These are worth [edit, again] $100,000+ now.

[Zomdifros]

I mean you would not even have legal means to get back at him....

Yes you would. And I trust the guy, it would be irrational for him to try and scam all of us when he can make a legit fortune anyway.

Like what? Go to the police and say: "He stole my bitcoins!"?

a) You have no possibility to proof it was him
b) It is no crime to steal bitcoins. In no country on earth. It is like saying "He wiped my harddisk". That's not nice, but still no crime.

Only choice left is to gather some money and hire a hitman on silkroad.

Bullshit, it is definitely a crime to steal bitcoins. As long as anything has monetary value, taking something by force or fraud is considered a crime.

[Piper67]

I mean you would not even have legal means to get back at him....

Yes you would. And I trust the guy, it would be irrational for him to try and scam all of us when he can make a legit fortune anyway.

Like what? Go to the police and say: "He stole my bitcoins!"?

a) You have no possibility to proof it was him
b) It is no crime to steal bitcoins. In no country on earth. It is like saying "He wiped my harddisk". That's not nice, but still no crime.

Only choice left is to gather some money and hire a hitman on silkroad.

Bullshit, it is definitely a crime to steal bitcoins. As long as anything has monetary value, taking something by force or fraud is considered a crime.

Agreed. How about trying the reverse logic... child porn possession is not illegal because, after all, it's just zeroes and ones on a hard drive. Let's see if that argument flies. 

[GernMiester]

Have fun explaining how you still hold the actual coin but somehow its value was stolen and its now worthless to a court..

[Melbustus]

Say he sold about 400 of 25-Coins. Thats 10000 BTC and worth a million USD right now. Are you not worried that he might actually still possess the private keys and just transfer all your coins to an adress of his choice to cash out? I mean you would not even have legal means to get back at him....

Mike addresses these concerns: https://www.casascius.com/faq.aspx

Bottom line: Yes, on some level, you do have to trust him. The coins are primarily meant as a cool novelty; something to use to get the conversation started with people who like to hold things in their hands. There are better ways to store the majority of one's bitcoins than physical coins.

[Melbustus]

Oh, and thread title updated from "$1000+" to "$2500+". Crazy.

[Melbustus]

Thread title updated again. From $2500+ to $5000+.

[01BTC10]

Insane.

[veteranBtc]

Say he sold about 400 of 25-Coins. Thats 10000 BTC and worth a million USD right now. Are you not worried that he might actually still possess the private keys and just transfer all your coins to an adress of his choice to cash out? I mean you would not even have legal means to get back at him....

That's crazy!
I think we have a winner for the 1M$ topic.

[Melbustus]

Originally posted this when the coin's BTC value cracked $1,000. Figured the $10,000 mark was worth a bump.

But beware - my last edit to the title prior to today was on April 9th!!

[Rupture]

How much is on the one in the OP

[Melbustus]

How much is on the one in the OP

It's a 25BTC Series-2 Casascius coin.

[dominicwin]

Love seeing this!

[Melbustus]

$25,000 now. Boom.

[European Central Bank]

still ain't too pretty though. and if you'd paid a big premium then you'd feel a little sore. i wonder if casascius coins are gonna make a comeback. they seem a little quiet right now.

[Melbustus]

still ain't too pretty though. and if you'd paid a big premium then you'd feel a little sore. i wonder if casascius coins are gonna make a comeback. they seem a little quiet right now.

Yeah, they may be ugly, but as collectibles they have a bunch going for them:
1) They are hugely recognizable, thanks to being on the cover a hundreds of Bitcoin related articles over the years.
2) They are directly associated with Bitcoin's rise/history given the 2011 issue date and #1 above.
3) Mintage, of both types, was quite low.
4) Given that the stored value is high, a large percentage were redeemed.

I believe there are various now-desirable government-issue coins and so forth that were considered ugly in their day, and as such, did not become sought-after collectibles quickly, but when they did, they were especially scarce and valuable. We'll see.

As to the broader question of Casascius collectibility, it'll be interesting. If/when goldbugs really start to "see the light" and flood into Bitcoin, I can see Casascius coins getting a huge premium bump. Those guys love coins, and no other coin will ever be as quintessentially bitcoin as a Casascius issue.

[Melbustus]

Just to illustrate my point regarding #1 above:

https://www.rt.com/business/372873-bitcoin-rise-2017-predictions/

*Still* being used as default cover-photo for bitcoin pieces...

[Soros Shorts]

Mike addresses these concerns: https://www.casascius.com/faq.aspx

I guess the test of time has proven the integrity of the private keys within these coins. Many people did not go for the 25 BTC denomination even when it was worth only a few hundred bucks because of these concerns. I certainly didn't, but now I wish I had.

[p_linz]

to be honest, they are not beautiful. not the most good looking coins, but it is the inside that counts. knowing what they are worth makes people want them. to bad i never bought any, but they seem to me to much like an piece you just hold and never going to use, so not so practical.

[QuestionAuthority]

Oh my god, I can't believe it. Stephen Gornick sold his account? I just read the beginning of this thread, saw his name and wondered why I hadn't seen any of his posts lately. I looked up his recent posts to see where he's been posting and found out a functional illiterate is using his account. That's too bad, I really enjoyed his posts.

I wonder if he still has that casascius coin? Maybe not if he got tired of Bitcoin and bailed out.

[mb300sd]

My personal collection...

Nice!

Now I'm still sitting on 4 of those. I gave 3 to girls I fell in love with, one traded one of them back for a new car, the other used it to pay for her wedding. My only regret is not buying a few of the 1000btc coins.