware on a connected machine could potentially use your private key to move your BTC to their address quicker than your sweeping process does.


You're now asking to quantify risk which is a whole other ballgame. The odds that this could happen vary enormously with each circumstance and would be very difficult, even for a security expert, to ascertain without knowing what devices / OS you're using, what else they're used for and since when, whether you use the same device (or accounts also associated with that device) to send communications relating to cryptocurrency, how good your opsec is etc. etc. Without knowing how big an 'I own crypto' bullseye sign you've digitally drawn on your back, it's impossible to tell what the odds are. But why take that risk if you have an opportunity both to carry out this process without taking that risk and in the process, to progress your learning of what this technology is about?


All good. At least this convo is keeping the thread alive while we're waiting for these photos  

*You may even find the process so satisfying that you want to go through it again using Electron Cash for BCH, Electrum SV for BSV before using the simple one-step process in Ballet or Coinomi for anything else.

Hi, thanks for your interest and sorry for my late response.
Regarding 'sweeping' or sending, it's something I've done many many times - for myself when they were low value but also more recently for friends.

I would agree with iBHK8 to use something like Ballet for the forked coins, 'airdropped' stuff etc.

However, I would first - cautiously and with very well considered steps beforehand - send your BTC to a hardware wallet address then only aftwerwards to go play with the BCH & small-fry other stuff.

I don't know if it's possible to 'sweep' without exposing the private keys online so the way I have talked people through doing it is with an out-of-the box £200 air-gapped (wifi off from first start-up) laptop with electrum installed on it from USB stick. Then with electrum also on your connected computer, you can set up watch-only wallet on that one, inputting the public key which will enable you, with the wallet able to read the blockchain, to prepare the transaction (the amount (max), the send-to address and the fee). Then you need to export the unsigned transaction and take it (either on USB or by QR code) to the air-gapped machine to import, sign and export again. You can then, with the signed transaction, input it back into the electrum on the connected machine and broadcast.

There are many variations on this theme with various degrees of security. It is essentially the same as safely spending from a paper wallet and you'll find many processes for that - some with illustrations etc. The critical thing is to remember is that until the signed transaction is broadcast and has been confirmed, you don't want there to have been *any way* the private key could be accessed by anyone (or some malware that will help itself to your funds). (Scanning the QR code to an app on your connected phone to sweep your BTC, for instance, can become a race between your legitimate app sending you the funds and malware on your phone sending them to someone else)!

That's funny    My apologies all. I was expecting some photos over the weekend but nothing*! I just passed on this message and they were suitably embarrassed by their inaction. Hopefully tomorrow! Thank you for your patience.

* I highly suspect had they spend a little less time chart-watching willing the price up (I know it well myself ), they might have gotten round to taking the photos!

Interesting side-topic of the pros and cons of grading thanks. My tendency is to get it graded and encapsulated if I can find a way of doing it that is fairly straightforward because I understand the merit of that. Nevertheless, if it is too much of an issue, I'll sell it without. I was speaking to the owner who said she can only remember a few times when it came out of the openable capsule it came for the joy of feeling the coin in your hands (once was when I was visiting so I got that pleasure too). Some proper photos will be done but my guess if not strictly mint (as in handled with gloves etc), it won't be far off it. Buyer may then, if they wish, pursue encapsulation to ensure no deterioration.

Have a good weekend all, tf

Thank you both, I spoke to Coin Grading Services this morning who said they no longer do authentication & encapsulation. I'll keep looking but my guess is we may need to just go with photos although I am open to suggestions.

Talking of grading, does anyone know which, if any, London grading / encapsulation services would be acceptable to potentially global bidders?

Thanks for your feedback all. Helpful in taking small reasoned steps toward something that will work for all.

OK, so here's the plan:

We've found a way of taking out the urgency, that being that someone will lend her what she is intending to sell at today's prices to be repaid in btc whenever the physical coin is sold (or if it's peeled).

So we're thinking maybe a 10 day auction after the new year and in the meantime, getting it graded for physical condition as well as good photos and giving time to think of ways of reaching potential buyers so we've got as best chance at it being a true price discovery.

After consideration, we've abandoned the non-binding auction idea and instead will start at 10.05 and have a non-hidden 12.5 btc reserve, below which the seller will have the option to decline.

