Letter box stamps

[+Seaglass Pirates]

I'm confused -

 

I have skimmed the last 20 posts because it's kind of repeating itself but:

 

as a letterboxer or ex letterboxer from 1992 - the deal was you placed a pot out on Dartmoor. You could submit your 'clues' as you call them to the catalogue people and they would include your 'clues' in it. Twice a year at the changing of the clocks (daylight saving), people would and still do, meet in Princetown on dartmoor and swap stories and info and - well you get the idea. The catalogues would also be for sale.

 

But the 'clues' were just three reference compass readings triangulating where the letterbox was. You might pick a tree, a wall, and a rock. You would get to the right grid reference and then using a sight compass, locate the letterbox.

 

Even then all this garbage of not breaking ground was just laughed at. Some prestigious hiders would give out private clues to their friends only. They would bury them under a foot of turf sometimes. Make specialised hides. Arm deep in rock holes etc. If they wanted to make it hard they would make their triangulation a bit rubbish.

 

At one point the catalogue listed officially 25,000 letterboxes on dartmoor but the park rangers suspected it was closer to 125,000. Some people would steal the stamps and hold them hostage and then set a puzzle somewhere and the finder would find the sack of stamps. One particular chap did a huge eagle in flight. All hand carved from rubber. Another jealous chap went out to it and launched it off a torr.

 

But the clues were just triangulation points because no one could afford a GPS. It was rare anyone saw one, let alone had one. They were hundreds then. Easily two months wages and no one had that spare. So sight compass it was. The clues were just the catalogue listings with grid reference and three compass bearings. Nothing terribly exciting. There were a few odd ones that people liked. Like cukoo letterboxes that went from letterbox to letterbox. So you got two stamps for the effort of one find. There was one guy that carved his own. It was called the personalities series. All unofficial and unlisted anywhere. Clues were hand written and passed round. Brilliantly done. No one had Internet. No one had friggin phones lol except the house phone. I remember when a mate who I used to go with managed to get an old BBC basic pc and printed off a list of letterbox locations. It was amazing.

 

I've never made it to the oldest letterbox but I have the next oldest. Sorry to disappoint but it is a safe sized cupboard made by people from I remember slate. Has a metal door and inside is the stamp in a Tupperware container. No clues you can see it an mile off.

 

So letterbox hybrid would be a hybrid of letterbox with something. A traditional cache in fact. So a pot with a stamp in it. If you want to make it older school you would have to make it a puzzle to be able to make people use a sight compass to find it. And to make its oldest school ... You would have to make it a puzzle and not list the coords anywhere just spread the location by word of mouth lol. Which isn't allowed. So you can ever have a truly traditional letterbox hybrid. You can only have it hybridised within the rules of geocaching if that makes sense.

 

It was a very close knit community back then. No one would tell you where new letterboxes were until they had, had a chance to find it themselves. Not even your best friends. You might have to wait a few months before they would give in and give you the ''clues' to where it was supposed to be and they would be furious they had not found it first. And I do laugh at the memory. Sometimes you would be so excited. You had the 'clues'. No one had found it that you knew of. Rush out there. Walk MILES. Get there. YES FOUND IT. And you would be the first to locate it. I can't remember what we used to write for FTF. I don't think it was FTF. Seem to remember it was something else. Anyway you would be soooo happy. As you out the book back you wound just look at the back page just in case ... arghhhhhhhh nooooooooo .... And there would be KELVIN. Never met him. No one knew who he was. Or she maybe. Still don't know to this day. But that Gitbag would always sign the back of the book and beat you. Gitbag must have frigging lived out there.

 

Anyway hope this wall of text has given you something real to moan about. But letterboxing began umpteen decades ago. No clues, no fancy rules, no rubbish. A pot with a stamp in is exactly what 99% of letterboxes are. Nothing more.

 

EDIT: I will just add a couple of sentences because of various threads that have come up. Just for added interest.

