It sounds like there is some interest in this, but also a lot of challenges to overcome, namely security of the coins, as well as the time & effort to find sponsors and handle all the logistics.  If there is anyone interested in either adding part/all of their collection for sale or display only, or volunteering in some way, kindly let me know.   If I dont hear back from many people, then I won't proceed further with this.  I think this has to be a community effort to do this right. 

Regarding valuables, I saw some jewelry and watches (Franck Muller?) there.  Many of the unfunded coins are relatively inexpensive.  I think mostly the funded coins of say over 0.05BTC would be concerning.  I earlier considered putting anything of higher value in a different VIP area only shown to high net worth individuals.  Or they could be not there at all.  Or perhaps anything that could be funded only has the peeled / unfunded out.

I've been to some bitcoin shows with jewelry, large gems / large raw solid gold pieces, etc.

I also would be concerned about leaving things over night.  I would take my own high value things home with me each night.

During the day, I certainly would use locking jewelry cases for everything.

I do understand your point about reddit.  There will be naysayers at anything.  Some will hate the idea that physicals defeat the purpose of BTC being digital or dont trust the concept of funded coins/ trusting others with private keys, while others are the opposite, and complain that there's nothing tangible about BTC, and want something to physically touch.  We can't make everyone happy, but we can make an effort to try to get physicals to be more visible and accepted in mainstream.  It might be a battle, but we can start somewhere.   

If physicals were more well known, it could make them become highly sought after collectibles.  Many editions have only 50-100 made and are very rare.  I'd love to see our hobby become sought after like other mainstream collectibles, as the public sees crypto becoming more ubiquitous everyday. 
 
I personally liked the art exhibit.  Maybe its just me.   They had a very visible centrally located presence and nice displays.  Not sure what I would have done better.  But I respect your opinion, if you didnt care for it.

Personally I think having a physicals display and sale/auction would be something different to offer at the next convention, provide more visibility to our hobby, while at the same time, providing a new avenue to possibly resell them to a wider audience.   Its something I personally would love to see between the exhibit and having a speaking panel.

But unless this has adoption from our community, I wont go forward with it. 

Every conference I goto, I’m always disappointed not seeing any / many physicals there nor any panels about the topic.  I’d love to see that change at the next conference.  I always see jewelry and high end watch sellers there to sell to high net worth individuals.  There’s certainly people to afford funded coins, and it would be very different than what people have seen.  It would open thousands of people eyes to our hobby.  There’s also tons of lower cost unfunded coins.

Perhaps high value funded coins are kept in a more secure VIP section.  Insurance is super important, as I wouldn’t want anything being stolen.

I could see Stacks and Bowers doing a dedicated physical Bitcoin online auction where the items are there on display and people can bid online and in person.   

I would love to see a panel on the main stage where several coin makers were there and someone covered the history by slideshow.  From Bitbills and Casascius to the major ones today.  It would be amazing to see and get our hobby more mainstream. 

Plus a great excuse for all of our community to want to goto the conference!

Hi all,

I dont post much these days, but was involved in co-writing the Encyclopedia of Physical Bitcoins along with elianite.  I did also meet a bunch of you at this year's Miami BTC 2022 convention.

I noticed there was a major art exhibition in the middle of the BTC 2022 hall, and thought why couldnt we do something similar with our Physicals?   Could we not get maximum exposure to our hobby and expose these to the masses, by having a museum set up?

I thought we could get sponsors to pay for insurance, rental of jewelry cases, guard, central floor space and other expenses.  We then could display and sell our insured coins for sale.  It would get exposure to tons of people while offering a way to sell our coins at a premium, for those looking to sell.  We could write up placards of each maker.  

Perhaps ask to do a major panel with coin makers, complete with slideshow, discussing the history.

At the volunteer table, we could have coin makers featured during the days.  Maybe Bobby Lee could do a Book signing?  There's lots of ideas that can be discussed.

I for one would offer up my collection for this purpose, volunteer as a docent and do writeups.  Any thoughts?  Any interest?

Think of this as Encyclopedia 2.0, bringing coins to the masses.

The demo 1BTC coin is super rare.  Its one of the very first Casascius coins made.  Its mentioned in the Encylopedia in the following:

Ending in 24 minutes

I had a similar issue trying to contact Tim recently with zero success.  I searched online and found numerous emails, addresses and phone numbers, but never was able to hear back from him, after many attempts.   Its a shame if he has disappeared, as he made promises and guarantees on the Titan website about keeping the system running and ensuring people's confidence.

https://www.titanbtc.com/titan-bitcoin-security/

Yep, I remember these coins.  Still have them. 

Not sure if Elias would be up to updating the Encyclopedia, but I might be game if he ever wanted to pursue it. 

The research, while possibly not as accurate as it could be, was our best effort at the time, with what we could find out.  In any case, here's two pages from the Encyclopedia that might be beneficial. 

Another great resource on this topic is monkeynuts

Hope all of you are doing well.  I haven't been on the forum for quite some time.

Thanks mj.  Its been a long time since I've been on the forum. 

Hi all.  I decided to drop by.

Some info from the Encyclopedia.  These were special made by Casascius and I can confirm only 8 exist. 

Its nice to see this mentioned again. 

I don't come to the boards often anymore, but do lurk around every now and then.  Yeah, as mentioned, it was a huge effort contacting the people, not to mention I contacted many others, since I made an effort to contact just about every coin maker known up to that time (except for Mike Caldwell on purpose).  Plus the time and effort with mailing and handling the items themselves.  I wont be doing it again for sure and am not aware of anyone else taking it over.

Thank you all for the kind words.

I saw this product mentioned a long time ago but dont know if any were put up for sale.  I've personally never saw one listed on our forum.

I have a name, address and phone to the owner of Infinitum, based in Dubai.  I wrote them to get his signature for the encyclopedia, but after a lot of emails back and forth, they never signed them.  If the community feels like its ok for me to disclose it to a trusted person, I can send it. 

I dont wish to Dox them publicly, but I'm happy to help if its ok to do so.

Thats correct.    Elias started doing a Casascius-only online version, then I believe started considering doing a comprehensive physical book in April '15.  I believe I joined the project a year later.   But it still took a while until the Encyclopedia was published.

This list is also what got me started in collecting physical bitcoins.   I owe my thanks to the OP.

. The softcover also came in a Signature Edition with 4 signatures.

You can contact minerjones or Elianite.  I’m not sure if there are cheaper options to your country other than Amazon

I believe the website was coldco.in if I recall.  These are pretty rare.

I'm going to it, and have been to the last 4 in Miami.  Its normally a good conference.  This year is too focused on ICOs, with half the content on people making their ICO sales pitches.  I paid $500 for 1 ticket, which I think is steep, since its much higher than previous years.

I looked at the btcmiami.com website, and they are price gouging now at $2500 per ticket!!  What a ripoff.