Hi,
I would like to offer for sale, this Casascius coin. I am the original owner, and I redeemed the coin myself, recently. I have done other high value, rare collectible sales on this forum, and I have never scammed anyone.
https://imgur.com/a/gFW3hmqA short note on why I redeemed the coin: Because I always wanted to, and there is a minor spot of corrosion on the face of the coin. I also wanted to redeem the coin in a very specific way, which I will describe and provide photos to illustrate the redemption process. I wanted to keep the coin looking as close to original as possible, without damaging the hologram any more than necessary.
How I redeemed the coin. I simply used a bright light, a very sharp, unused x-acto blade, and very clean hands. The innermost circle surrounding the bitcoin logo neatly lines up with a circular indentation in the coin surface. The indentation allows the printed paper, with private key, to sit inside that indentation, while the hologram lays flat over the top, rather than protruding out. By carefully tracing the outline of the circle with the blade, so that the tip of the knife pokes through the hologram and down just inside the edge of the indentation, the knife can be drawn forward around the circle, creating a fairly clean cut, which is also somewhat hard to see. I started off a little shaky, but figured out the pressure and motion about half way through the whole process. It took about 5 minutes. I left a 1 mm portion uncut to act as a sort of hinge, by which the key door can be opened. The hinge lines up with the printed public key so as to leave that inkjet text intact as much as possible. I then carefully opened the key door to read the private key and wrote that onto a paper, and then sealed the coin back up into the coin case to prevent any further damage. I find that the hologram remains in very nice looking condition, and preserves the original look of the coin. I also do not think this would pass off as intact under close scrutiny, but someone might be able to do this with even more accuracy, then slab the coin, and pass it off as intact, only to redeem the key at a later date. I sent off the BTC and most of the forks that have any value worth extracting and dealing with. There may be a few forks or airdrops left on the key, but I'm not going to waste my time with those.
What I hope to illustrate to others who may decide to redeem during this cycle, is that it is possible to extract the keys while leaving some of the collectible value in place. I know that there are blanks with a perfectly fine hologram, but this has a public key printed, which uniquely identifies the coin like a serial number, and so even after redeeming, it remains a unique and valued item for a collection. I understand the hesitation to mail an intact coin to a stranger from the internet. The premium is so low on these coins now, that the risk to premium value is barely worth finding a buyer. I also think that it is risky for a buyer to take possession of a coin with the intention of holding it for many years, while the possibility of fakes or other scammery is possible, allowing the BTC value to possibly vanish at any moment.
Original series 1 BTC coin
1PqVYzEFmhq2a6Fk6kXVnY2G7ai4qag7Ak
Created: 2012-01-27 07:08:22
From:
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Casascius_physical_bitcoins1.125 inches in diameter
Solid brass
Year printed on coins: 2011
Approximately 0.24 ounces
Eight-digit "firstbits" inkjetted onto surface of hologram sticker
First appeared in September 2011
Private key: 22 character string inside the coin
A spelling error can be found in the small lettering of the hologram: "CASACIUS" instead of "CASASCIUS"
If you have read this far, here are the terms of the sale. Make an offer, either here on the thread or in a PM. I sometimes don't check my messages for a couple days, so be patient. If you offer an absurdly low amount, I may not respond. I'll accept any top 100 POW crypto within reason, BTC, LTC, DCR, ALGO, SOL, TRON etc. (not ETH) so long as I can send it to an exchange or swap it to my own choice without paying a large transaction fee in the process.
I have seen the premiums of .1 to .15 BTC per intact coin recently, but I don't know what a nice looking redeemed coin would go for. Best to deal in increments of of .005 or .01 BTC
Escrow is required, at the buyers expense. I can send FedEx, UPS or USPS from the USA. I have worked with minerjones for escrow in the past. I will cover priority shipping cost to escrow, but not for overnight. I will ship via the escrow provider for verification of the item.
-Josh
https://imgur.com/a/gFW3hmq