 

There were no rules. Anything went. Underwater hides on string. If you could get to a place you could place a pot there. Fake posts and all sorts were encountered. It was fascinating. I did it till 1998 and found 676 stamps in that time. Dunno how many ftf's but I was amongst my friends a high roller lol. In 2000 and something I took my family letterboxing. They were amazed and I began doing it again a couple of times. Only a few. By this point hardly anyone I knew did it any more. No word of mouth clues but you could go to anywhere, anywhere on Dartmoor and just search. Some days you would find none. Sometimes as many as 20. Best day I ever had. Laughter torr. It was packed with them. I walked miles. 8 hour stints most days a week. I knew the moor without a compass and in the dark with a naff torch. But the folks had been intrigued by a world wise version. Geocaching. A few years later and they had begun doing it in earnest. I was repulsed by it. RULES AFTER RULES. urghhhh it was dreadful. I would listen to all these regulations and do's and dont's. I hated the idea. So I resisted it for years. I'm glad in the respect that I haven't seen my enjoyment eroded by the stupid actions of others doing things that have caused endless rules to be made. I am shocked at the mindless attitudes encountered at times and I am appalled by groups springing up taking charge unwarranted or unasked and claiming ownership over certain aspects of geocaching. But I am delighted that Groundspeak remain aloof (seemingly or otherwise) to the seemingly constant tide of crap that gets brought up and rammed down most of our throats. And that they intentionally or otherwise ignore most of it and us lol. It helps keep the hobby free. These self promoting types that attempt to lead us all into what must and must not be done. Just helping to ruin the game really. Just a thought and my opinion only stemming from where it began for us.

Edited September 18, 2014 by Seaglass Pirates

[cezanne]

as a letterboxer or ex letterboxer from 1992 - the deal was you placed a pot out on Dartmoor. You could submit your 'clues' as you call them to the catalogue people and they would include your 'clues' in it. Twice a year at the changing of the clocks (daylight saving), people would and still do, meet in Princetown on dartmoor and swap stories and info and - well you get the idea. The catalogues would also be for sale.

 

But the 'clues' were just three reference compass readings triangulating where the letterbox was. You might pick a tree, a wall, and a rock. You would get to the right grid reference and then using a sight compass, locate the letterbox.

 

Letterboxing developed in different ways in different locations. The dartmoor style seems to focus on what is pretty similar to a traditional cache or a very simple offset cache (apart from the GPS-involvement on how to get there). Letterboxing in other areas involves more and more complex clues and several stages.

 

So letterbox hybrid would be a hybrid of letterbox with something. A traditional cache in fact. So a pot with a stamp in it. If you want to make it older school you would have to make it a puzzle to be able to make people use a sight compass to find it. And to make its oldest school ... You would have to make it a puzzle and not list the coords anywhere just spread the location by word of mouth lol. Which isn't allowed. So you can ever have a truly traditional letterbox hybrid. You can only have it hybridised within the rules of geocaching if that makes sense.

 

Actually, in the early years of geocaching letterbox hybrid caches in European countries like Germany and Austria have been published that did not require GPS-usage at all and often people who wanted to get published a cache where the container search is done without GPS-usage were directed to the category letterbox hybrid.

 

In my country the letterbox hybrid cache type has not been a failure and made letterbox like clues known to a group of people who would never have been exposed to this otherwise. There is no letterbox tradition in Austria. In any case what people seem to enjoy around here are letterbox like clues. Normal traditionals with a stamp will not end up with a significant number of FPs in contrast to caches like

that one

http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC2PH04_schlossberg-letterbox

(which can in theory be found as a multi cache with coordinates, but that's not the way people find it as it is much more tiresome than making use of the clues only).

 

The letterbox caches that are popular around here are of the type above. Boring typical dartmoor style letterbox hybrids which are 0815 traditionals are not what attracts the people around here

(maybe except in months like August 2014 where they needed a letterbox find for the collector souvenir). Around here it's definitely neither the stamp nor the icon that attracts people to letternboy hybrid caches except for special promotion periods like in August 2014.

 

Personally, I am sad that it became almost impossible to get through caches where the GPS-receiver is used only to arrive at the starting point - with modern maps this always can be done without GPS-receivers and so one is forced to integrate GPS-usage at later stages which outlaws nice GPS-less hunts for which no suitable other platform exists around here.

