+mrbrit Posted August 12, 2009 Posted August 12, 2009 The greatest thing of value I have found in a cache is the pleasure my kids get when they find a large container (ammo can). It does not really matter what is inside the container, but yes they are keen to browse and often trade MrBrit Quote
+TheMadScotsman Posted August 13, 2009 Posted August 13, 2009 I can tell that what I have in mind for a treasure is much greater than any of these examples. The adventure I have in mind will be very difficult and deserves a big prize for those who can actually accomplish it. Eternal life? World peace? Free Garmin maps? A GPS with all the bells and whistles that does everything advertised, right out of the box, without any updates? Lol. Free Garmin maps. You're a dreamer. Quote
+idocdlw Posted August 16, 2009 Posted August 16, 2009 I haven't been caching long, but the most valuable thing I've seen in a cache is a Susan B. Anthony dollar - seen in many caches in the south central area of the US. I have a backpack loaded with no longer used PS games that will be "donated"soon. I agree with previous posters...the most valuable find at any cache is the new-found satisfaction that I have actually located the cache! This hobby is so addicting that if there were no such things as TB's, GC's, or SWAG I would still be out there on my "tupperware hunt"...(yes, I do take a lot of ribbing from my non-caching friends and family...but it's all worth it...I have even converted a few!) Quote
+The Soaring Eagles Posted August 19, 2009 Posted August 19, 2009 The most valuable things I've found were all in the same cache, a Rolex watch, an Armani suit, and five-thousand dollars. I left some crayons, a deck of cards, and one of those trolls with Don King hair That made me LAUGH OUT LOUD!! Love it. I think I like what you left the best. Quote
+bmxpop Posted August 19, 2009 Posted August 19, 2009 Our very first FTF prize was a light-up champagne glass...one of those plastic glasses that flash different colors when you turn on a switch. As soon as we got home from caching, we celebrated our FTF by both drinking Sprite out of it!!! It might not have been worth a lot of money, but the memories it brings back every time we get it out are priceless!!! Quote
+pirateRACE Posted August 20, 2009 Posted August 20, 2009 (edited) As a newb, I'm really enjoying this thread. I've got a question though. I know FTF prizes are typical. I'm assuming that quite a few of these nice finds weren't FTF prizes though. I thought you are always supposed to trade up. If you find something worth $50 in a cache are you leaving something of the same value or is this just kinda outta the typical realm of trading items (like an exception to the rule)? Edited August 20, 2009 by pirateRACE Quote
+Team A & M Posted August 29, 2009 Posted August 29, 2009 The most valuable thing for us was finding our first catch, in the woods at 11:30 at night. We jumped up and down like kids on Christmas morning. Quote
Bioengineer Posted August 30, 2009 Posted August 30, 2009 (edited) I didn't found, nor left, anything with great value. Just some cheap toys... Don't really care about the trades, usually i just leave a toy from the cereal's box and take nothing My brother though, he found a couple of pennies from 1917 and 1913 I still find it hard to believe! Edited August 30, 2009 by Bioengineer Quote
eaglestrikeforce Posted August 30, 2009 Posted August 30, 2009 A copy of the movie "Cliffhanger" Quote
+2_xplore Posted September 7, 2009 Posted September 7, 2009 While doing a day of caching at hocking hills in Ohio, we found a $10 bill lying in the woods. The next cache we find a money clip from 1977. And on the third cache, we find another $2!!! It was meant to be : ) Quote
Griffinlawnscapes Posted September 29, 2009 Posted September 29, 2009 we haven't found anything of value.. but we have enjoyed the few that we have found that aren't micros.. I think it is just fun to try to figure out what people think sometimes when they are throwing that treasure in there.. on one in particular today there was a bent fork in it.. and for some reason my 16 year old just had to have it... but it is a blast and am enjoying the family time... Quote
HarmonicaHead Posted September 29, 2009 Posted September 29, 2009 (edited) How about you place a large first-aid kit equipped with a tourniquet, splint, bandages, and antiseptic disinfectant. Might need it if it's a 5/5. For me, most valuable trade item was a pack of batteries. Edited September 29, 2009 by HarmonicaHead Quote
