Author: James Coffman

Half the year has flow by, and so much has happened. Business has improved over last year significantly. Something on the order of at least 25%! Which is amazing. Some of this is due to rising number of commissions for dies, and of course our continuous use of auctions on Facebook. Though sales continue to grow too. We could not have done that without the support and interests of the many communities that like what we do. SCA, Historical, Living History, Reenactment, LARP. We appreciate you all, and thank you for your continued patronage.

We intend some updates coming soon. In particular the introduction of “Ready Pouches”. These will be pouches/mixes of a reasonable number of coins, for an affordable price, with a certain theme. Like Viking, or Elizabethan. The design is intended for folks that want a quick pouch of coins that fit their era or persona. These will include a discount over ordering numbers of individual coins. We like the idea very much, and hope you will as well. Look for those over the first part of August.

 

 

Happy New Year!

We are still here. The last part of 2022 was a little rough. We had a run of Covid that came into the house. Had to deal with an elderly member of the family that needed placement. And the weather on our side of the Valley has been very wet. Then there is the farm.

Still, business was up an astounding 56% over 2021. We also added a new artist to the shop. And a number of new pieces to our work. Orders from around the world have picked up for us. Domestic sales have soared. And we of course do a run of auctions on Facebook.

We look forward to a productive new year. And as always feel free to contact us with ideas or needs.

Due to the fact that there is a lot of labor involved in setting up dies for a series of single strikes of multiple types, we will be adding a surcharge if you order more than 12 individual types-a “one of each” order. If you order 13 to 24 single strikes of multiple types $10 will be added to the order. 25-35 $15, 36-49 $20, 50-69 $25, 70-89 $30, 90 to 99 $40. If you order more than 100 $50.

If you need samples of specific types, email us and we might can work something out. Otherwise please choose our Grab Bag sets.

Well, it has been about 9 months since I have posted ANYTHING. What with our move to the Farm (our first home buy), things have been very busy. We have updated the website to reflect new pieces, and restocked items like Henry II and others. We continued to have sales in abundance, though often enough from our Facebook presence. And many of our special or commission orders coming from folks that have dwelt with us in the past. We try hard to make good on things for everyone that asks or orders from us. Occasionally we make a mistake, but we extend every effort to make your dreams come true. Two of those most recent endeavors led to us going over the timeline required, so we had to rush things out with expedited shipping. This is not a inexpensive thing to do. FedEx is not kind in that regard, but they do help in a pinch to get it there. Which we did. I am always willing to absorb the costs associated with an error on my part. If anything I hope it demonstrates the lengths we are will to go to to make amends. As always our general motto is if we can’t fix it we will refund it! Living in the country now affords me time to decompress from the work load easier. And adds considerably to our freedom of mind to be more artistically creative. As we have said before we have a line-up of projects we are creating. But we are always willing to consider something new. Don’t see what you want, just ask. Though we occasionally get behind, and sometimes have to deal with our sole helper getting under the weather and missing a few days, we always seem to manage to get the job done. We don’t like to disappoint anyone. You can always send us an email and ask questions, we will reply promptly, and sort out anything that is wrong.

In other news we have enlisted a long time friend and artist to help us create some new items, more on that new team member later. One of our goals is to finally offer the much discussed Viking folding scales. I think we are getting very close now to getting this produced. We are also looking at some Migration era medallions, and some smaller jewelry items. As well as some personal items like keys, and cloak pins. These are a request from the Irish School of Archaeology. Sales for these items should start in a few months once we have delivered what they require. Finally, we will be introducing more coins types as we get to them. In the line up are French, Scottish, Byzantine, and English “gold coins”, as well as some additional Dark Age coins like the piece for Offa King of Mercia, which was added this morning. And some general Medieval pieces like the Prague Groschen, and a renewed issue of the Venetian Ducat. There is much to do yet and the year is still young. Best to you all.

James/Alpha Officium

For some time now our website has been in need of an update. Sadly, I have been remiss in doing so. Though the overall reasons have been important. We managed in May to purchase our first home. This move is giving me the opportunity to expand my work areas, and production possibilities.

There have been delays and errors in shipping due to the move, and we certainly got a little behind in our work. Most of these things have been amended or fixed to our customers satisfaction. For which I am very pleased. The only real downside is I have new responsibilities on the land we now own, and that really is not a detrimental thing.

The fires and smoke have been discouraging and fearful at times. So far we have escaped injury. And hope our new home and workshop remain safe.

In other news we have added many new works of art to our collection of items we offer. I am in the middle of adding them this week. We are far out of date in adding our new creations, so please have a fresh look see over the next 2 weeks.

Our helper will no longer be available for the full coverage of hours that we needed. So for now I am back to this being a one man show again. We ask your patience with any special orders you may require.

We find ourselves drifting towards Fall. One of my favorite times of the year. After a long Summer, I seem to wake up and get even more creative. So look for some new items from now until December.

Thank you for checking in on us at Alpha Officium. We will try and add a little more in our postings more often.