I like the online log system of geocaching very much and do not like at all that in letterboxing and the French cistes system online logs have a much lower importance if existent at all.

The same is true for how clues are distributed. The search systems for geocaches are by far superior to what is available for the other activities (for example, on the largest German letterbox site letterboxes are entered as threads in a forum, an absolute no go for me).

 

 

Cezanne

[+L0ne.R]

I'm confused -

 

I have skimmed the last 20 posts because it's kind of repeating itself but:

 

as a letterboxer or ex letterboxer from 1992 - the deal was you placed a pot out on Dartmoor. You could submit your 'clues' as you call them to the catalogue people and they would include your 'clues' in it. Twice a year at the changing of the clocks (daylight saving), people would and still do, meet in Princetown on dartmoor and swap stories and info and - well you get the idea. The catalogues would also be for sale.

 

But the 'clues' were just three reference compass readings triangulating where the letterbox was. You might pick a tree, a wall, and a rock. You would get to the right grid reference and then using a sight compass, locate the letterbox.

 

Even then all this garbage of not breaking ground was just laughed at. Some prestigious hiders would give out private clues to their friends only. They would bury them under a foot of turf sometimes. Make specialised hides. Arm deep in rock holes etc. If they wanted to make it hard they would make their triangulation a bit rubbish.

 

At one point the catalogue listed officially 25,000 letterboxes on dartmoor but the park rangers suspected it was closer to 125,000. Some people would steal the stamps and hold them hostage and then set a puzzle somewhere and the finder would find the sack of stamps. One particular chap did a huge eagle in flight. All hand carved from rubber. Another jealous chap went out to it and launched it off a torr.

 

But the clues were just triangulation points because no one could afford a GPS. It was rare anyone saw one, let alone had one. They were hundreds then. Easily two months wages and no one had that spare. So sight compass it was. The clues were just the catalogue listings with grid reference and three compass bearings. Nothing terribly exciting. There were a few odd ones that people liked. Like cukoo letterboxes that went from letterbox to letterbox. So you got two stamps for the effort of one find. There was one guy that carved his own. It was called the personalities series. All unofficial and unlisted anywhere. Clues were hand written and passed round. Brilliantly done. No one had Internet. No one had friggin phones lol except the house phone. I remember when a mate who I used to go with managed to get an old BBC basic pc and printed off a list of letterbox locations. It was amazing.

 

I've never made it to the oldest letterbox but I have the next oldest. Sorry to disappoint but it is a safe sized cupboard made by people from I remember slate. Has a metal door and inside is the stamp in a Tupperware container. No clues you can see it an mile off.

 

So letterbox hybrid would be a hybrid of letterbox with something. A traditional cache in fact. So a pot with a stamp in it. If you want to make it older school you would have to make it a puzzle to be able to make people use a sight compass to find it. And to make its oldest school ... You would have to make it a puzzle and not list the coords anywhere just spread the location by word of mouth lol. Which isn't allowed. So you can ever have a truly traditional letterbox hybrid. You can only have it hybridised within the rules of geocaching if that makes sense.

 

It was a very close knit community back then. No one would tell you where new letterboxes were until they had, had a chance to find it themselves. Not even your best friends. You might have to wait a few months before they would give in and give you the ''clues' to where it was supposed to be and they would be furious they had not found it first. And I do laugh at the memory. Sometimes you would be so excited. You had the 'clues'. No one had found it that you knew of. Rush out there. Walk MILES. Get there. YES FOUND IT. And you would be the first to locate it. I can't remember what we used to write for FTF. I don't think it was FTF. Seem to remember it was something else. Anyway you would be soooo happy. As you out the book back you wound just look at the back page just in case ... arghhhhhhhh nooooooooo .... And there would be KELVIN. Never met him. No one knew who he was. Or she maybe. Still don't know to this day. But that Gitbag would always sign the back of the book and beat you. Gitbag must have frigging lived out there.

