Do we know enough about Casascius to trust their physical coins in the long run?
wrt the suggestion that I put up a website with the name and address of the founder, this information has consistently been displayed on the home page since I put up the site. Agreed, there exists a theoretical possibility that I could scam and there is little anybody can do about that, even if my processes were to be audited, it's still impossible to know I didn't keep a copy somewhere at some moment someone wasn't looking.  On the other hand, I am known to care about the success of Bitcoin, and own a fairly successful payroll software business independent of Bitcoins, and (especially with my signed list of addresses) have the means to be held accountable and be ordered to pay restitution in the event of fraud. If this is unsatisfactory, then of course you should not buy the coins. I indeed hope I spur successful competition (my life career is not in making coins), this has been a neat project thus far.