Here is just a random bit of internal info as to some of my practices for what they're worth. I thought I'd share just in case they could be useful, or inspire some other beneficial practice.
For the last while, I have been issuing coins with an incrementing prefix that I treat as a lot number, some of those prefixes have included... 1Ag1 1Ag2 1Ag3 1Ag4, 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 12A 12B etc
And have been using different runs to mean different coins: 1Aga 1Agb 1Agc are halfs, 1Ag1/2/3 are 1oz silver, 1Ag4/5/6/7 are gold plated silver etc... 12* are 1/2 btc brass, 13* are 1btc brass... The lot assignment is arbitrary, but at least I leave open the possibility that I can publish a meaningful list for anyone who feels they would benefit from the info.
Creating keys and numbering them this way has helped me manage supplies and helps implement some controls with respect to key creation, printing, and management. I print keys in sheets and then cut them... each lot corresponds to exactly one whole sheet. (so each sheet is self-identifying just by looking at the addresses, and they continue to be self-identifying after being cut). It lowers the possibility of making mistakes because some useful intelligence can be derived from those numbers...eg....that coin that fell on the floor, are we sure we dropped it there today or could it have been left from prior to today? When production is scaled to a multi-person team, doing this also lowers the attack surface with respect to the theoretical potential of inside fraud.
One of the biggest reasons I've done lots is in the case I somehow had the misfortune of having a large number of coins stolen at once. Fortunately that hasn't happened, but if that were to happen, it would be much easier to publish the lot number(s) of the stolen coins (which people could memorize or keep as a very short list) so as to maximally preserve the value of the remaining lots that are not involved in the theft, helping people quickly identify their coins as uninvolved. In order to exploit this benefit, I make every effort to make sure that each shipment contains coins from a single lot, or as few unique lots as possible. Sometimes rolls of coins contain a mixture of lots - I try to preserve those for occasions other than shipped orders (like if I'm somehow delivering the coins, or breaking the roll apart for my own promotional purposes, or selling single coins, or whatever).
Mike,
After watching your practices and purchasing coins from you I have devised a similar mechanism for tracking coin types. I have not improved upon your mechanism but merely mimic it for the time being.
For example my newer coins start with addresses as follows:
1 LTC BRASS starts with LTC1, LTC2, LTC3... except for the "5" and "X" prefixes.
5 LTC 1/4 oz silver starts with LTC51, LTC52, LTC53...
10 LTC (except the original batch) starts with LTCX1, LTCX2, LTCX3...
0.25 BTC 1/2 oz silver starts with 1BTC1, 1BTC2, 1BTC3...
0.5 BTC 1 oz silver starts with 1BTCz, 1BTCy, 1BTCx...
These last two coins I took a central point of the vanity list:
0.1 BTC 1/4 oz silver starts with 1BTCm, 1BTCl, 1BTCk...
1.0 BTC 1 oz silver gold plated are 1BTCn, 1BTCo, 1BTCp...
New: I am going to be releasing shortly a Bitcoin brass coin with 0.1 BTC denomination which starts with 1Btc1, 1Btc2, 1Btc3...
Note: about 50% of the time the batches overlap but I try to keep an updated list of addresses I have used so that when I go to cut more keys with my epilog laser (as you do) I know what address for that coin type I used last as they are all sorted alphanumerically.
My first 1/2 oz and 1 oz Litecoin runs do not use any vanity in the addresses.
It gets confusing with so many different types and sizes of coins. So this mechanism helps to identify if I am using the correct address when generating certificates or funding the coins as well as inventory.
I have not published an up to date list of coins addresses yet, but I will sometime in the future when I get an open moment to do so (as I am sure Mike you are also slammed with orders despite disabling your site from taking orders). The list will consist of set #'s, serial #'s, addresses etc. It will be a quite complex list (perhaps I overcomplicated things in producing my coins).
But anyway, thanks again Mike for sharing. Very much appreciated.
Aloha
