Fantasy Registry Sets?
MrEureka
Posts: 24,419 ✭✭✭✭✭
I woke up this morning with a crazy idea in my head.
Imagine if PCGS sold Fantasy Registry rights to each imaged slab in their database. Only one available for each slab. Priced at $1 each. No more than three a day per customer. With a Fantasy Registry on which the images could be collected and displayed, same as with the current Registry. Except you don't actually have to own the coin, you just have to own the right to use the image in your Fantasy Registry Set. Collectors could buy and sell their Fantasy Registry rights between themselves online. Not for real money, but for Fantasy Bucks. For a commission to CU, of course, paid for in Fantasy Bucks. And where do the collectors get Fantasy Bucks in the first place? Those could be paid for in real money, or received in perks for every coin submitted for grading, or won as prizes for Fantasy Registry Awards or live trivia contests or any number of other ways.
I think it would be fun and really healthy for the hobby, especially because it would tend to broaden collectors' collecting interests.
And in case anyone is wondering, all I had before going to sleep last night was a little bit of scotch.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
Comments
I think you need to drink a lot more scotch so you don't have any more dreams like this one.
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
More Scotch will fix those weird dream problems.
I've thought of something like this, but in my model there would be no exclusivity or payment. It would be more like collections on Pinterest but with coin set definitions.
If there is exclusivity and payment involved as described above, I think only coins enrolled by their owners should be included and then the owners should get a cut of the payment every time there's a transaction. If the coin owners don't get a say, it could be a disincentive to have coins graded by PCGS or have TrueView photos (like some major collectors avoid today).
I also don't think having them priced at $1 each would work since people would almost need to get them by luck and PCGS makes no money, but people can earn much more reselling . I think each coin's price should be determined by an auction process.
I could possibly get into this.
I don't think the owner of the coin has any right or need to own the Fantasy rights. It's a completely separate game.
Starting each coin at $1 would create a land rush, sort of like Bitcoin in the early days. Get in early, buy up the best coins really cheap, and then maybe use them for trading material later. Limiting people to 3 coins a day ensures that nobody gets to crowd out the competition and kill the game for everyone.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
It appears the owner would be able to remove their coins from the game by removing PCGS certification or disincentivize the game by removing TrueView photos.
I'm not sure why initial purchase would be in real money but secondary-market transactions would be in fantasy money. It seems more exciting if secondary market sales were done real money as well, with PCGS getting a cut each time.
If the coin owners were given the choice to enroll their coins in the game and get a cut, they would have more incentive to support the game and not remove their coins/TrueViews from PCGS.
I can't think of any reason why the owner of a coin would have a problem with people fantasizing about owning his coin. And even if I'm wrong, it sounds like a problem that can easily be solved.
As for using real money, I don't like it. The whole idea of the game, as far as I'm concerned, is to get everyone from schoolchildren to executives playing the game on a more or less equal footing. Keeping the stakes ultra-low is essential.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
If I end up being reduced to fantasizing, it sure as he11 won't be about a coin.
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
The rules as laid out sound complicated enough that I probably wouldn't be interested. I would more likely participate if I could just go through CoinFacts images and assemble fantasy Registry sets from my favorite coins therein. I've done that in my head any number of times.
It occurs to me that someone other than PCGS could fairly easily construct a web site that facilitates exactly what I just suggested. Maybe I'll do it with all this free time!
EDIT: It occurs to me that there would probably be copyright issues with linking to TrueViews on a non-PCGS web site.
We can play this game right now for free. It would be a lot easier if PCGS had ALL trueviews available on coinfacts like they used to be.
But in any case, just go browse the top registry sets, save your favorite coin images, and there you go - fantasy set. Having pcgs set up a place for you to compare and contrast with friends may be fun but this should be a free activity.
Maybe we should start a thread to test it out with a small type set. E.g. nickels.
Edit: on second thought, everyone posting ~9 coins in a thread may be tough. Maybe a better idea for a forum activity is to "post the greatest [any coin] of all time."
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I think it's a really fun idea. Sort of like fantasy football or something. Allowing trades and such. Are there many members who do fantasy football? Obviously some players are on multiple teams in some fashion.
Absolutely should be free or nominal cost. I could finally complete Judd-1 to Judd-50! Imagine that fantasy team, talk about dream team!
I don't play fantasy sports but this sounds intriguing.
"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working" Pablo Picasso
It's one thing to fantasize about it as many can do it. It's another to say one person "owns" it in a game that's not him or her. As to reasons, it's hard to say. I never used to think people would have a problem with their coins being shown on CoinFacts, even though PCGS owns the images.
Of course, people don't have a problem with fantasy football and there's money involved there, but there isn't one official owner there.
If it uses fantasy money, there needs to be a way to earn the fantasy money. In games, the better you are at playing, the more fantasy money you earn. How would people earn fantasy money here? A simpler approach would be to just trade one or more coins, without a virtual currency. Of course, fantasy money could simply be bullion coins, which would make it more coin related.