High-resolution images of physical bitcoins

[Steve]

Very nice casascius!

[ChrisColon]

Is there any chance the coins will be available through a distributor in europe at some point? I'd buy a couple as presents (and one for myself because they're awesome) but not if I have to deal with customs. The last time I had to was when I bought some merchandising from the U.S. You wouldn't believe the amount of documents I had to send in before I finally received the parcel. And then the postman who delivered the parcel and collected the customs fees didn't have any idea if he needed to do anything special, like letting me sign some extra paperwork, so after a minute or two he just gave me the parcel reluctantly.

[ctoon6]

Is there any chance the coins will be available through a distributor in europe at some point? I'd buy a couple as presents (and one for myself because they're awesome) but not if I have to deal with customs. The last time I had to was when I bought some merchandising from the U.S. You wouldn't believe the amount of documents I had to send in before I finally received the parcel. And then the postman who delivered the parcel and collected the customs fees didn't have any idea if he needed to do anything special, like letting me sign some extra paperwork, so after a minute or two he just gave me the parcel reluctantly.

hide the coins in the binding of some children's books, like they did with cocaine i think it was.

[ChrisColon]

hide the coins in the binding of some children's books, like they did with cocaine i think it was.

Thanks But that wouldn't help. I would still have to deal with customs because of the children's books. I don't want to dodge taxes on the bitcoins or anything, I just don't want to deal with the customs office because their bureaucratic process is way too sadistic for my taste.

[casascius]

For international shipments, I have been thinking of shipping the coins with zero value, but keeping a bitcoin transaction queued up to load the coins either upon delivery confirmation, or automatically after a certain number of days has passed.

The reason for this would be so that I can plausibly declare the coins as having a negligible value, while still having control over maintaining the non-proliferation of zero-value Casascius Physical Bitcoins.

[cypherdoc]

i just received my order.  FANTASTIC!  Beautiful looking!  checked the balance of the first 4 and all had the one btc.  i don't need to check any others.

Thank you, Casascius.  Very cool.

[bg002h]

@op: how do I check the balance in the blockexplorer?

The fine print says 'casacius' instead of 'casascius'

Uhh. Not really.

Yes. Really.  Look to the left and right of inner circle.

K, you're right. Just saw the small print.

@ Casascius:

Is this code on the back


the public key?
.

Forgive me if this was already discussed, but the address pictured had no value at the time of the original post...now it contains 1 bitcoin...are you loading them as you fill orders? Are the private addresses really destroyed (save the copy in the coin)?

Btw - Like bitbills.com, this is a great idea...and quite frankly, I don't give a crap if you can't spell (or edit, really) and don't know jack about Latin. Getting the product out the door and the ingenuity to get the project up and running is far more important in the real world...a much more important contribution to Bitcoin than some pompous @$$ (not quoted) and his comments.

DrG
1DrGossc3QidjzgDXzveCAQGiPWsoiDZ8C

[cypherdoc]

after getting home tonite i've had a chance to inspect them even more closely than at work. i missed the point that the holograms on the back are 3D.  difficult to appreciate w/o the correct lighting.  looks very cool.  these are true works of art.  i'm just as proud of the fact that they are Casascius coins as they are physical Bitcoins.  

[dayfall]

how much does each one of these weigh?

6.6 grams

[deepceleron]

Forgive me if this was already discussed, but the address pictured had no value at the time of the original post...now it contains 1 bitcoin...are you loading them as you fill orders? Are the private addresses really destroyed (save the copy in the coin)?

Darnit, I guess I'm too late to vanitygen that address for firstbits and put 100BTC on it!

[casascius]

Forgive me if this was already discussed, but the address pictured had no value at the time of the original post...now it contains 1 bitcoin...are you loading them as you fill orders? Are the private addresses really destroyed (save the copy in the coin)?

Yes and yes.  I load each coin once I have confirmed that I haven't rejected it for some reason (such as ruining the label while peeling it - which happens a fair bit - and there's only one for each address).  Of course, only the public addresses are needed for this process.  I have a little app that helps me load them in large batches using the bitcoind "sendmany" RPC command.

The private keys were generated on a fresh OS install dedicated just for the purpose, on a computer that never connected to any networks, and the entire batch printed on sheets of paper directly from that machine.  I have since securely erased the hard drive.

[BkkCoins]

Forgive me if this was already discussed, but the address pictured had no value at the time of the original post...now it contains 1 bitcoin...are you loading them as you fill orders? Are the private addresses really destroyed (save the copy in the coin)?

Yes and yes.  I load each coin once I have confirmed that I haven't rejected it for some reason (such as ruining the label while peeling it - which happens a fair bit - and there's only one for each address).  Of course, only the public addresses are needed for this process.  I have a little app that helps me load them in large batches using the bitcoind "sendmany" RPC command.

The private keys were generated on a fresh OS install dedicated just for the purpose, on a computer that never connected to any networks, and the entire batch printed on sheets of paper directly from that machine.  I have since securely erased the hard drive.

Loading them after arrival confirmed by customer also means you can be sure the value isn't lost if the coin is lost/stolen. Which means you could use lower cost shipping like air mail.

On the other hand there's no reason why the customer couldn't load the value after arrival and just pay you for a blank coin (has address+key), removing that whole process from your workload.

Either way, only by looking in the block chain do you know what value the coin actually holds.

[casascius]

On the other hand there's no reason why the customer couldn't load the value after arrival and just pay you for a blank coin (has address+key), removing that whole process from your workload.

