Bitcoin Security Holograms - Artwork Sample

[Elxiliath]

For example on Casascius Coins, the private key is on a piece of paper that faces into the coin.  The hologram simply indicates that the paper hasn't been accessed.

You won't put private keys on the hologram, you would use them to cover a private key.

As it turns out, I actually do own a laser engraving machine.  But I am not lasering the holograms, the factory is.  I am pretty sure they laser the foil layer before it gets attached to the plastic layer of the sticker.  The foil presumably requires a much higher temperature to vaporize that the plastic would never withstand.  Where they mark at the factory, you see a complete absence of foil with no side effects to the plastic.

I have experimented with my machine... if I laser the stickers, I melt the plastic and create a sort of glittery effect as the plastic and the foil sort of melt together.  There is no feasible way for me to have any effect on the foil without having a much greater effect on the plastic.

My laser equipment is particularly handy for cutting pages of private keys into little circles that precisely fit the hollowed out portion of the coin that holds them.  But a good oversize hole punch would do the same thing (and worked for me before I got the laser machine).  I suppose with a hole punch, you play a guessing game on getting a perfect fit, where with the laser, I can cut any size I want.  (That is why, for example, I now put 30 characters in my coins instead of 22 - more precision means more usable printing room.)

You are correct that they laser the foil before adding other layers.  I've actually spoken to a few companies about producing custom holograms for Bitcoin bills.  They requested a similar figure for my own custom design.  My original idea was to have the private key as a QR code on each hologram, but no one had the ability to do custom holograms for each one without paying an insane amount for the order due to each needing a custom foil created.  The idea from them was suggested to have QR codes printed on each hologram though.

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[allten]

They can already cut circles.

The laser can cut the material easily but the edge becomes rough. Just have them cut it.

Quite honestly, I use my laser machine on the stickers themselves as little as possible because it is time consuming. Only for marking the gold coin and the 2 factor bars. Look at how I have these items priced as a result.

(Of course, I also use it for cutting out private key circles, which is WAY easier than hole punching when it is thousands at a time, and also allows an exact fit)

Got it. Laser idea is officially canned. Thanks for humoring my questions.

Next set a questions. I'll try to put them all in this post to avoid stringing them along.

1)Why did you choose a $500 dollar commitment price?
I'm assuming it is because of the added hassle to keep track of those who are committed, partially committed, and those that are pulling out after committing.
It could be a real hassle.

2) How do larger orders effect the price/sticker? Can you provide a quotes for different ranges?
Re-reading the original post, it sounds like the minimum payment is $3000 dollars for 9600 sticker (Large ones).
That is about  32 cents a sticker.
You had made the following comment

"Also, if I can get 8 shares worth of commitment ($4000), I can bump the order up a bit, and in the process, everybody can get 25% worth of yield added to their order at no extra cost (so, everyone expecting 2,500 holograms would get 3,125 instead).  The response has been good - from the looks of it, this might actually happen!"

I'm just curious where the break points are for even larger orders

3)If there is a repeat order, what are the quotes? Is it the same?
It seems there was a fee for the initial setup, if this is true, I'm curious on the minimum costs to make a repeat order.

Thanks again. I only ask because I'm seriously considering committing enough to make this happen.
However, I'm also interested in understanding what it would take to make it happen a second, and even third time.

[casascius]

1)Why did you choose a $500 dollar commitment price?
I'm assuming it is because of the added hassle to keep track of those who are committed, partially committed, and those that are pulling out after committing.
It could be a real hassle.

It's mainly for sufficient granularity for my order.  This is an order to a factory.  Saying "I want to place 1 order but have it in 6 variations all in equal quantity" is sensible.  Sending them a laundry list of little arbitrarily-sized orders will cause them to treat it as a bunch of little orders, best addressed to a retailer rather than a factory.

2) How do larger orders effect the price/sticker? Can you provide a quotes for different ranges?
Re-reading the original post, it sounds like the minimum payment is $3000 dollars for 9600 sticker (Large ones).
That is about  32 cents a sticker.
You had made the following comment
I'm just curious where the break points are for even larger orders

3)If there is a repeat order, what are the quotes? Is it the same?
It seems there was a fee for the initial setup, if this is true, I'm curious on the minimum costs to make a repeat order.