 

Anyway hope this wall of text has given you something real to moan about. But letterboxing began umpteen decades ago. No clues, no fancy rules, no rubbish. A pot with a stamp in is exactly what 99% of letterboxes are. Nothing more.

 

EDIT: I will just add a couple of sentences because of various threads that have come up. Just for added interest.

 

There were no rules. Anything went. Underwater hides on string. If you could get to a place you could place a pot there. Fake posts and all sorts were encountered. It was fascinating. I did it till 1998 and found 676 stamps in that time. Dunno how many ftf's but I was amongst my friends a high roller lol. In 2000 and something I took my family letterboxing. They were amazed and I began doing it again a couple of times. Only a few. By this point hardly anyone I knew did it any more. No word of mouth clues but you could go to anywhere, anywhere on Dartmoor and just search. Some days you would find none. Sometimes as many as 20. Best day I ever had. Laughter torr. It was packed with them. I walked miles. 8 hour stints most days a week. I knew the moor without a compass and in the dark with a naff torch. But the folks had been intrigued by a world wise version. Geocaching. A few years later and they had begun doing it in earnest. I was repulsed by it. RULES AFTER RULES. urghhhh it was dreadful. I would listen to all these regulations and do's and dont's. I hated the idea. So I resisted it for years. I'm glad in the respect that I haven't seen my enjoyment eroded by the stupid actions of others doing things that have caused endless rules to be made. I am shocked at the mindless attitudes encountered at times and I am appalled by groups springing up taking charge unwarranted or unasked and claiming ownership over certain aspects of geocaching. But I am delighted that Groundspeak remain aloof (seemingly or otherwise) to the seemingly constant tide of crap that gets brought up and rammed down most of our throats. And that they intentionally or otherwise ignore most of it and us lol. It helps keep the hobby free. These self promoting types that attempt to lead us all into what must and must not be done. Just helping to ruin the game really. Just a thought and my opinion only stemming from where it began for us.

 

Wow. What a super interesting historical perspective from an actual old-school Dartmoor letterboxer. Did you meet God at the change-of-clock gatherings? [inside joke]

[+L0ne.R]

The dartmoor style seems to focus on what is pretty similar to a traditional cache or a very simple offset cache (apart from the GPS-involvement on how to get there). Letterboxing in other areas involves more and more complex clues and several stages.

 

 

For anyone interesting here are some examples of Dartmoor clues. They are quite short and sweet. But so short and sweet that it seems like not enough information. This photo of a section of the catalogue illustrates what the Dartmoor clues looked like:

 

 

Here are a couple of actual clues that I found on a Dartmoor blog:

 

Crockern Tor HP tor 222.5. LHE trees 002 and 039. Trig 081.5. 12p from wall. Plugged in ground between 2 6ft x 3ft slabs. (Contains visitors book)

Lydford Gaol Chimney 076.5. Stile 110. RHS tree clump by wall 181. RHS logan type rock 273. HP tor 350. Under E end of 1.5ft x 4ft x 1.5ft part embedded rock.

[cezanne]

For anyone interesting here are some examples of Dartmoor clues. They are quite short and sweet.

 

Thanks. That fits to what the owner of this site http://www.letterboxing.at/index.php?id=345 (which somehow has been abandoned before it started)

told me in the course of a discussion a few years ago (he comes from the UK and has been active in Dartmoor letterboxing in the 80-ies). I was disappointed that he had no interest into more complex letterboxes (neither hybrid caches that are more complex nor

letterbox only objects that are more complex). Before I had a wrong idea about the clues in Dartmoor style letterboxing.

 

Somehow I notice the same difference in preferences and style that are present in geocaching also in letterboxing. There seems to be a greater interest into

more complex and multiple location style hunts in countries like Germany and Austria than in the UK or in the US.

 

Nice stamps are an additional asset for me, but what is much more important for me is the way to the container. A simple concept with only a single offset

does not attract me even though I know that this both makes a valid letterbox and a valid letterbox hybrid cache and that it's the stamp that plays the major role for this

validity.

 

 

Cezanne

Edited September 18, 2014 by cezanne

[+redsox_mark]

Wow, this thread has really drifted from the simple request of where to buy ready made stamps...