+victorymike Posted October 5, 2009 Posted October 5, 2009 I've also found a lot of very useful and valuable (to me) items during my years of caching. At one cache, deep in the woods on private property (their hunting spot), I found a cache with a second set of coordinates for a stash of ice cold Pepsi's nearby. Yes, stashed in the swamp in the cold water. I cleaned one off and drank it...and it was refreshing. At another cache I hiked a few miles across a frozen lake to find a terrain 5 cache and was happy to trade for the brass Boatswain's whistle and chain, complete in a gift box (I am a Navy veteran). While cleaning out the junky items in my personal caches I have come across soggy gift certificates to restaurants. After drying them out I have gotten a free Blooming Onion, free subway sub, and a free pizza. That reminds me...I completed the mission of a travel bug once. It was going from a sister in Tennessee to her brother who owned a Cottage Inn pizza store in Chelsea, Michigan. And he gave me a free large pizza when I delivered it. It was very nice. Anyway...this experience has taught me to be happy to find restaurant gift certificates in caches. I know they don't get picked up often and I really appreciate a free meal every now and then. Of course I have found quite a few unactivated geocoins. I always leave items in caches, whether I take something or not...I make chainmail keychains and have distributed well over 3000 of them so far. I even make micro chainmail keychains that are small enough to leave in most microcaches. I even make micro chainmail V-Man earrings. And I have my personal pathtag and geocoin that I leave in special caches. I have to admit that every treasure I have ever gotten was most likely NOT a FTF. Yes, I have found about 70 FTFs since 2001, but I am not a FTF hog. I think the biggest FTF prize I ever got was $5. I prefer to wait for a few people to thit the caches first...that way there are likely to be a few new signature items for me to find when I seek out the cache. I really like signature items and cards and have a big collection. Overall, however, I primarily enjoy the thrill of the hunt. Quote
+mummsy Posted October 5, 2009 Posted October 5, 2009 most valueble thing I found was a starbucks gift card, I took it thinking hey $5 free coffee and left about $5 worth of stuff! I was surprised when I went to starbucks and they had put $20 on it! Quote
+mfamilee Posted October 5, 2009 Posted October 5, 2009 At one cache, deep in the woods on private property (their hunting spot), I found a cache with a second set of coordinates for a stash of ice cold Pepsi's nearby. Yes, stashed in the swamp in the cold water. I cleaned one off and drank it...and it was refreshing. Now that is awesome! Quote
Team_Merchlinsky Posted October 17, 2009 Posted October 17, 2009 I have a couple of complex cachs I plan to leave a $100 bill in for FTF. I heard of vouchers for round trip airfare. Wow we are in all the wrong places ... Please do tell where this is .... Quote
+Gitchee-Gummee Posted October 17, 2009 Posted October 17, 2009 As a newb, I'm really enjoying this thread. I've got a question though. I know FTF prizes are typical. I'm assuming that quite a few of these nice finds weren't FTF prizes though. I thought you are always supposed to trade up. If you find something worth $50 in a cache are you leaving something of the same value or is this just kinda outta the typical realm of trading items (like an exception to the rule)? You could always leave your first born. (Kidding, of course) Quote
+Monkey Junky Posted November 13, 2009 Posted November 13, 2009 I can top those!!! Found a pair of diamond earrings today I'm one happy girl. Actually found a note for FTF to exchange a cheezy bracelet in the cache at the local jewelry store (of which a local cacher is the owner) for a pair of .25 ct diamond earrings. OMG was I excited! They are happily sitting in my earlobes right now! Thanks GoCoastal! Quote
Snuffles_Lover1221 Posted November 29, 2009 Posted November 29, 2009 I don't really know if anyone has mentioned this... but I believe a guy out in my hometown put 10,000 cash in one.. at least thats how he made it sound. but I guess he split it up for FTF STF TTF and so on... here's the link: The Queen Quote
+dcmcveigh Posted December 30, 2009 Posted December 30, 2009 (edited) Today I found a full GPS system, granted it was an old school Magellan Roadmap 760 (discontinued model) without the cradle and cigarette lighter power adapter, but I can buy those on E-Bay for cheap. So now, instead of driving around with 2 operating GPS's in the truck I can drive around with 3, plus my satellite radio receiver on the dash. Can never too many electronics I guess. Edited December 30, 2009 by dcmcveigh Quote
teamblonde Posted January 1, 2010 Posted January 1, 2010 Jamz found a pretty nice pocket knife in a newer cache in Wharton State Forest. But the nicest thing I've found is some awesome quality time with family and friends, and the competion to find the cache first when we got with team PineyJim. Geocaching isn't meant to find things-it's more for the adventure and great times with people who you are close to. Quote
+brslk Posted January 2, 2010 Posted January 2, 2010 Today I found a full GPS system, granted it was an old school Magellan Roadmap 760 (discontinued model) without the cradle and cigarette lighter power adapter, but I can buy those on E-Bay for cheap. So now, instead of driving around with 2 operating GPS's in the truck I can drive around with 3, plus my satellite radio receiver on the dash. Can never too many electronics I guess. Kinda puzzled about why you would take the GPS when you stated that you could buy one for cheap and already have 2 Plus a satellite radio (why you mentioned this, i have no idea)? Why not leave it for someone caching without one? Did you trade up for it? Even if you were FTF it seems a little greedy to me. I would have left it if I had no use for it. But that's just me... Quote
