[WTB/WTS] Casascius Holo Error / Collectible Marketplace

[Chainsaw]

This thread aims to provide a centralized marketplace for buyers and sellers of limited edition Casascius coins. Postings with buy or sell offers will remain persistently. To keep the thread lean and transaction-focused, I'll try to clean up conversational posts from time to time.  My intent is to keep this intro up to date for a quick overview of historical price trends, along with a listing of current buyers and sellers.  Look to the posts below to find the offer(s) that give you what you're looking for. The start of the thread will have historically important conversational posts. The end of the thread will contain current market offerings, while also allowing for collectible- or transaction-based conversation.

Here's how I think the breakout and classification works.  If I've gotten anything wrong, please let me know.

Casascius Bitcoin Analyzer separates items by Version 1 and Version 2. Version 1 displayes Series 1 coins, with Version 2 displaying the remainder.

Series 1 stickers are those having the CASACIUS misspelling repeating in the background of the holograph.
Series 2 stickers and beyond do not have the holo error.  These coins are identifiable by address notation.
A small number have windowed labels, the remainder are identifiable by address notation.
Series 3 stickers represent 2013 releases, also identifiable by address notation.

Listing Notation

() items are optional
[] items are required

(Year) [Denomination] [Alloy] (Format) [Series] [Grade]


Year: Optional, coins are not categorized by year, rather by series. Never hurts to include.
Denominations: 0.1, 0.5, 1, 5, 10, 25, 100, 500, 1000. Inclusion of 'BTC' is optional.
Alloy: Brass, Gold, and Silver.
Format: Coin or bar. Coin is assumed, with bars only made for 100, 500, and 1000.
Series: S1, S2, and S3 - Sticker Series 1, 2, or 3.
Grade: NG for not graded, or an ANACS MS-xx grading, such as MS-63. NG is optional for Bar Format.

Put that all together, then add a buy price, a sell price, or both.
Your listing can link to your thread offering its sale.

[Listing] (Buy Price) (Sell Price)

Mintage and Historical Sales Data

Denomination	Total Mintage	# Still Active	Highest Known Sale	BTC Premium	BTC Multiplier
1 Brass S1 NG	3615	3615	5	4.0	5.0
1 Brass S1 MS-64	-	-	8	7.0	8.0
1 Brass S1 MS-65	-	-	8	7.0	8.0
1 Brass S1 MS-66	-	-	15	14.0	15.0
1 Brass S1 MS-67	-	-	50	49.0	50.0
1 Brass S2 MS-63	-	-	2.33	1.33	2.33
1 Brass S2 MS-64	-	-	2.33	1.33	2.33
1 Brass S2 MS-65	-	-	2.33	1.33	2.33
0.5 Silver S3 w/ S2 Holo MS-64	45	45	13.5	13.0	27.0
1 Silver S3 solid MS-67	1300	?	3.0	2.0	3.0
1 Silver S3 Gold "B" MS-67	700	?	3.5	2.5	3.5
5 Brass S1 NG	677	608	7.5 (private)	2.4	1.48
5 Brass S2 MS-65	574	455	(private)	?	?
10 Silver S2 NG	447	407	25	15.0	2.50
25 Brass S1 NG	345	201	40.83	15.83	1.63
25 Brass S2 NG	486	364	(private)	-	-
100 Brass Bar S1	57	17	340 (private)	240	3.4
100 Brass Bar S2	86	57	None known
500 Brass Bar S1	2	1	None known
500 Brass Bar S1 - Opened	2	1	None yet
1000 Brass Bar S1	16	2	None known
1000 Brass Bar S1 - Opened	16	13	None yet
1000 Gold Coin S1	5	3	1250 *a	250	1.25

Details

1. Please make your offerings using the same table format shown in the Posting Buy and Sell Prices section.
2. Prices assume coins that were immediately transferred to safe storage upon receipt. If your coins are in a different condition from that, please note that in your posting.
3. Please state whether your listed prices are firm or negotiable. If unstated, the assumption will be that prices are firm.
4. Once you've gotten your order filled or are no longer interested, kindly remove your posting(s) to keep thing tidy. If you're willing to add data to the marketplace,
get back to me with the sale price, and whether to record it as a private transaction, or to include the identity of the seller. Having a verifiable seller adds trust to the reported number, and might help generate interest in your holding, too.