 

But has it has..

 

As I am a Geocacher and not a Letterboxer, I don't have any strong preference about having a hand-carved stamp. All of the things which go into making a great Geocache are much more important to me.. e.g. the location, the container, etc. But I understand for some, a hand carved stamp is important.

 

I recently found an amazing Letterbox Hybrid cache. The Depot. The way this one was done, there were 2 containers. The Geocache contained a key to the letterbox which was nearby. The letterbox had a stamp (of a train). I have no idea if it was handmade or not - I suspect it was, but it could have been a ready made train stamp like Train stamp. The Geocache was multiple stages, and used clues to get some numbers to open the combination lock on the letterbox. The letterbox is listed separately on a letterbox site Birdhouse

[+Rayvan43]

Wow, this thread has really drifted from the simple request of where to buy ready made stamps...

 

But has it has..

 

As I am a Geocacher and not a Letterboxer, I don't have any strong preference about having a hand-carved stamp. All of the things which go into making a great Geocache are much more important to me.. e.g. the location, the container, etc. But I understand for some, a hand carved stamp is important.

 

I recently found an amazing Letterbox Hybrid cache. The Depot. The way this one was done, there were 2 containers. The Geocache contained a key to the letterbox which was nearby. The letterbox had a stamp (of a train). I have no idea if it was handmade or not - I suspect it was, but it could have been a ready made train stamp like Train stamp. The Geocache was multiple stages, and used clues to get some numbers to open the combination lock on the letterbox. The letterbox is listed separately on a letterbox site Birdhouse

YA THINK!

I thought it was a pretty simple YES you can go here or here, or No sorry we have no idea.

Simple!

[+Seaglass Pirates]

YA THINK!

I thought it was a pretty simple YES you can go here or here, or No sorry we have no idea.

Simple!

 

Nothing is ever simple when you ask a simple question. It can go many ways. All depending on what time of day it is and who is on. It is quite funny sometimes and at other times it is totally inexplicable how the forum turns on the asker. The thing to remember is that it isn't geocachings fault. It is just inherently - people.

 

Lack of tone of voice, the lack of ability to set a context by the asker - many factors influence how something will go. Roll with the punches I guess. But you've solved your issue with a ready made pack of stamps. And that's funny because most of the stamps you would find as a latter boxer back then were shop bought ready made stamps. There were two main shops at the time to get stamps from. A stationers in Plymouth had a massive rack of them. Like these -

 

 

They had hundreds. And they cost a fortune. But you scrimped and scraped to afford one. Then beg borrowed and stole pots. Minimum of two different sized aspirin pots to keep out the wet. Protect the stamp. And log book of course. But this is something that makes me smile. I NEVER found a dry log book. Ever. Most were at least damp. Many were sopping. A lot were disintegrating. You didn't moan. Complain. You just thought awwwww I'll change that for them. And you did. We all did. You didn't dare risk that your visitor stamp wouldn't be in it. Because lol, armchair claiming of a find was alive and well then too. So you always made sure you could leave a stamp. The locations of where you wanted to put a pot were chosen by hunching over the 1 to 25000 maps on cold nights. Then you bought the stamp. Whatever you could afford. And that would Taylor what you called the letterbox. If you could only afford a little flower - you did a flower series. The series would grow over months or years not days lol.

 

Then out it would go. Job done. But if you were flush (had a bit of spare cash) you placed three or four blank postcards addressed to you and with a stamp on already. That way when someone found it they would post one of them off to you, to let you know who had found it first. And they would use their visitor stamp to show who they were. If you could only afford a wooden one like above you would use that and write your user name under it. We were the Dartmoor Ratpackers. Our stamp was the only one we liked out of a small selection in the other shop you could use. They were cheaper and based in oakhampton. It was a rat holding a pumpkin. Still got it lol.