There is a reason, and it's that I don't want zero-value intact physical bitcoins in the wild.  Otherwise nobody can trust on sight that when they receive one, that it actually contains a bitcoin.  They would have to look it up, which defeats the purpose of having a physical bitcoin.  I realize these are probably going to be collected more than traded, but they still need to remain genuine for them to really have any value.  I'd be willing to load them late for customs purposes, but I'm not willing to sell unloaded coins with an intact hologram.

I will, however, sell the Bitcoin coin blanks without the hologram and without any value for 0.15 BTC.  I would also offer quantity discounts since I don't have to assemble them.

[oOoOo]

I would be interested in these, but only once the two issues with the misspelling and the bad latin are fixed in the next batch.

Suggestions for the latin thing:
"vires numeris" or
"vires numerorum" (power of the numbers) or
"vires per numeros" (<- not sure about this, my latin reaches its limits here )

.

[Boussac]

"vires in numeris" is a known, old latin motto that I have seen before. It is perfectly correct gramatically to mean something like united we stand stronger..

[deepceleron]

On the other hand there's no reason why the customer couldn't load the value after arrival and just pay you for a blank coin (has address+key), removing that whole process from your workload.

There is a reason, and it's that I don't want zero-value intact physical bitcoins in the wild.  Otherwise nobody can trust on sight that when they receive one, that it actually contains a bitcoin.

Loading them after arrival confirmed by customer also means you can be sure the value isn't lost if the coin is lost/stolen. Which means you could use lower cost shipping like air mail.

A stolen or lost-in-transit unloaded coin would still be a "zero-value intact physical bitcoin in the wild". If coins were illegitimately obtained, we must still be able to trust their value (just like real stolen bitcoins ). Looks like he's doing it right in not letting them get out without being loaded. If you wanted to, you could send more money to the coin though!

---

I have my own set of questions...

- what does a peeled coin and it's prize look like,
- how does a tampered coin look after best efforts to replace hologram (remove with hair-dryer, replace perfectly),
- what does the private key look like, is it on the back of the hologram, or a little piece of paper? base58 or ?
- does a coin survive a trip through the washing machine and dryer?
- how are the keys/address printed, does a printing company also get these numbers, are they printed out on another sheet you use to load the coins, and when is that destroyed, etc. A clarification of how many eyes have seen the key.
- are you making sure the address is a unique firstbits before loading?
- what 3d features to look for in original hologram (vs Chinese counterfeit - and don't think they won't fake anything of value. Counterfeiting these coins would just be buying them, redeeming them, and putting them back in the wild with a counterfeit hologram. If they will fill gold bars with tungsten, they will fill coins with BTC good only for the PayPal dispute period)
 
Such questions might be better answered on the ordering website for that "secure" feeling.

Although you're probably not looking for design by committee, I have a few ideas for v2.

- The next round of holograms could have "casascius.com" instead, so a recipient knows to go there and see info about the coins.
- The hologram field (where the misspelling is) could be less 'brand-heavy', such as the words "tamper protected secure"
- The word "original" (especially if peeling alters this) could be "genuine" "authentic".
- Your website could have a "lookup your coin" feature to see the full address and balance, or a form that submits the coin to firstbits to get the full address.
- We assume the coin mainly circulates un-redeemed due to the higher cost than face value, but if someone wants to import and use the digital currency, some instructions for importing might be useful.

I can also see a clever programmer coming up with a website/gateway where you can input a private key, another bitcoin address, and amount to send, and the website can send the bitcoin to that address.

I will, however, sell the Bitcoin coin blanks without the hologram and without any value for 0.15 BTC.  I would also offer quantity discounts since I don't have to assemble them.

I would suggest striking out the value or other stamping on the front with a die on sample coins for the above counterfeit concern.

Edit: Previous post shows this is a peeled coin:

[Nagle]

If you are too incompetent/idle to get any of the 'outside' of the coin right, how can people be sure the printing on the 'inside' - the private keys - has been handled correctly? There is no way of telling without destroying the coin so trust is a key issue. Frankly I'm not exactly brimming with confidence you've got each and every ~30-char private key right for thousands of coins when you can't even spell your own name on the damn things.

I have to agree.  The Bitcoin world has too many players who 1) expect people to trust them, and 2) are clearly not very good at what they're doing.

[spiccioli]

"vires in numeris" is a known, old latin motto that I have seen before. It is perfectly correct gramatically to mean something like united we stand stronger..

Boussac,

you're wrong, I don't want to start a new thread about this issue; if you search the forum you'll find a long thread about this wrong motto that keeps coming out.

Cheers.

spiccioli.

[casascius]

Maybe I will run a limited run with "WHO IS JOHN GALT" in place of "VIRES IN NUMERIS".

[deepceleron]

If you are too incompetent/idle to get any of the 'outside' of the coin right, how can people be sure the printing on the 'inside' - the private keys - has been handled correctly? There is no way of telling without destroying the coin so trust is a key issue. Frankly I'm not exactly brimming with confidence you've got each and every ~30-char private key right for thousands of coins when you can't even spell your own name on the damn things.

I have to agree.  The Bitcoin world has too many players who 1) expect people to trust them, and 2) are clearly not very good at what they're doing.

If it is limited in its release, then the variation may have numismatic value. We would think that the US Mint wouldn't be so incompetent that they would strike one side of a dollar coin with the die for a quarter, but they did, and the coins that got out are now worth over $50,000.