Jump to content

What is the most valuable object you've found in a cache?


who-me?

Recommended Posts

The most valuable thing we (I cache with "shoot the zombie in the brain") have found was in a cache just last night. On our way to GCPZQA I got the "low battery" signal on my eTrex so I stopped in at a gas station to get a Gatorade and some double A's. A pair of Duracells were $5.99! When you need something, you need it, so I gripe to my buddy and drink my Gatorade to cool off. Five minutes later we find the cache and inside is a log, a shell, and two double A's!

 

Not a super expensive item but it sure was frustrating to open that little box and see fresh batteries staring back at me!

You're lucky you got off so cheap on the batteries. I just saw a 9v in a C store for $7.29!

Link to comment

We found a gift card to GAP with $100 on it once.. my daughters were sure thrilled with that one! It wasn't even a FTF prize.. a cacher put that in there, and there were several finders between when it was left and when we found it.

 

The cacher never logged online, but I do hope he was watching the cache and saw our log of appreciation.

 

My son picked up a nice (used) Gerber multi-tool in a cache a few years ago.. that was a really spiffy prize for a (then) 12-13 year old. He still uses it today!

Link to comment

I don't the value or why somebody left this. I found a One Touch ULtra Blood Monitoring system. It was unopened and in the the box. The test strips are out of date. I didn't need it but it was taking up the whole ammo box. My wife thinks I 'll get some kind of illness from it. But it looks like its never been used. What should I do with it?

Link to comment

I don't the value or why somebody left this. I found a One Touch ULtra Blood Monitoring system. It was unopened and in the the box. The test strips are out of date. I didn't need it but it was taking up the whole ammo box. My wife thinks I 'll get some kind of illness from it. But it looks like its never been used. What should I do with it?

 

It is not a very good item to leave in a cache but I can maybe explain why it is there. I have type one diabetes and a few years ago I got an insulin pump from a company called Medtronics. When that happened I think they supplied my email address to companies that make diabetes supplies. Ever since then every company that manufactures glucometers(the meter) sends me their new meter as soon as it comes out for free as a promotional. I have like 10 meters laying around my house atm. :D

 

The companies don't take a loss on giving these things out for free because they actually make all their money selling the consumable test strips. You can just throw it away. It's very unlikely that a diabetic that is interested in controlling their blood sugar doesn't already have a monitor of some sort.

Link to comment

The most valuable thing I've found is an unactivated Garmin Colorado geocoin, and I was more than surprised to find out it was unactivated! I was literally bouncing off the walls. Ok, well, off the floor anyway.

 

The most valuable thing I've left is a chainmail dicebag, I have no idea what it's worth (since I made it) but I've seen similar things sell at rennaisance festivals and the like for $30-80 depending on materials and size... I'd figure this one at the $30-40 range though. I'm planning on leaving a used game boy advance in one if I can ever find the darn thing. I'm also planning on leaving some nice jewelry (also handmade chain stuff) as soon as I find some caches that I don't think are likely to be muggled.

 

Old Navy is also a good place to get cheap good stuff. Their jewelry and small items (particularly gloves and such right after christmas) don't sell real well, and get marked down really fast. I got a $10 necklace there for .97 a couple weeks ago.

Link to comment

I helped set up the N.E.W. Meet n Greet last month by setting out a new cache with several $5 gift certificates from local merchants, a $25 gas card for the FTF, and two family passes to the local museum...all donated. The local merchants were more than happy to contribute to lure new customers in. The cache attracted considerable attention :(

Link to comment

I have found:

 

Better health

Loads of beautiful places that I might never otherwise have seen

The thrill of accomplishing finding a tough hide

The pride of achieving a tough cache that I didn't think I'd be able to physically take

The pride of seeing my 8 year old actually find a cache we couldn't

Time with my family

 

And most importantly, peace!

 

Naomi :(

Link to comment

Most valuable objects I have found in caches have included personal geocoins (activated and unactivated), 5$ bills, USB memory sticks, ready made cache containers, and waterproof trail maps (which I have used extensively after coming across). Would keep the treasure you plan on hiding geocaching specific to further promote the hobby :rolleyes:

Link to comment

...In the final cache I had a $20, $10 & $5 gift certificate for Starbucks for 1st, 2nd & 3rd. My FTFer said it ws the most generous find he'd ever received, and he has 1100+ finds....

 

Seriously?! I left a $15 Starbucks card (at least I think it was) in my cache, which is a 1.5/5 difficulty, 4/5 terrain medium cahce in a desert!!

Link to comment

I agree that the best find is a nice, pristine log. I would judge it on the amount of time it would take to do the cache. Under one day, a $10 gift certificate to a local restaurant would be appropriate. Heck, I am happy with a $5 coffee gift certificate!! Over one day, or one with a terraine difficulty of 4 or 5, a $25 dollar gift certficate. Given today's economy, I would make the certficate to a store like Target or Meijer, where the user can get just about anything they want/need (goods or groceries) for a good price!! If you make it a restaurant gift certificate, make sure the amount will pay for at least one diner.

 

I would NOT make the cache worth more than $25. We don't want 'lurkers' to spoil our fun by thinking they can 'get rich quick' by finding caches and leaving behind trashed caches or leaving unappropriate items.

Edited by MIGolfer
Link to comment

I have found only 5 FTFs. Three had nothing but the thrill of BEING FTF! One had a scratch-off lottery ticket. (I didn't win, but I wrote the particulars of the cache and the hunt on the back, and added it to my scrap book - it was worth it!) And the BEST one was an unactivated Geocoin that the CO gave me a couple of months after I found it! I have sent it out into the world and watch its travels with delight! I, too, think the fun of the hunt IS the prize, but if you want to place a FTF prize (always appreciated), it should reflect the Difficulty/Terrain of the cache.