 

However word of mouth would let you know of various places that made stamps for you. Terribly expensive. We had a series made once. It cost £35.00 then. Like 150 now ish. And you drew your designs and posted them off and waited. No computers. Sent them in and they used a new laser engraving system. Ours was a King Arthur series. The first was on and island at black torr. And the lid had the clues to the next in the series. To this day the largest a probably still there in the corner of a wall at riders rings near the Avon dadgum Reservoir never did get a postcard from that one. Could still be there. That was the round table. I had to cut them out myself and use glues to hold them to marine ply. And we would often find a wet wooden block with the stamp curled up at the bottom of a watery pot. No one moaned. We were horrified we might not be able to get a copy of it. So we treated it lovingly. We'd worked hard to find it.

 

We used various different colours of stamp pad to highlight wording on the stamp too. Because there was also a lot of either home made or proprietary stamps. I can't deny that. Specifically made for the thing that was there. But the majority were shop bought. High quality but shop bought.

 

But the people were the same. Most great as with geocaching. Some annoying. And some just appalling dregs of humanity that everyone hated lol. The difference was though - you told them they were pratts. Sometime there would be punch ups. Sometimes someone's entire collection would be hunted out and stollen. But geocaching is world wide and all ages. So same applies.

 

As for the meetings they were a bit odd. Geocaching events are better from what I remember. It was dark really. Trestle tables full of piles of printed paper with clues to a series on. My first was Whitechurch School charity series. They still do them now. Excellent series twice a year. So you paid for a sheet of clues to a series. Usually £1.50 a sheet. The catalogues were I think £1.75 each. But you made it last for years.

 

That photo of the catalogue - blimey - that brings back memories. A lot cleaner than men was lol. Grubby from use and wet and dried and wet and dried again. Hilarious. But the back of laughter torr was hilarious. Used to drive people nuts. The clues always used the Tor, Belliver Torr or North Hessary Transmitter mast, and then the only other thing in view was the end of the forestry commission fir tree line. They cut the frigging thing back by 200 feet lol. Everyone moaned then. For years. Cause all the coordinates were then out. Slightly widened search area.

 

Anyway as for GOD I do remember seeing his visitor stamp. It did make us laugh at some of the names. Bog Trotters was one. Can't remember our friends name. They introduced us to it. Sir Percival I remember his name. And someone called Chris who everyone knew (I never met him). He did some of the best stamps. But he was apparently a terrible Tyrant. You kept out if his way so word had it. Lol.

 

Anyway - luck with your series and while the thread has been hijacked in a way, in another it has put "real letterboxes" into perspective. Letterbox hybrids cannot be more loyal to the original than a shop bought or home made stamp, in a pot.

[+L0ne.R]

We used various different colours of stamp pad to highlight wording on the stamp too. Because there was also a lot of either home made or proprietary stamps. I can't deny that. Specifically made for the thing that was there. But the majority were shop bought. High quality but shop bought.

 

 

That's a surprise. Here in North America we hear all about the custom made stamps. Although I have read bits on the letterbox forums, from letterboxers that have been to Dartmoor in the last five years that there's a mix now of store-bought, handcarved and custom. A google image search for Dartmoor stamps always results in lots of interesting custom made stamps, I'm not seeing any store bought stamp images, but maybe folks don't upload photos of Dartmoor letterboxes with store bought stamps. Which may go to show that custom made in Dartmoor (and hand-carved in North America) are the coveted type of letterbox stamp. On geocaching.com the coveted thing is the icon. But maybe that will slowly change the more we talk about the stamp's significance via the forums. I don't even mind a store bought stamp if it ties into the theme - it shows a little understanding and creativity from the cache owner.

 

Today I found a letterbox hybrid that honoured an actor from the show Bones. The stamp was a soft swirl icecream cone. Like this:

 

A skull & bones or skeleton stamp would have been more in-keeping with the theme. This time of year skeleton stamps should be an easy find at the dollar store. A little more effort and a handcarved stamp could be made for 50cents.

 

Edited September 20, 2014 by L0ne.R

[+Rayvan43]

We used various different colours of stamp pad to highlight wording on the stamp too. Because there was also a lot of either home made or proprietary stamps. I can't deny that. Specifically made for the thing that was there. But the majority were shop bought. High quality but shop bought.

