Suggestion to Mike: in your best practices for private key redemption, your blog says that the satoshi client does not support importprivkey.
This should be corrected since the new version of the satoshi client does offer the feature via its "help>debug window>console" tab.
Then just type help at the command line if you need it.
Question: are there high res pix of the 0.5 BTC coin and silver coins available ?
I need them to update my shop (microbitcoin.fr).
The Satoshi client, as far as I know, does not support 30-character minikey redemption. It only allows redemption of 51-character keys.
I posted high resolution pics to the Bitcoin Wiki, just look at my revision history. Note they aren't professional shots, but at least they are higher than screen resolution.
I can see where the confusion comes from as the term "private key" is sometimes used interchangeably with "mini private key".
Boussac, the mini key you obtain needs to be converted to the 51-char key (WIF) by either going to bitaddress.org and inputting your minikey into the details page/tab or inputting it into Casascius' key gen tool. Then import it using the importprivkey command from the debug window -> console tab.
Initially I, too, was confused about this as well so I can see where the misconception or overlooked details may come into play.
