I recommend molecular's service! Very fast delivery and great guy(s) to do business with!

It looks like he's back in business http://casascius.wordpress.com/2014/01/12/resuming-some-sales/  though unfunded unless you show up in person. Coolio.

Mixed blessing really. Shame to see Mike not being able to supply us with the funded coins like before, but all our other coins should now pre-2014 should increase in value.

The coins I plan to offer unfunded will have the following two distinctive features:

1. Quotation marks around the denomination: "1 BITCOIN" instead of 1 BITCOIN
2. The hologram won't say ONE BTC (etc.) but instead will say SELF FUNDED or something with similar effect.
3. Year >= 2014 (not a distinctive feature in and of itself, but will not make any earlier year coins with those features)

Physical air quotes on a physical bitcoin. How clever!

Seriously, just remove the value if it is not guaranteed.

Are you still trying to get permission for the original buissiness (selling funded coins)?
Or is this the new buissiness model and will you only sell funded coins person2person from now on?

AFAIK the coins were never pre-funded. The funds were always added after purchasers received their coins. This is no different; it's just you funding them upon receipt instead of Mike funding them.

i love the idea of being able to ship unfunded coins

back when these were 15 to even 100 dollars i thought nothing of taping 6 to cardboard and shipping across the country first class..never had a package go lost or take more then 5 days that i can remember even with several to Alaska and Hawaii

now for 6 coins we're talking highly insured express or registered mail


this is more so for the "funded" coins you will be selling in person...
have you ever considered making a system where a user pays the full 55btc (just an example) for 50 1s you do NOT fund them immediately but let the buyer request them in batches of 5 or something to be funded after being sold so it gives time for shipping

not sure how you would handle proof of them getting lost and refunding not funding an otherwise assumed to be funded coin though :/

This is a true advantage. Insurance cost (and risk, insurance only pay value at time of sending, loss however is admitted only 3 months after that) is getting ridiculously high as of late.

Regarding the potential for face to face sales I'd like those who are interested to contact me and let me know what they'd be interested in and what kind of deal.

(And, I ask, in a tongue in cheek manner, that I not be required to respond immediately)

I am still trying to figure what kind of interest there is, and what kind of logistics I'll need, and what steps I'll need to take in order to ensure I'm not creating personal security risks for myself or buyers.  It's difficult, because it doesn't take very many funded coins to make a routine of transacting them in person very dangerous.  Switching to unfunded coins wipes all of that out, and after deliberation, it's quite possible I may just offer only that.