+sheltiedogshowlover Posted April 12, 2011 Posted April 12, 2011 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". I'm new to caching and this just makes me sad.. I have had a few where I have read the discription and and tried to stick with the theme too and that makes me even sadder to see that there is nothing in the cache that is even close to the them and it's all very low quality items. We recently went on a hunt for a cache near our home with newly activated geocoin to place on a journey.. and I had read that the theme was light themed. My husband asked why I was bringing another item if I was leaving a nice coin but I brought along a breast cancer whistle/flash light. It wasn't worth alot but to me the theme needed this piece.. and there wasn't anything else in the box of that theme... Quote
AJkiter Posted June 8, 2011 Posted June 8, 2011 The most valuable thing I've found was a free coffee coupon for Starbucks. I shouldn't call it a coupon because its one of those cards that say "We're sorry your visit wasn't the most pleasant! Please enjoy a free coffee, on us, next time you return." Oh well. I think its pretty cool. Still working on my "story" just in case they ask me what was wrong with my coffee "last time". LOL Quote
+grendel541 Posted August 26, 2011 Posted August 26, 2011 (edited) We have a cacher in our area named Goldenace who leaves "Goldenaces" ,the gold dollars that were circulated a few years back, whenever he's a FTF on cache. Its a prize for STF! I have found and taken two of them. I have left unscratched lottery scratchits (I heard one was a $1 winner)and even an un-activated pathtag in resent caches I hid as FTF prizes. We also had a cacher hide a Star Trek themed cache in the area with a Capt. Kirk collectible he said was valued around 75$, unfortunetly the FTF was a bear! No word from the bear how Kirk tasted though! Edited August 26, 2011 by grendel541 Quote
+Mini-Tap Posted September 5, 2011 Posted September 5, 2011 ok isn't the idea to re cache what you take out. that cash prob was pocketed Quote
+CrackerFL Posted September 6, 2011 Posted September 6, 2011 It wasn't an FTF prize, but the most valuable thing I've ever seen was a 100$ prepaid visa gift card. I had to leave it behind, because I didn't have anything even close to equal value I could leave. I've heard of someone getting a new iPod as an FTF, but never seen it myself. Quote
+-Hammer- Posted September 22, 2011 Posted September 22, 2011 This couple left 100 bucks for FTF on two occasions. DeVIDe 100 DeVIDe 100 Episode Two Quote
+kellye&jeremy Posted September 23, 2011 Posted September 23, 2011 We're fairly new & are just tickeled (doing our touchdown dance) if/when we find a cache period, but we/I have 3 FTF's & only 1 of them had anything ($1.00)for the FTF except the pride of being the FTF (we have a lot of FTF vultures around here)& doing the touchdown dance on the side of the road at rush hour at 6:30am without looking suspicious. While I don't mind the nanos, my boyfriend prefers the traditionals so that there is something to trade. & we do, we have the geo-bag loaded up with "stuff". We did find a meal ticket from somewhere he lived for awhile, but we just assumed it was out of date, we took it, I'm not sure if it got moved along or not. Although I do enjoy seeing all the little trinkets & trading for something that is absolutely useless to me, but just strikes me, We're arguing about our first hide, definitely a traditional & since we live on a lake, Corps of Engineers has offered a bunch of water safety stuff to go in it. I was thinking the other night while I was on my hunt for a FTF that a fresh pack of batteries would be real nice. I reloaded the next morning, but think I'll grab a pack for the geo-bag to trade. While looking for our very first find, I was just saying "Well, this toilet paper is fresh, couldnt' have been here overnight" "found it" so maybe a roll of TP would be nice for a deep woods hunt. I'm pretty competitive, so it could be a penny, for me it's just the thrill of the hunt & the conquering. Quote
+Soopurman0 Posted September 25, 2011 Posted September 25, 2011 I think something related to caching is best.. Dont get me wrong gift cards are great, but un registered geocoins or a cache container would be awesome to find and a way to keep the fun going for someone else Quote
+FloridaFour Posted October 10, 2011 Posted October 10, 2011 (edited) I have left travel bug dog tags as FTF prize. Worth $5. If I had a really, really hard cache that I thought would merit something better, I might leave $10. I've also left home made cache containers with logs. One of my fellow cachers left an invitation to go out to dinner with him as a FTF prize. LOL! He's a hoot, I'd love to win that prize. Edited October 10, 2011 by FloridaFour Quote
+Daniel-Son Posted October 11, 2011 Posted October 11, 2011 GC347GW - Sir Newton I left $50 for a FTF prize. Quote
+The Blorenges Posted October 11, 2011 Posted October 11, 2011 ok isn't the idea to re cache what you take out. that cash prob was pocketed No. You can if you want - a lot of swag items get recycled into another cache - but you can keep any swag item you want, as long as you do your best to "trade up or even". MrsB Quote
