Interest Pirates of the Carribean: New run of Aztec Gold Coins (24k gold plated metal coins)

[TomVDJ]

I assume his health issues have to do with not taking the necessary precautions when working with chemicals. He has lung-and breathing issues (not covid-related) and he does not smoke. So the next usual suspect...

Anyway, once I have the coins, I'll post some pictures and start collecting payments...

 

[TomVDJ]

Just called with my goldplater. He'll ship the coins to me next friday, so I'll receive them when I'm back from my holidays next week. Keep your funds ready people! Second week of august these will ship out!

P.S. This will also be the final run of these, since my goldplater closes down his business for good. He's retiring a few years earlier than planned due to health issues. Too bad, because this guy was able to goldplate things that most other goldplaters had no idea how to start on. Anyway, glad that he was still able to finish this commission...

 

[TomVDJ]

Someone PM-ed me about the aging on the coins. Totally forgot about that! But I'll try it out on one of the coins, once I have them in, so everybody can decide on aging or not.

 

[TomVDJ]

Finally! Treasure is here! Feast your eyes on this:

For those who want to make a pendant out of it: a close up of where the little hole is located to put a small brass ring through if you want:

As with the previous run, I'm quite happy on the details that were preserved during the goldplating process. Not an easy task: my goldplater told me it is a matter of finding a good balance between a plating that's thick enough, and preserving details. If the plating is too thick, details get lost, if plating is not thick enough, parts are not covered with plating. I think he did a great job. Take a look at the "segments" of the worm on top, the ear hangers and teeth of the skull, etc... Detailing on these is MUCH better than on the Master Replica ones!

Keep in mind that also the coins in this run are "licensed", since they came from an official pirates checkers game. I only added some 24k goldplating to them ;-).

In the meanwhile I also got a quote for shipping these. Shipping cost itself is pretty cheap, but tracking makes it quite expensive. Tracked shipping will be €20 (two coins can be shipped together, no additional cost there). Not willing to ship them without tracking. Don't want to have issues when a coin gets lost...

I also promised to post some pictures of a coin with a brownish wash applied to make it look more like in the screenshot I posted, and will try to do this by tomorrow.

Anyway, I'll send out a PM to all people on the interest list with payment details soon. So people who already know they don't want additional aging on their coin, can already make the payment and I can start shipping coins beginning of next week.

 

[eethan]

Awesome Tom! having all of them in one place is quite amazing, I'm sure you would love to keep them all
ready to pay as soon as you are ready too I'll wait for the brownish wash to be sure but I'm paying for my coin for sure
cheers

 

[TomVDJ]

OK, gave one of the coins a brown wash, and the result is not bad. It does pop the details, I think. This is a screencap of the movie:

And this is a picture in natural light of the coin with the wash (left, obviously) and one without the wash (right, duh):

I will not seal the "aged" finish! So if you want to get rid of it, just use some warm soap water and a toothbrush and you'll brush it right off.

I hope people can make their choice now if they want a wash or not. As said: no additional cost for this!

 

[Sumrtym]

Looks great! I'm sure all are spoken for, but I'd someone falls through I'd take an aged.

 

[TomVDJ]

I'll put you both on the backup list. I'll wait for payments until and of august. Spots that are not paid for by then, or where the person did not contact me about it, will go to people on the backup list.

In the meanwhile I have put a wash on the 5 coins that are paid for already. It's drying now, and going to polish the coins a bit again after that. Looks better than in the previous picture. I'll post some pics of the final result of the wash soon...

 

[TomVDJ]

5 first with a brown wash are ready (two normal ones in the bottom for comparison):

A better comparison pic:

To be honest, I think the brown wash really adds to the screen accuracy of the coin! Take a look:

Hope to ship the first batch out beginning of next week.

 

[eethan]

Really awesome Tom! looking forward to receive my coin

 

[MattgomeryBurns]

Finally! Treasure is here! Feast your eyes on this:

View attachment 1483953

View attachment 1483954

For those who want to make a pendant out of it: a close up of where the little hole is located to put a small brass ring through if you want:

View attachment 1483955

As with the previous run, I'm quite happy on the details that were preserved during the goldplating process. Not an easy task: my goldplater told me it is a matter of finding a good balance between a plating that's thick enough, and preserving details. If the plating is too thick, details get lost, if plating is not thick enough, parts are not covered with plating. I think he did a great job. Take a look at the "segments" of the worm on top, the ear hangers and teeth of the skull, etc... Detailing on these is MUCH better than on the Master Replica ones!

Keep in mind that also the coins in this run are "licensed", since they came from an official pirates checkers game. I only added some 24k goldplating to them ;-).

View attachment 1483960

In the meanwhile I also got a quote for shipping these. Shipping cost itself is pretty cheap, but tracking makes it quite expensive. Tracked shipping will be €20 (two coins can be shipped together, no additional cost there). Not willing to ship them without tracking. Don't want to have issues when a coin gets lost...

I also promised to post some pictures of a coin with a brownish wash applied to make it look more like in the screenshot I posted, and will try to do this by tomorrow.

Anyway, I'll send out a PM to all people on the interest list with payment details soon. So people who already know they don't want additional aging on their coin, can already make the payment and I can start shipping coins beginning of next week.

Please do a Scrooge McDuck with them

 

[TomVDJ]

Didn't hear from 7 people on the INT list yet. Since it are the holidays and people might be travelling, I'll wait until the end of august. If people on the INT list didn't pay or contact me by then, I'll open these spots for people on the back-up list.

Monday I'm going to age some more coins and prepare a first shipping so all coins paid for before monday can go out on Tuesday. I'll update the first post in this thread with tracking numbers once they got shipped.

 

[sycor]

Go ahead and add me to the back up list. I'm sure I won't get one though but I'll keep my fingers crossed.

 

[rockbottom]

Add me to the backup list as well. I already one from a previous run but having 2 would be even better.

 

[lmc3]

Payment sent for 1 w/ the brown wash! Looks great Tom! Thx again for offering these!!!
Cheers,
Len

 

[TomVDJ]

Only 4 left that are awaiting payment. I'll add the people that asked to the backup list, but I would not set mhy hopes too high. Maybe the first one or two have a chance of getting one in september.

Anyway, the backup list is available if someone is deciding to do another run. The coins themselves (from the checkers game) are not too hard to find (certainly in the US). It's just a matter of drilling small holes so they can be hanged, and then find a goldplater who can manage to plate these (since there is some kind of coating on the coins already). Once a goldplater has been found, it's a piece of cake.

Maybe Sarednab can look into this for a next run if he has succes with the goldplating of the resin False Grails? If a goldplater can tackle goldplating resin, then chances are big that he can also goldplate these coins? Anyway, always happy to give advise or info to someone who will do another run of these, but I'm not going to do another run myself.

 

[Sarednab]

The problem with false grail is cause it is in resin, but there will not be problem to plate metal item, in that case this coins

 

[aaronstreet2020]

Hi Tom, I’d be interested in one if there are any available still

 

[The Terminator]

Nice comparison in the last image posted. It's still not very screen accurate. Such a shame
Still looks great though! Very shiny!

 

[TomVDJ]

Nice comparison in the last image posted. It's still not very screen accurate. Such a shame
Still looks great though! Very shiny!

The sculpt is still a bit off (a bit too "thick"), but in my opinion it's already ten times better than the "licensed" MR coins. They said these would be cast from the original, but I really doubt that (or the person that made the molds did a TERRIBLE job and lost almost all the details).

So I think this will be the most screen accurate coin you will ever see (unless someone really can make casts of a screen used hero coin and goldplate them).