 

 

That's a surprise. Here in North America we hear all about the custom made stamps. Although I have read bits on the letterbox forums, from letterboxers that have been to Dartmoor in the last five years that there's a mix now of store-bought, handcarved and custom. A google image search for Dartmoor stamps always results in lots of interesting custom made stamps, I'm not seeing any store bought stamp images, but maybe folks don't upload photos of Dartmoor letterboxes with store bought stamps. Which may go to show that custom made in Dartmoor (and hand-carved in North America) are the coveted type of letterbox stamp. On geocaching.com the coveted thing is the icon. But maybe that will slowly change the more we talk about the stamp's significance via the forums. I don't even mind a store bought stamp if it ties into the theme - it shows a little understanding and creativity from the cache owner.

 

Today I found a letterbox hybrid that honoured an actor from the show Bones. The stamp was a soft swirl icecream cone. Like this:

 

A skull & bones or skeleton stamp would have been more in-keeping with the theme. This time of year skeleton stamps should be an easy find at the dollar store. A little more effort and a handcarved stamp could be made for 50cents.

 

[+Rayvan43]

We used various different colours of stamp pad to highlight wording on the stamp too. Because there was also a lot of either home made or proprietary stamps. I can't deny that. Specifically made for the thing that was there. But the majority were shop bought. High quality but shop bought.

 

 

That's a surprise. Here in North America we hear all about the custom made stamps. Although I have read bits on the letterbox forums, from letterboxers that have been to Dartmoor in the last five years that there's a mix now of store-bought, handcarved and custom. A google image search for Dartmoor stamps always results in lots of interesting custom made stamps, I'm not seeing any store bought stamp images, but maybe folks don't upload photos of Dartmoor letterboxes with store bought stamps. Which may go to show that custom made in Dartmoor (and hand-carved in North America) are the coveted type of letterbox stamp. On geocaching.com the coveted thing is the icon. But maybe that will slowly change the more we talk about the stamp's significance via the forums. I don't even mind a store bought stamp if it ties into the theme - it shows a little understanding and creativity from the cache owner.

 

Today I found a letterbox hybrid that honoured an actor from the show Bones. The stamp was a soft swirl icecream cone. Like this:

 

A skull & bones or skeleton stamp would have been more in-keeping with the theme. This time of year skeleton stamps should be an easy find at the dollar store. A little more effort and a handcarved stamp could be made for 50cents.

 

 

ALL of my caches are named after the stamp that is placed in each.

[+Ambrosia]

We used various different colours of stamp pad to highlight wording on the stamp too. Because there was also a lot of either home made or proprietary stamps. I can't deny that. Specifically made for the thing that was there. But the majority were shop bought. High quality but shop bought.

 

 

That's a surprise. Here in North America we hear all about the custom made stamps. Although I have read bits on the letterbox forums, from letterboxers that have been to Dartmoor in the last five years that there's a mix now of store-bought, handcarved and custom. A google image search for Dartmoor stamps always results in lots of interesting custom made stamps, I'm not seeing any store bought stamp images, but maybe folks don't upload photos of Dartmoor letterboxes with store bought stamps. Which may go to show that custom made in Dartmoor (and hand-carved in North America) are the coveted type of letterbox stamp. On geocaching.com the coveted thing is the icon. But maybe that will slowly change the more we talk about the stamp's significance via the forums. I don't even mind a store bought stamp if it ties into the theme - it shows a little understanding and creativity from the cache owner.

 

Today I found a letterbox hybrid that honoured an actor from the show Bones. The stamp was a soft swirl icecream cone. Like this:

 

A skull & bones or skeleton stamp would have been more in-keeping with the theme. This time of year skeleton stamps should be an easy find at the dollar store. A little more effort and a handcarved stamp could be made for 50cents.

 

 

I had to go look at the cache page, because I do remember there being a conversation between Bones and Booth about vanilla/chocolate swirl cones. But the character referenced was Sweets. Maybe they were trying to show "a sweet" for Sweets?

[BlueRajah]

Closing thread at the request of the thread starter.