Bitcoin Casting

[Afrikaaner]

Hey, I was wondering if there would be any demand for some cast bitcoins.  I have a foundry at home I built myself, and this would be a fun project I could hopefully make a few btc on.  obviously not legal tender, but i could make different sized keychains, paper-weights, etc in solid brass, aluminum, pretty much anything you wanted (not steel, i can't attain high enough temps for that...)

anyway, if you have any ideas or requests, please let me know!  cheers!

[Stephen Gornick]

Can something be made which has a private key inside (i.e., the cast secures the key inside, makes it tamper-evident)?

Perhaps a thin metal plate stamped with the private key?

I could see someone wanting a beer stein with a BTC in its base.    Where you would never break the stein to get at the value inside, ... or maybe some day you might just be tempted?  (I'm assuming the brass casting can be broken to get at the stamped metal plate or whatever is inside, or does the brass fuse together with the steel?)

Or maybe a physical bitcoin letter opener?  

Or a physical bitcoin drink coaster maybe?

Or maybe something that encases a Casascius physical bitcoin?  Like:


Or lets one be permanently attached?  Like:
 - http://img1.etsystatic.com/il_fullxfull.281425157.jpg

Lost of neat gift ideas here.

[Afrikaaner]

some good ideas in there, the only problem being i can't cast glass and have no experience working with it at all. 

but another thought i had was perhaps casting custom qr-codes that could link to a wallet or whatever as a keychain by using raised/recessed squares or polished/unfinished squares.  i should probably make something and post pictures, but I could most certainly cast fake bitcoin "paperweight" sort of things.

[Stephen Gornick]

some good ideas in there, the only problem being i can't cast glass and have no experience working with it at all.  

Even excluding the fancy glass enclosure I'ld bet having some kind of way to display a physical bitcoin as if it were a trophy would be interesting to some.

casting custom qr-codes

Ha, that's it!

For a bar or restaurant, create a drink coaster which has the bar's bitcoin address QR code.  Or, even better, each coaster has a unique address.   When you want another beer, scan the coaster and pay.  The bartender knows before your table server!

Or pay your dinner tab to it.  It's the bitcoin equivalent of Square's dongle thingy!



The private key could be used on Mt. Gox and the funds swept from that address into the exchange account as each payment arrives.