Current Buyers

Chainsaw - primarily holo errors (S1), but open to all
coco23 - 1 BTC w/ error
ffssixtynine - 1, 5, 25 BTC w/ errors
arvicco - All 1+ BTC coins, with and without errors
steelboy - All 1+ BTC coins, with and without errors
hawkix - 10 BTC w/ gold B
molecular - no current offerings

Current Sellers

Chainsaw - Brass S1 MS-65/66 in denominations of 1, 5, 25, and 100.
Chaang Noi (Goat) - all collectibles available
runderwo - 1 BTC holo errors (multiple gradings), 25 BTC S1 MS-62
coretechs - 5x 1 BTC holo error
SgtSpike - no current offerings
nightowlace - 0.5, 1 BTC w/ errors, 1 BTC without errors
Chainsaw - graded holo errors
Johnniewalker – multiple, rotating inventory

Log of Holo Error / Collectible Coin Transactions

Where links exist, the transaction was done publicly, with a known buyer and seller. In other cases, transactions were conducted privately, or the buyer or seller has requested anonymity.

Denomination	Sale Price (BTC)	Seller
5 Brass S2 MS-65	private	justbtcme
2011 S2 Brass MS-63, MS-64, MS-65, 2011 S1 MS-63 - lot purchase	10.0	justbtcme
1 Silver S3 MS-67	3.0	SgtSpike
1 Silver S3 Gold "B" MS-67	3.5	SgtSpike
0.5 silver S3 w/ S2 holo MS-64	13.5	nubbins
0.5 silver S3 w/ S2 holo NG	6	nubbins (confirmed by SaltySpitoon, escrow)
0.5 silver S3 w/ S2 holo NG	5.5	nubbins
1 Brass S1 NG	3	twmz
1 Brass S1 NG	4.5	austin
1 Brass S1 NG	4.5	DM90
1 Brass S1 MS-64	8	SgtSpike
1 Brass S1 MS-65	8	Nightowlace
1 Brass S1 MS-66	15	SgtSpike
1 Brass S1 MS-67 (first-day)	50	SgtSpike
5 Brass S1 NG	7.4	private
5 Brass S1 NG	7.5	twmz
10 Brass S2? Gold-painted B NG	25	StarenseN
100 Brass Bar S1	340	Chainsaw
1000 Gold Coin S1	1250 *1	Goat

Special Notes (as indicated by an asterisk and number, above)

a) The 1000 BTC coin was exchanged when Bitcoin held a spot value of ~ $800, and sold for $1,000,000. The buyer paid in a mix of fiat, BTC, and gold. For normalization purposes, I converted this to the BTC value.

PM me or post details of other graded holo errors if you care to, and I will gladly add them.

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[Chainsaw]

I've now sold about as many collectible pieces as I intend to at their current prices.  No current offerings at this time. I'll update here accordingly if and when that changes.


Prices: Negotiable. I'm also potentially interested in barter rather than strictly spot-BTC-for-collectible exchanges.

I'm about maxed on inventory, but for the right price could still make a few purchases. PM if you're considering a sale and looking for a buyer, though I'm mostly focused on slow, long-term sales at this point as the market continues to mature.

11/11/13 Update: Beginning slow price descent on offerings. Sorry for the tedious process, but the core aim is in establishing market prices for new collectibles. Being first has disadvantages in that the price could be very wrong. I want to help find proper prices for these coins, but not at the expense of depleting my inventory only to find out the initial prices were too low.

Denomination	Buy Price	Sell Price
1 BTC Brass S1 [NG]	-	5 5.5
1 BTC Brass S1 [MS-65]	-	6.5 9 7 8 9 10
1 BTC Brass S1 [MS-66]	-	13.5 20 14 16 17 18 20
5 BTC Brass S1 [MS-65]	-	11 12 14 15 16 18 20
25 BTC Brass S1 [MS-65]	-	55 60 70 85 75 80 82 85 90 100
100 BTC Brass Bar S1	-	300

350 400 340 349 360 400 420 450 500[/td]
[/tr]

[/table]

Likely for long-term storage, but for sale at the right price:
-A redemeed 1000 BTC bar with holo error.
-A set of Beta BitBills (1, 5, 10, 20 BTC) - predecessors to the Casascius coins. Most mintages in the low hundreds.