Thanks again. I only ask because I'm seriously considering committing enough to make this happen.
However, I'm also interested in understanding what it would take to make it happen a second, and even third time.

Please read the thread from the beginning.  Let me point out the following

1. There is no offer anymore, it was retracted more than six months prior to your post asking these questions.  The notion of whether I could continue to provide quotes relative to it anymore isn't sensible.
2. This is an offer to combine small orders into one larger order with a factory.  I am not the factory.  Think of me much like the person splitting the tab at a bar, putting the whole tab on my credit card while you pay me your share in cash.  I'm still a patron just like you, I don't become the bartender.  I'm splitting a bill given to me by someone else.  Therefore I cannot issue quotes, give discounts, or make proposals for repeat orders.
3. There is no "quantity discount" - the purpose of my original offer was to provide access to holograms below the minimum quantity for a factory order.  Consider the similarity to asking Costco if they have a quantity discount on 10 cans of Sprite from their soda machine while unaware of the fact that they sell 36 packs of Sprite inside the store.  If you are interested in a large enough quantity to merit a discount, what I was offering wouldn't benefit you - consider contacting companies directly and placing your own order, which comes with the highly valuable flexibility of having your name directly embedded in the holography, rather than zapped on as an afterthought.

[allten]

1)Why did you choose a $500 dollar commitment price?
I'm assuming it is because of the added hassle to keep track of those who are committed, partially committed, and those that are pulling out after committing.
It could be a real hassle.

It's mainly for sufficient granularity for my order.  This is an order to a factory.  Saying "I want to place 1 order but have it in 6 variations all in equal quantity" is sensible.  Sending them a laundry list of little arbitrarily-sized orders will cause them to treat it as a bunch of little orders, best addressed to a retailer rather than a factory.

2) How do larger orders effect the price/sticker? Can you provide a quotes for different ranges?
Re-reading the original post, it sounds like the minimum payment is $3000 dollars for 9600 sticker (Large ones).
That is about  32 cents a sticker.
You had made the following comment
I'm just curious where the break points are for even larger orders

3)If there is a repeat order, what are the quotes? Is it the same?
It seems there was a fee for the initial setup, if this is true, I'm curious on the minimum costs to make a repeat order.

Thanks again. I only ask because I'm seriously considering committing enough to make this happen.
However, I'm also interested in understanding what it would take to make it happen a second, and even third time.

Please read the thread from the beginning.  Let me point out the following

1. There is no offer anymore, it was retracted more than six months prior to your post asking these questions.  The notion of whether I could continue to provide quotes relative to it anymore isn't sensible.
2. This is an offer to combine small orders into one larger order with a factory.  I am not the factory.  Think of me much like the person splitting the tab at a bar, putting the whole tab on my credit card while you pay me your share in cash.  I'm still a patron just like you, I don't become the bartender.  I'm splitting a bill given to me by someone else.  Therefore I cannot issue quotes, give discounts, or make proposals for repeat orders.
3. There is no "quantity discount" - the purpose of my original offer was to provide access to holograms below the minimum quantity for a factory order.  Consider the similarity to asking Costco if they have a quantity discount on 10 cans of Sprite from their soda machine while unaware of the fact that they sell 36 packs of Sprite inside the store.  If you are interested in a large enough quantity to merit a discount, what I was offering wouldn't benefit you - consider contacting companies directly and placing your own order, which comes with the highly valuable flexibility of having your name directly embedded in the holography, rather than zapped on as an afterthought.

Thanks.

[johnnyjames2010]

Hey there mike,
I have ordered the blanks from  you a few weeks ago, I'm very happy with these.
I looked up the hologram sticker,  I found the place poly.. in Ontario Canada
I like the posts you mentioned coming out to salt lake city, UT  and witness the process and verify.. im interested if this is still possible..
 I kno they cracked down on u selling the loaded coins.. but we don't want to do it like that.
if your interested in this
please  contact me back.
thank you
JJ