I suggest you contact BitAccess. They are Canada based. Have you looked at the machines that other Canadian operators such as BitNational use?

I am wondering if this is the highest price ever requested for a collection?

When people sell coins, they invariably provide photographs and full details.

For an apartment, no real information. Wonder why? 😀

Am I right to think that only 500 of the Antaui were made? When did you buy it?

I'm wondering if anyone has ever had a coin graded which did not receive an MS rating? I suspect not but would be interested to know. I cannot see why it would be sensible to grade a damaged crypto-coin unless it was extremely rare.

Out of interest, other than ANACS and CGS, are there any other graders that will accept and grade crypto-currency?

Elias, I'm sure people would be interested to know roughly how many manufacturers you are writing about. From the spreadsheet you sent me, it looks like an impressive and substantial number.

More or less the same way any other coin can be graded.

See: http://www.anacs.com/PDFFiles/ANACS_Brochure.pdf which explains how ANACS grades coins.

CGS have their own grading system which ranges from 1 to 100. Doesn't that make comparisons with ANACS difficult?

Their website says: "Surprisingly there is no universally accepted bench mark standards for the grading of English coins, by this we mean there is no universally recognized independent publication giving bench marks for the grading of English coins. The broad terms in use (see below) Very Good, Fine, Very Fine, Extremely Fine, and Uncirculated although broadly consistent in the main body of the professional UK dealer and bigger auction houses, are subject to the individual “subjective” opinion of the grader at the time based on his experiences and paradigms. To our knowledge no one refers to any accepted universal guide (as none exists) or retains sets of coins to refer to for consistencies sake. How then has grading been done? Basically the grader looked at a coin and decided based on his experience and memory what grade it is, if he is not sure then a plethora of middle grade attachments and riders are introduced such as about Uncirculated, near to Very Fine, approaching EF, better than Fine, Good Very Fine, BU, Gem, Choice we could go on it seems almost endlessly. The CGS UK system arrives at a numeric grade between 1 and 100 with 100 being absolute perfection. It is not our intention to replace the traditional grading terminology (listed below) but it can easily be argued that once a numerical grade is attached the need for some additional narrative description is superfluous. However CGS UK numerical system will broadly translate as follows."

They then have a table which compares their grades and Sheldon grades.

You are UK based. Would you use ANACS or Kent-based CGS?

In terms of categorizing TGBEX, I would compare them to Alitin or Titan. That is, high denomination coins which are pre-funded. They do not provided unfunded coins.

TGBEX do not ship funded coins to the USA.

Both Elias and I have spoken to Adrian Forbes (the Director). He's a friendly guy who I'm sure will be happy to answer any questions.

ANACS have an interesting Guide which explains how they grade coins. Of course, they do not mention anything about crypto-currency or holograms! They do state that, typically, the obverse of the coin is less important than the front. I suspect that this model cannot work for physical bitcoin since the front is not superior to the back.

Here is the Guide: http://www.anacs.com/PDFFiles/ANACS_Brochure.pdf (30 MB).

As I read the Guide, I thought that speaking with someone from ANACS would be useful. It's a great idea and I'll do it.

I've just received twelve pages from Elias about Lealana. Three pages of detailed information about the company and its coins followed by nine pages about nine coins. There are photographs of the front and back of each coin. There is a table which depicts the mintage of different styles of each coin, the material, weight, and grade (if any). Each page provides data about the coin and reveals any unusual or intriguing features such as the lack of a "pit" for some of the 10 LTC silver coins (2013).

It's impressive work. I'll be reading it tonight and letting Elias know my thoughts.

One of the issues is that producers just disappear. For example, what happened to Antaui and Jinn Bitcoin? In both cases, the domains no longer work.

See https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=397258.0

Obviously, every photo that Elias and I did not take will be acknowledged with the person's real name or forum name (as they desire).

For example:

Alan Archer (p.24, p.56), Bob Black (p.12, p.121 top, p.122 left), "charlie999" (p.78, p.99 left, p.187, p.199)... and so on.

And then:

We were unable to contact the owners of the following photographs. If you own the copyright, please contact us and we will update the acknowledgements in the next edition.

p.32, p.66 left and right, p.100 top...and so on.

The book will comprise of three sections: an Introduction (which I will write), the Catalogue (written by Elias), and a Conclusion (written by me).

The bulk of the book will be the Catalogue. It will be replete with descriptions of the coins, photographs, details about the producer, and intriguing anecdotes. The Introduction provides a context to the catalogue while the Conclusion will explore some of the common themes inherent in the production of physical bitcoin.

It is, indeed, generous of Elias to refer to me as a "co-author" although I suspect I will provide 15% of the content at most.

I consider my audience to be the "intelligent layperson". I do not write in a jargon-laden and obscure style. My intention is to be scholarly and rigorous yet accessible and engaging.

I've been interested in Bitcoin since mid-2012. I attended the London Bitcoin https://sites.google.com/a/bitcoin2012.com/homepage/speakers conference in September of that year. In terms of physical bitcoin, in the last two months, I have spoken with Denarium, HardBTC, Lealana, Microsoul, TGBEX and, of course, Elias. My goal is to speak with all the main producers.

I've also read Jonathan Frammingham's fascinating Coin Making Guide: From Sketch to Strike https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1089977

I have researched into the major players in the industry, the aspects of a coin which make it valuable (precious metal content, serial number, number in batch, rarity, and grade rating) and the regulatory environment (e.g. FinCEN, MSB, money transmitters). In doing so, I've learned about a number of essential industries such as the graders (e.g. ANACS), mints, and hologram manufacturers.

Currently, I own two coins. A Denarium 0.1 BTC (2015) and a Microsoul Silver 0.01 BTC (2014) which arrived today (thanks Matthew!) Smoothie has kindly sent me two brass coins which I look forward to receiving.


I agree that we have to 'freeze' the research at a designated date. Elias and I have spoken about this. We have no plans to obsess over whether we have included every coin from every producer. Our view is that this is an ever-changing industry. There can, as you note, always be a second edition. The key, of course, is to publish the first edition! This will happen - soon!

I have a few questions for those who are knowledgeable about the grading process.

Which companies grade crypto-coins? ANACS does and CGS in the UK but who else?

I understand that PCGS and ICG have refused to grade crypto-coins. Did they provide a rationale?

Would people grade coins from, say, Crypto Imperator or Microsoul?

Would you be suspicious if a Casascius coin came up for re-sale and had not been graded?

What difference does the grade make to the re-sale price? For example, what
would a rise from MS-63 to MS-66 achieve? Or from MS-67 to MS-68. Would a
Casascius MS-70 sell for vastly more than an MS-69?

Is it possible to receive an MS-70 grade?

Thanks!

Matthew