+Legochugglers Posted October 11, 2011 Posted October 11, 2011 As we were searching GZ for a local cache my youngest found a diamond about the size of a pea in the grass. He was adamant it was real so I humoured him by telling him we would take it to show his mum when we got home so she could have a look. When we examined it at home it started to dawn on us that it did seem very realistic so I agreed to take him to the local jewellers to confirm it wasn't real. I started to sweat a bit when the jeweller examined it with his eye glass and he couldnt make up his mind. He fetched his boss and they decided that it warranted setting up the diamond checking machine where they send an electronic signal through the item to check that its real. They anounced that a diamond of this size could be worth in excess of £10,000 so by this time the kids were on the edge of their seats. Unfortunately it turned out to be a very realistic fake but it almost turned into our most 'valuable' find while caching. Quote
+NHBucket Posted March 23 Posted March 23 (edited) As far as I can tell, I have the single most expensive FTF gift in any cache (GC4P9PY, "One For The Ladies"). $750 worth of a 6-carat, pure, natural, deep bright yellow, near-perfect, diamond-cut Citrine Gemstone mounted in a .925 solid silver ring (size 8) + my signature Pathtag + a lottery scratch ticket. Again, that is in a single cache. It was found by Hyper Heidi, and she did not realize the value of the ring. She assumed it was costume jewelry. After all, WHO in their right mind would give away such a valuable "SWAG"? I later asked her, What did she do with that ring? She replied, "I passed it on to another cache for some kid to find". When I told her it was REAL, she grabbed me by the shirt, pulled me up to her face and exclaimed, "WHAT!! THAT WAS "REAL"?!? "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!? We can laugh about it now. 🤨😉😂 Why you ask? My wife refused to wear silver... only gold. She said put it in the cache. Edited March 23 by NHBucket 1 3 Quote
+Goldenwattle Posted March 23 Posted March 23 I found A$35 cash in a cache once. Nothing compared to the above entry, but some old costume jewelry I left in a cache once got an excited thank you message. A pair of very ornate, dangly sparkly earrings with lots of 'diamonds'. They might have been 70 years old. The mother send me a message how excited her teenage daughter was to find them. Quote
+niraD Posted March 23 Posted March 23 Early in my geocaching career, before smartphones, I found a cache that had a cell phone in it. It looked like it was new, in box, although the box might have been opened and resealed. My first thought was, "Who brings anything with them that they can trade up or trade even for such an item?" 2 Quote
+looking4jaz Posted March 23 Posted March 23 My boyfriend and I found someone’s wedding band and ring attached to a note in a cache. The note told the story of a a young lady who had been broken hearted by her lover, who she had recently married in the park where the cache was placed. She said she was leaving them in the cache because she didn’t feel like they belonged to her anymore. Needless to say, I took them with me and contacted the original owner of the rings to let her know I had taken them. I told her I would give her ring a new, happy life full of adventure and exploration. I try to wear it when we go caching. It makes me happy to think I’ve brought some love back to this piece of metal! We’re even still in touch to this day! To date, the coolest, more valuable, precious thing I have ever found in a geocache! 3 1 1 Quote
+x7Kevin Posted March 24 Posted March 24 I hid one of my hides The Cash Cache - GCACA78 with $20,000 inside. The money does look slightly strange though.... almost like it's not real 1 Quote
+arisoft Posted March 24 Posted March 24 (edited) 46 minutes ago, x7Kevin said: I hid one of my hides The Cash Cache - GCACA78 with $20,000 inside. The money does look slightly strange though.... almost like it's not real I put in my first cache a bunch of real fifty trillion dollar bank notes. Total amount of cash was about one quadrillion dollars. More than the current US national debt! It was about 15 years ago. I still have some bills left. Nowadays thos bills are even more valuable. Maybe I shouldn't leave them in the cache? https://www.ebay.com/itm/306166208525 Edited March 24 by arisoft 2 Quote
+thebruce0 Posted March 27 Posted March 27 On 3/24/2025 at 7:10 PM, x7Kevin said: I hid one of my hides The Cash Cache - GCACA78 with $20,000 inside. The money does look slightly strange though.... 2 Quote
+cerberus1 Posted April 12 Posted April 12 The other 2/3rds, at the time a FTF monster, saw caches come up a state over, and we headed out... Found all caches FTF in the small park, in an upscale neighborhood. All had way-too much in them for FTF (over a hundred bucks wortha 'stuff' in each). IIRC, we took a couple things (many gift cards in each cache), and left the rest for others (for STF, TTF, fifth, sixth, etc...). There was high-end swag in them as well. Not sure if they didn't realize this wasn't really a 'treasure hunt' (one reason I hate the reference...), but we mailed them about it with our thanks, a brief history of what we found FTF, and what we did with the rest of their stuff. Earlier, our 'most valuable' was a working Magellan GPSr, a real Leatherman, and still find a few load-bearing real carabiners. Quote
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