So, about a week ago, ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rackham handed me a small (but heavy for its size) gift-wrapped box and said "Happy early birthday!"
Turns out, he's been working on a special project for me for my birthday next month... and had finally gotten samples back from the mint, meaning he wanted to get my input on final design decisions. And I suppose I should explain... for those not familiar with Geocaching, there are trackable items that are generally placed in caches with the intent that other cachers will pick them up and move them on to another cache (you can find more of an explanation here.
One type of trackable item is the Geocoin... and a few years ago, on our very first trip to go Geocaching (up on the Iron Goat Trail in the Cascade Mountains), I turned to Rackham and said "I've read about these things called Geocoins... I hear you can design your own and I know exactly what I'd want to do!" And he immediately replied "A brass cannon on a field of sable with stars and a red bar-sinister with the word TANSTAAFL across the bottom?" To which, of course, I replied "I love you." Because he totally knows how my brain works. For those who don't recognize the reference, that's the flag of Free Luna from my favorite book, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein.
Well, after working on many different designs over the years and getting the hang of how to do coin design, he decided it was time to tackle that coin. ( So, here it is: Free Luna! )
I love what he did for the back of the coin... a map of the moon with the lunar settlements (in the right spots!) from the book, as well.
They'll each have their own individual tracking number which will be engraved on the outside edge of each coin. I rather suspect these are the sorts of coins that people will buy to keep in their collections, rather than to send out into the wild (since they're likely to get stolen).
I'm so excited! I can't believe he did this for me!! And that he was able to keep it a secret!
Originally posted on my Livejournal
rackham handed me a small (but heavy for its size) gift-wrapped box and said "Happy early birthday!"Turns out, he's been working on a special project for me for my birthday next month... and had finally gotten samples back from the mint, meaning he wanted to get my input on final design decisions. And I suppose I should explain... for those not familiar with Geocaching, there are trackable items that are generally placed in caches with the intent that other cachers will pick them up and move them on to another cache (you can find more of an explanation here.
One type of trackable item is the Geocoin... and a few years ago, on our very first trip to go Geocaching (up on the Iron Goat Trail in the Cascade Mountains), I turned to Rackham and said "I've read about these things called Geocoins... I hear you can design your own and I know exactly what I'd want to do!" And he immediately replied "A brass cannon on a field of sable with stars and a red bar-sinister with the word TANSTAAFL across the bottom?" To which, of course, I replied "I love you." Because he totally knows how my brain works. For those who don't recognize the reference, that's the flag of Free Luna from my favorite book, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein.
Well, after working on many different designs over the years and getting the hang of how to do coin design, he decided it was time to tackle that coin. ( So, here it is: Free Luna! )
I love what he did for the back of the coin... a map of the moon with the lunar settlements (in the right spots!) from the book, as well.
They'll each have their own individual tracking number which will be engraved on the outside edge of each coin. I rather suspect these are the sorts of coins that people will buy to keep in their collections, rather than to send out into the wild (since they're likely to get stolen).
I'm so excited! I can't believe he did this for me!! And that he was able to keep it a secret!
Originally posted on my Livejournal