Re. sending by mail, I had expected for the silver ten that the buyer would be prepared to fly to London to pick it up. However, it has also been suggested that a trusted courier from here could do the flying if the buyer doesn't want to. All worth considering beforehand, thanks, and now we've bought some time to work out those details in advance.

In the meantime, I'm going to get some pics today of the first of the 1btc pieces and I'll see if at least one of these can be on auction in the next days, again with a something-over-face starting price and a tbd non-hidden reserve.

Thank you all for your interest. Even if it sounds like I'm not appreciating the browbeating I'm getting for my non-standard proposals, it's miles better than putting up a post and having no response at all (which I seem to recollect was the case in 2014 when I had a load that I would have happily sold for anything over face). I will update the OP with the latest decision.

Thank you very much for your valued feedback on this. I shall pass on about high-res photos and will ask her to do daylight and multiple-angles so any scratches show up. If someone would like to PM me with any offers of assistance with it along with what you would want for your services, that would be greatly appreciated. I had already reached out to minerjones who from a little research appears to have a good reputation here and who has offered to escrow - should there be a sale. Re. transport / handover, I had assumed the buyer would be happy to fly to London to pick it up in person but I'm open to other ideas.

I will admit that your 'stupid idea' comment had me determined not to be bullied into doing it your way and your 'guarantee' that nobody would participate had me suspicious the regulars here may be playing some back-channel dubious practices during auctions behind the scenes to dupe the newbies into selling too cheap. But your constructive post is helping me toward doing things in a more conventional way for selling here. We'll see. I'll see where we are tomorrow.

OK, I hear you. You with your high activity, merit and trust scores are clearly representative of the views around here.

Nevertheless, the rarer the item, the less idea one can have of how much of the potential market I would be reaching here. If I'm auctioning a mid-priced common item on ebay, I can start at zero and be confident the market will find me a fair price. I haven't been able find examples of recent prior sales to get an idea of its worth. Furthermore, I have no idea what proportion of the number of views this thread has had is potentially interested and has the means to pay this kind of money. I do get your criticism of my proposal but can also see that a binding auction could end up being an expensive way of finding out there's hardly any demand (or that those potentially interested don't hang out here frequently enough to participate).

For you who have spoken, clearly you're not interested in a non-binding auction and as I said, I suspect you speak for more than yourselves. But if it were a complete 'waste of time and internet' then it wouldn't be the norm in how Ebay works for certain high-value item categories. I accept it isn't the modus operandi around here but that doesn't make it pointless. I don't have the photos yet but at present I'm inclined to proceed anyway in the way I have proposed and anyone is free to refrain from participating if you feel that strongly about it.

Thank you too for your interest although I think your assessment is a bit harsh! As far as I recollect, it is normal, for instance in car auctions in the UK that the seller after the auction but before payment can withdraw. They just have to pay the auctioneer and they lose some credibility. I know from experience it's a downer for the 'winning' bidder but it's just life!

From ebay.com "A non-binding bid is a bid that shows a buyer's interest in purchasing an item, but it doesn't create a formal contract between the buyer and the seller. All bids made in the Real Estate and eBay Motors vehicles categories are considered non-binding."

I'm not saying we should just accept the standards of other auction processes but clearly, if it's standard practice for certain high-value item categories for ebay, I'm not entirely out on a limb here. We're talking about a lot of money here so I don't think it is unreasonable that both parties after the auction have a day or two to be sure they're happy before proceeding. If that is unacceptable to you then I'm sorry but that is what I will try. If people don't bid because it's non-binding and there's hardly anything over face-value offered then it's their loss. The owner will get to go with Plan A - which is to peel it and use it.

OK,

Thank you for your interest, both here and more substantially, by PM.

So far, it is mainly the silver ten that has attracted interest - hence changing the Subject. However, nobody has offered a price yet.

So what I propose to do, once I get some photos, is to hold a ****non-binding auction****** to discover a price someone would be willing to pay then to ask the owner if that is enough for her to be prepared to let it go loaded (as opposed to peeling it for the crypto value and keeping the physical peeled coin).

In the meantime, there are still the ones...