[SgtSpike]

------Denomination------	Buy Price	Sell Price
1 BTC – MS-66 (Oct)	-	15
1 BTC – MS-67 (1st day)	-	60

The MS67 first-day coin has been sold for 50 BTC. Payment has been received, and I will be shipping it shortly. The buyer may choose to reveal himself at his discretion.

For now, my other coin is off the market, as I'd like to keep at least one.

[ixne]

Is there any chance we can get this thread sticky'ed? It does encapsulate a lot of what is going on throughout this subforum...

[nubbins]

http://casascius.wordpress.com/2013/11/28/orders-suspended/

For the time being, I have suspended accepting new orders, pending resolution of some concerns I have as to regulatory issues. I am anticipating a possibility of having to prequalify buyers, and am holding off taking orders until I know for sure.

[casascius]

Heads up, please be aware of possible Casascius coin counterfeits.

http://casascius.wordpress.com/2013/12/10/possible-counterfeits-to-be-aware-of/

[SgtSpike]

I'm guessing this will have an effect on prices of Casascius coins?
http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/12/casascius/

[bitmarket.io]

What are you all doing to guard against possible counterfeits in the future?  I printed off all my e-mail interactions with Mike, and am laminating them, but I realize this does not ensure the coin is not a fake.  With prices rising, I fear this is going to be a bigger problem down the line since the first few characters in the windows can be faked with vanitygen.

Good question. Wish some special coating was applied to these coins which light up under a UV light to confirm if its genuine or not.

For now use your common sense and pay attention to the details.  How the coin was stamped/minted, was the sticker applied properly (is it leveled with the front... notice the 4 notches (above, below, left and right) around the sticker.  Observe the font and confirm it's the same one.  Make sure the color/tone of the font is correct as well (i'm talking about the prefix).  Check the weight make sure it's silver and not some junk silver coated.

I can see one faking these coins if they were determined and had extreme attention to detail.  I hope a duller mined mints the fakes to make them more obvious to spot.  But if someone take it seriously, it certainly can be done.  

[gentlemand]

I'm sure there are nefarious minds thinking about faking right now. It may be a while before they emerge in numbers.

I've kept the emails and the shipping label which should be a help. I guess if you got your coin graded now that's going to be a bonus too. I'm intrigued to see what will become of their values.

[Blazed]

Figured you guys might like this.. Won it in an auction from Mike (It is pictured all over the place with the Silver's and the article talking about him being shutdown)
Signed by Mike and made by his wife..thought it was pretty cool myself 

[Jsmpick]

Could someone explain the gradings to me please? I'm looking to purchase a coin for myself, just want to know which I should get

[Blazed]

ANACS is the only place that grades them.. The higher the number the better the coin.  The best I have seen is the MS-67 Casascius coin...pretty are the rest have been MS-66 and lower.

[casascius]

Reasons I'm likely to not sell more coins:

1. Don't want compliance hassle of being a money transmitter (this was a hobby project meant to promote awareness - moving money was never an objective)
2. Don't want security risk (the more valuable bitcoins get, the more professional the security must be and the more sophisticated attacks I must anticipate)
3. Don't want to make a mistake and become a bitcoin poster child (like Charlie Shrem, I feel like I'd be a high value prosecution target if I were to make some sort of legal mistake, just for my visibility alone)
4. Mission already accomplished (original mission was to help people become aware of bitcoin and to help people start conversations about it)
5. An appropriate mission nowadays would be to encourage people to store their own bitcoin safely on self-produced paper wallets instead of trusting others without recourse.  Continuing to produce other people's private keys is perverse toward that objective.
6. I feel like the more coins I sell, the more I accumulate a presumed liability in the form of people who must trust me not to scam them.  What happens if someone calls my trustworthiness into question, even without cause?  Then people might think I lied and kept the keys, and then someone might want to harm me.  Not what I signed up for.
7. I don't want to be in over my head.  Look at Mark Karpeles, his life is probably now ruined.  He could and should have quit while he was ahead.
8. It's honestly fun to see my past coins skyrocket in value.  That was never anticipated in the beginning, but I will be honest, I enjoy seeing them fetch ever higher prices on the secondary market.

