I just thought Bitaxe looked expensive and did not provide proof they ordered any Avalon chips. I stopped reading their thread after that.

Does anyone know where we could get blank silver 1/2oz or 10gram coins for close to spot? That might be a good size to work with.

I have been thinking of the same thing but came to the same conclusion that it needs $5k-$7k start up funds to get the proof made and the first batch of coins. The other big issue is trust. I suggest you think about spitting the addresses and using a second party so no one person has the private keys. Ultimately, trust in the person creating the private keys will be the biggest challenge to this endeavor. One way to do this is have a tamper-proof seal on both sides of the coin. One person attaches the first half on one side, ships it to the second party and they attach the other on the back. Then no one person has access to someone else's bitcoins.

A cheaper option is custion scratch off cards with the same concept but use a tamper-proof label on the back that you add to go with the factory sealed one on the front.

Another way to add trust to mass circulated physical bitcoins is to create/link a WOT online with a private code on each coin to verify the person who is giving it to you is generally trustworthy.

Payment received.

Payment received.

Current bids,

jski 2@1.5
suryc 1@1.5

How about a compromise. My bids have been sitting here for 6+ weeks, so what's a few more days. I can add 0.14 to my bid at 1JzMp55NW22xjEE4QKUhN5iAmKyFnJSUDg to outbid dogie and ProfMac you can then refund his bid because he will no longer have a winning bid. Is that acceptable?

Yes, the hash rate for each share is for 850-880Mhps. The second question is more difficult to answer. From what I have seen on this forum, the current estimate is for shipping to start later this month but a more conservative estimate is July. Since Matthew is based in Korea, I believe he should receive his Avalons faster than those who are based outside of East Asia.

Still waiting on Matthew's post. Here is a public list of share owners.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ajtx05YrHtIydDdwWU1RX250Nzg0QUZpdFpINnFJVEE#gid=0

Come on people, I just need two more bids above 1.4 to knock out both my remaining bids. I won't bid against you. Don't be shy. These bids have been sitting here for 6+ weeks  .

I am selling my shares in Matthew Wright’s Batch 3 Avalons in order to pay off some credit card debt. See the original thread below or search the forums for detailed proof that he has paid for two Batch 3 Avalons.

Original auction of shares,
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=165105.msg1776158#msg1776158

I bought them afterwards by private auction that will be confirmed shortly by Matthew in this tread.

Starting Bid is 1 share@ 1.5 BTC

Terms: You can bid in increments of 0.01 BTC and for any amount of shares up to 7. For example, a bid of ‘5@1.65’ means 5 shares at 1.65BTC each.
 
The auction will end on Friday June 7 at 23:30 (UTC). 

Good luck.

The winners will be confirmed by me and Matthew.

Here are the messages I received regarding this sale. I cracked open a 25BTC Casascius physical bitcoin just to get scammed. Others should take this as a warning to always use escrow on the these forums. You cannot trust someone's identity/reputation because their account may have been hacked.

Same here for my paypal order. Very nice and friendly staff. I won't be surprised if they go belly up once the difficulty rises and there are x10 refund request. IMO a lot of people are on the fence and if they don't receive a unit by August/September, they will want a refund.

What about MoneyGram? It allows you to pay with a credit card, but don't be surprised when they charge the cash advance rate.

Thank you for accepting wire transfers again! Should I create a new order? Or, can I use the old order for BTC that says on-hold? (I am thinking there are a lot of people in this situation)

Does the order get cancelled if we do not pay in 15min? Or, can we have a few days to convert fiat to BTC and then pay?

O, 15min clock ehhh. If I had known, I could have arranged this but not 47.2194BTC in 15min.

How long do we have to get the BTC together for payment?

I had a similar problem with com1 and I just skipped it and it would load the other ports fine. You could also check to see if it is running any better in cgminer 2.1.

o well, too late