*****N.B. PLEASE NOTE IT IS NO LONGER MY INTENTION (AS PER THE EDITED POST ABOVE AND PER LATER POSTS) TO GO FOR A NON-BINDING AUCTION

I gave heaps of Casascius One-bitcoin physical coins away back in the day and also a small no. of 'silver tens'. Now with the new ATHs, in larger numbers than ever before, friends are coming back to me asking for help in selling* part of their Bitcoin, and this time, including one of the silver tens. To-date over the years, having not had much joy in selling the physical coins, I have helped my friends peel them and securely move the various coins from them to hardware wallets then to exchange (which was also the fate of mine when I lived off my bitcoin until I ran out in 2014/15!)

But now, having heard rumours of prices that may be obtained for them, here's me logging back into an account I thought I'd erased in order to see whether there is genuine interest.

The loaded Casascius Silver 10 Bitcoin piece with Gold ₿ is going to be auctioned in a 10 day auction after the new year and in the meantime, getting it graded for physical condition as well as good photos and giving time to think of ways of reaching potential buyers so we've got as best chance at the auction being a true price discovery. Currently, the idea is to have a starting price of 10.05 btc and to have a 12.5 btc reserve, below which the seller will have the option to decline.

In the event that it doesn't reach the reserve and the owner declines the highest below-reserve bid, her plan is to peel it in order to frame and keep the physical coin herself.

Regarding the Casascius brass 1s, I know of four coins straight that my friends would sell and likely more if the price was right so I will start by auctioning the first of those in the next days.

As for background, these were all bought by me directly from Mike Caldwell in the few months after I joined this forum (the date of which you can check out).

It's strange to be posting here again after so many years so greetings to anyone who remembers me from back then  

*as an aside, the experiment - which was part of the purpose of giving so many away - was to see if being given some, owning some, would pique their interest such that people decided to learn about this amazing technology / phenomenon and discover its wonders as I had. The outcome of the experiment is that hardly anyone did to-date. They know as little about it now as they did then and are only interested in getting some money for it. That aspect is slightly disappointing but not that I gave them away because I know had I not given them away, I would likely have spent them myself anyway so at least it is my friends that are benefiting from the btc, not whoever the strangers are who may be currently selling or hodling those I sold

Edit 2: Largely re-written to reflect where we've got to after some very useful feedback below and in PMs.

I mined one in July  - and finally got round to sending you some BTC (5 mBTC) too.

It's funny because I was in Kassel with my partner for a concert and not really involved with the Documenta Exhibition. However, just taking a brief walk this beautiful construction caught my eye. It wasn't running but I just walked around admiring it before spotting the QR code and - lo and behold - discovered not only its fascinating history but that it's connected to my crypto world!

We came back the following day when it was tabled to run and loved putting my own energy into stamping a physical coin and mining a crypto coin in the same process. The irony is after all the early excitement about mining and ASICs in late 12 early 13, I ended up with two paperweight BFL units that weren't worth running by the time I got them so this was actually the first crypto I've mined. Also fascinating to learn about the history of slave-labour for coin minting and did some reading-up of my own one evening too. Thanks for that.

I have not really kept up with alts and ICOs so I don't really know how they work, (nor have I downloaded the app nor read the white paper) but I'm assuming the private key with which I signed the transaction to send the BTC will let me claim my TEIO when the time comes? That's of secondary consideration for me really. Whatever happens with the TEIO, I'm happy to have experienced that, have massive respect for those of you who thought it all up and brought it to fruition and happy for you to have the 5mBTC anyway

All the best with the next stage of the project

Bump!

I thought I'd bump this one from back in the day because twice today on r/Bitcoin I've had reason to refer to this discussion and the idea of using a variant of scientific notation as a useful means of handling Bitcoin's price deflation working its way through the orders of magnitude...


Today, this would be something like:  '... ²¹100 ^btc = 1.00 btc, so ¹⁸2 is a cheap pizza, ¹⁷23 is a USD!

Isn't that potentially easier to read than the whole 0.000226398 malarkey, let alone when we've gone a couple more orders of magnitude?

I still don't see how we'd overcome the inertia and the need to understand a whole new way of seeing numbers but I like it as an idea. Anyone up for coding an Electrum GUI or something for this for fun?

Anyone know (or have links to) discussion about why Bitfinex price, after for so long with fiat payment troubles causing an above-market exchange rate, is now lower than Stamp's?