CASASCIUS PHYSICAL BITCOIN - In Stock Now! (pic)

[dnaleor]

Indeed. I have some aluminium casascius coins and load them with a few mBTC for birthdays. Great gift!  
I gave a friend 100 mBTC in july 2013. He is very happy with is "10$ gift" at the moment

Have you found a good place to buy holograms for the blank cas-coins? (I am not talking about real casascious hologram, but "any" hologram that fits and look pretty).

I didn't use holograms. the private key is visible ... I used round stickers

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[cypherdoc]

Couple of reasons why grading is good imo
1) It does seal them from oxidation
2) You know how good of quality the coins is...some of the brass coins sold will grade much lower than others
3) If these were ever counter fitted...would be nice to show it was slabbed before it happened (not 100% sure it matters, but wouldn't hurt)

The grading costs are not really that high depending on how fast you want them back.

2) what's the reference point that ANACS works from?
3) i assume slabbing represents a permanent seal.  won't buyers prefer to be able to inspect coins more closely in an unsealed form?

[Blazed]

The slab shows 100% of the coin...and if a buyer wants to handle the coin then they would have to break the slab.

[Blazed]

http://www.numismedia.com/fmv/grades.shtml

[wafdawg]

The market on these has dropped off quite a bit price wise.  Within the last 2 weeks some of these have sold for as low as 2BTC

Cause?

Probably due the rise of bitcoin from 450 to 650 in terms of fiat.

[molecular]

Depends on condition, and if it has been graded.  Non graded these days are going for 2.5 - 3BTC.  Recently I auctioned off a graded 2011 error (MS-65) and it fetched 3.4BTC

Why do I recall 10x prices from just a year ago?

I recall BTC 6 about a year ago. Bitcoin was at $180 or so back then. So price in fiat has risen, in fact.

The "numismatic markup" doesn't scale with BTCUSD rate.

[molecular]

The market on these has dropped off quite a bit price wise.  Within the last 2 weeks some of these have sold for as low as 2BTC

Cause?

Not sure 

I think price has only dropped in BTC terms, not USD terms. Correct?

[molecular]

Well I am scared to sell them on eBay 

I totally agree as I've never done that myself.

I've tried it... once. ebay and paypal suck for sellers. Got an ok price, but the fees and regulations ruined the fun.

That's why I'd  only ever sell these for bitcoin.

good idea

[Melbustus]

The 2011 error coins have typically sold for between 3 and 5 BTC in auctions/goods here on the forum. On eBay, they've fetched a bit more (if you were to convert back to BTC), but only briefly during each hype/boom period.

In general, the premiums seem to go up a bit during the boom phases (yes, even as the price is rising rapidly) and fall during the bear markets.

[Melbustus]

I have sold off all my duplicates, but will always keep some Casascius stuff    I even have a really rare 1 of a kind item signed by Mike hanging on my wall.  Casascius is for sure a cool part of BTC

I need to understand something.

Is it your contention that these coins will somehow degrade in quality over time and one needs to have them sealed in a container? Is the value also enhanced by getting a  grading from this ANACS organization even though it seems expensive?

They will indeed degrade, both the brass and silver coins, without being in a container (unless, perhaps, they're in some temp/humidity controlled room). Specifically, if there are finger prints on the brass coins, the metal will tarnish (in the pattern of the finger print) after about 6 months... And if the silvers are exposed to humidity, they also tarnish.

[cypherdoc]

I have sold off all my duplicates, but will always keep some Casascius stuff    I even have a really rare 1 of a kind item signed by Mike hanging on my wall.  Casascius is for sure a cool part of BTC

I need to understand something.

Is it your contention that these coins will somehow degrade in quality over time and one needs to have them sealed in a container? Is the value also enhanced by getting a  grading from this ANACS organization even though it seems expensive?

They will indeed degrade, both the brass and silver coins, without being in a container (unless, perhaps, they're in some temp/humidity controlled room). Specifically, if there are finger prints on the brass coins, the metal will tarnish (in the pattern of the finger print) after about 6 months... And if the silvers are exposed to humidity, they also tarnish.

So are you slabbing all yours? 

[Blazed]

I slab every Casascius and Lealana I buy / trade.  The only time I do not slab them is if I can tell they will grade low... sub MS-63

[Pistachio]

I slab every Casascius and Lealana I buy / trade.  The only time I do not slab them is if I can tell they will grade low... sub MS-63

What do you include on the ANACS submission form? Do you include a copy of the COA for Lealana coins? I am planning to send a few in to be graded.

[Yankee (BitInstant)]

I slab every Casascius and Lealana I buy / trade.  The only time I do not slab them is if I can tell they will grade low... sub MS-63

What do you include on the ANACS submission form? Do you include a copy of the COA for Lealana coins? I am planning to send a few in to be graded.

Here is a copy of my recent ANACS form:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/eon7cpxs4zedvsh/anacs.pdf

[cypherdoc]

I slab every Casascius and Lealana I buy / trade.  The only time I do not slab them is if I can tell they will grade low... sub MS-63

What do you include on the ANACS submission form? Do you include a copy of the COA for Lealana coins? I am planning to send a few in to be graded.

Here is a copy of my recent ANACS form:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/eon7cpxs4zedvsh/anacs.pdf

Thanks Charlie, that was helpful.

Man, that would be expensive. Could you really trust them with more than a few of these? 

[Blazed]

Yes ANACS grades coins worth over 100k a piece all the time.

[Blazed]

I slab every Casascius and Lealana I buy / trade.  The only time I do not slab them is if I can tell they will grade low... sub MS-63

What do you include on the ANACS submission form? Do you include a copy of the COA for Lealana coins? I am planning to send a few in to be graded.

No do not include your CoA with the coins

[dnaleor]

I have sold off all my duplicates, but will always keep some Casascius stuff    I even have a really rare 1 of a kind item signed by Mike hanging on my wall.  Casascius is for sure a cool part of BTC

I need to understand something.

Is it your contention that these coins will somehow degrade in quality over time and one needs to have them sealed in a container? Is the value also enhanced by getting a  grading from this ANACS organization even though it seems expensive?

They will indeed degrade, both the brass and silver coins, without being in a container (unless, perhaps, they're in some temp/humidity controlled room). Specifically, if there are finger prints on the brass coins, the metal will tarnish (in the pattern of the finger print) after about 6 months... And if the silvers are exposed to humidity, they also tarnish.

what I'm interested in... Does the private key also degrade?
I never opened a casascius coin, and all the coins I own are from 2013, so I'm not panicking. BUt I can imagine the private key could become unreadable. Does anybody know how it is actually stored?

[cypherdoc]

If one wanted to avoid the expense and risk of ANACS, could one shrink rap a pile of these and successfully prevent oxidation that way?  Or even a simple zip lock bag?

[molecular]

If one wanted to avoid the expense and risk of ANACS, could one shrink rap a pile of these and successfully prevent oxidation that way?  Or even a simple zip lock bag?

Or just keep them in the vaccuumed roll of 50 they received them in, for those who have been that smart (not me, unfortunately, but I know of someone who has 2 rolls of 50 in original packaging)

Edit: I keep mine in ziploc-bags. Not sure wether that will prevent oxidation, though. More important is not to touch them (without gloves), I think.