[Chainsaw]

I've also never heard of an MS-68 or above in the Casascius realm.

Stereotype, re: the brass, this is not definitive data, but I've seen the gradings on those coins come in more in the MS-63 to MS-65 mark - a bit lower than other coins. I'm not sure if that was a minting change which resulted in less precise mint strikes, or maybe just bad luck on the part of the person that got their coins graded.

It remains true (and probably will for years) that the value-add from getting a coin graded is greater than the cost of the grading.

[Chainsaw]

There's a picture of a graded 25 BTC S1 MS-65 at this old thread:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=333913.0

(This particular coin is no longer available, though I do have an MS-65 with a pristine case (no scratches) available.)

I am not aware of any MS-66 25 BTC coins yet; so if there's any chance of it making that grade, I'd say you almost have to send it in. Such a piece would attract attention and demand :-)

[BayAreaCoins]

Ive never seen a MS-98 Casascius.

MS-70 is a perfect coin.  Coin grading is based on a 70 point system

[SgtSpike]

Surprisingly there is no data on the 1BTC Brass 2011 S2 coins.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=695984.0

Anyone interested in making an offer on one of these? Pictures coming REAL SOON.

There's some data about it. It's significantly more rare than the 2011 error coins, with only 516 minted and 434 still active. If your coin is in good condition I'd hold out for a very high offer, more than what people are paying for the 2011 series 1 error coins.

There is a difference between rarity and desirability.  The original coin with the S1 sticker has much more significance that the corrected S2 coin even though there are less of them.  It is the collectible aspect of being the 1st Casascius Coin that gives it the higher value based on demand.

Here is an auction that was completed in December.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=349215.0

There's definitely a difference between rarity and desirability. Desirability isn't always correlated with rarity, but rarity is often correlated with desirability.

I would have to agree with this. Rarity will drive the prices up long term. Desirability can sometimes be just a hype and it will die down in the future.

For a collector, long term wise, I would expect the premium for the more rare coins will outpace the coins that are more well known aka 2011 S1 error coins. Collectors are ALWAYS out for the rare and hard to get stuff. This is just my opinion.
 

Collectors also love to get the first edition of something.

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out in the future.

[OgNasty]

There's definitely a difference between rarity and desirability. Desirability isn't always correlated with rarity, but rarity is often correlated with desirability.

I can't let this go. If A is correlated with B, then B is correlated with A, by definition. What I think you meant to write was that desirability isn't always caused by rarity and rarity is often caused by desirability.

Correlation is not the same as causation.

I think correlation could be appropriate.  Whether there is one gorgeous woman on the planet or 4 billion, I will want one all the same.

Perhaps spoken more eloquently...  A man dying of thirst cares not the size of the river he drinks from.

[Possum577]

There's definitely a difference between rarity and desirability. Desirability isn't always correlated with rarity, but rarity is often correlated with desirability.

I can't let this go. If A is correlated with B, then B is correlated with A, by definition. What I think you meant to write was that desirability isn't always caused by rarity and rarity is often caused by desirability.

Correlation is not the same as causation.

Ah, great point. Thanks for calling me out on that and you're almost right about what I meant to say:

Desirability isn't always positively correlated with rarity, but rarity is often positively correlated with desirability.

I believe the more rare versions of these coins will be more desirable years from now. BUT, it's not the same as having the first coin minted by a country or currency type because so many people are already hoarding these coins as collectibles. Unless we see a lot of redemption over the years these coins will not become more rare than they are today, which will impact the secondary market.

[SgtSpike]

Speaking of collectability.... I would just like to point out that the 2011 MS-66 coin I am selling is one out of the first five physical bitcoins to ever be graded by ANACS.  I don't know how much this might affect how collectible this particular coin is, but I think it's pretty neat, and it's part of the reason I priced it a couple BTC above the going market rate.  See this thread (and click on the picture):  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=186098.0