Link to comment

I have found:

 

Better health

Loads of beautiful places that I might never otherwise have seen

The thrill of accomplishing finding a tough hide

The pride of achieving a tough cache that I didn't think I'd be able to physically take

The pride of seeing my 8 year old actually find a cache we couldn't

Time with my family

 

And most importantly, peace!

 

Naomi :)

 

I've found many of the same things Naomi has come across (and I'm just getting started). That's by far the best part of this sport/hobby.

 

When it comes to physically tangible 'things' so far the best we've managed value wise is a carabiener. Personally the wife and I really like seeing geocoins and creative travel bugs.

Link to comment

Hey there!

 

In my caches (only hidden 5 so far, but have a few new ones almost ready) I've always hidden cut gemstones (rubies, emeralds, amethysts, and other ones I cut as a hobby. Every once in a while, I'll stop by to do maintenance on the caches, and I'll drop a new gemstone, (but won't advertise it on the cache page).

 

I've also swapped items for new batteries, little compasses, xbox360 games that I'm done with, and so on.

 

One of my caches is also hidden (with the owners approval) right near a summer time ice cream parlor, if the owner is there and she sees people looking for the cache, she'll sometimes give a discount or free toppings or something like that. :D

 

I've found things like: batteries (although in one cache, someone left used batteries! Boo! music CD's, movie DVD's - there is a book swap cache near me, too but I can't quite walk that far.

 

:ph34r:

Link to comment

I put a certificate for a free dozen donuts in a cache, to this date no one has taken it, (13 months)

 

Seriously?? I would pounce on that! Where is it? :D (Kidding of course... I'm sure it's several thousand miles from me :D)

 

:P

 

I'd pounce on that thing too! Maybe people think it's fake or something... :(

Link to comment

Arriving first at a fairly remote cache, I found a beautiful hand-made set of earings and a necklace, made by the cache owner. Silver, turquoise, etc. I really wanted them for my wife, but I had noting even remotely comparable in value, so I left them in the cache. The next finder traded them for a "Burger King toy".

Link to comment

The most expensive thing I've found so far is probably a travel bug. In my cache I left a $20 gift card to a local pizza place. I figured that people might be in town for a cache tour (it's a small town) and I figured I pay for pizza.

Link to comment

Today I found a baseball cap with the words "Old West" on it. It looks like a hunting type cap. Also found a TB in the same cache. So far, the hat is the most valuable (and most useful) thing I've found in a cache. :blink::):P Stupid button looked so good I hit it twice!!!!!

Edited by PorscheSpyder
Link to comment

I agree with a previous poster - the value for me has been the fun in caching, and of course the time spent with my wife and kids doing so.

 

Yesterday I found a 100 peso coin in a cache. Turns out this particular coin was minted before Mexico hacked a few zeros off of its currency. With today's exchange rate, the coin is officially worth less than a penny. But, its a neat coin, and my secondary hobby with geocaches is to collect unique coins I find, so consider this one added to the collection.

Link to comment

I've never found anything of great value. But I've tried to make sure that each cache is a little better after I've visited it.

 

For FTF prizes on my hides, I make handmade blacksmith or wood & string puzzles. I've also turned a few puzzles into travel bugs, solve them then pass them on. Some of these things could probably sell for $10-$20 bucks... but considering the time and effort I put into them... they actually cost near three times that. I was pleased to see that one of them was placed in a GeoWoodstock event today.

 

Some of my coolest finds have been hand made items. Like some bead and feather totems I found once. I might suggest that others consider hand made swag.

Link to comment

Can't say we have found anything particularly valuable in any of the caches we found - but we have found some very interesting things. Our daughter is 8 years old and she just loves the stuff that people leave for children. She found a purple bear in one cache - she has called her Lavender and she goes caching with her in her rucksack. I'm going to attach her to a string to the outer pocket. We have nearly lost her twice as she has to sit in the outside pocket so she can see where she is going and ofcourse so she can breath.

 

The things we leave in our caches are, handmade FTF button badges, FTF trophies, binoculars, USB rechargable batteries, torches, USB memory stick. And we always try to put a coin or a TB in our new caches.

Link to comment

For one of our trickier caches, near a beach, we left a £5 note (about US$8) in an envelope with a note for the FTF saying it was for them all to buy icecreams at the nearby stall.

 

What was particularly heart-warming was that the FTF was a guy caching on his own, so he took the £5 but left £3.50 change so that whoever found it next could also buy some ices. I thought that was a really nice gesture.

 

MrsB :laughing:

Link to comment

When I first started this great hobby, I started out by having a signature item I always left which were 2 sealed AA batteries. But after leaving a total of 35 sets, and revisiting most of them to pick up TBs, I found that they weren't as useful as I had thought and none were taken. SO I went to leaving cheaper things.

 

As For FTF, STF, and TTF hides, I would leave 3 unactivated TBs until I started getting notes from a "logged" FTF that there were no TBs in the cache.

 

On this cache: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...fa-a5d2665268cf

 

I left an ammo can with log book and pen, so all you would have to do is take and hide.

 

I am not sure what the most valuable swag/FTF I have found, but the one item I took gets use everytime I go geocaching and it is a F N E Z button.

 

Since most of the caches around my area are 1-3 in difficulty, when I get back to the "geopid" I hit the button...

Link to comment

Hmm, I haven't been lucky enough to get a FTF ever. There are just too many way, way better cachers in this town, that apparently are independently wealthy and don't work! :D

 

However, I do remember reading somewhere that one cacher had a habit of leaving krugerrands in his very difficult caches.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...