Hi
I am an individual creating a game whereby the object of the game is to spin a coin by selecting either ‘Heads’ or ‘Tails’ and should the resulting spin be positive a player would progress one step along a 10 step challenge.
The completion of a challenge can be rewarded with the unlocking of other coins (I have over 30 sets of coins totalling over 400 individual coins) with the overall goal being to unlock and collect all coins.
Each coin unlocked can be used as the ‘in play’ coin.
Where a coin is ‘in play’ there is an ‘i’ button hyperlinking directly to the page where its image was found, many images have been sourced from "Numista'.
There are thousands upon thousands of coins to select from and the majority of the ones I have chosen have been purely random, except where they either form an actual set or I believe they can be loosely attributed to a set and are held in the game ‘BANK’.
Other rarer, more distinguished coins of individual significance are harder to unlock and can be found in the game ‘Vault’.
I have been compiling this game for 15 months now but it has only recently dawned on me that there may be issues using images of some coins (I understand that in the U.S where an image of a coin is merely trying to represent the true appearance of the physical object, there is no artistic infringement and therefore no copyright to protect). However, it has come to light that the Royal Mint requires permission to be requested, but should the use of images of its coins not in any way be detrimental to it, the permission would generally be agreed.
I have contacted Xavier Rouge, the owner of Numista and whilst he is very encouraging, he has quite rightly advised me to contact the individual members (of which there are many) to request permission to use their images.
Having so many coins, the task ahead, trying to establish permission, is quite daunting. As I say, each coin links directly to it originating source (Numista page), this was intended for educational purposes but it is my hope now, that they may help with copyright issues (acknowledging copyright).
Whilst some organisations have not been able to permit use of their images (Heritage Auctions, PCGS), others (Ryan at USA Coin Book and Daniel Malone at CoinHelp) have very generously allowed free access to their entire catalogue.
I have already contacted a number of members regarding permission, however there may be instances where the image owner cannot be identified and I would be very grateful, if you discover an image of yours, that you could grant permission to use the images (as found on Numista).
I should add that the ‘Japan - Emperor Meiji’ set is almost entirely unusable and therefore if you have a suggestion for an alternative set and can give permission to use it, it will be given full consideration.
Thank you.
Stuart Ralph (HogPot)
