Taking Signature Pieces

[+Old Fogies]

Sometimes a person's signature card or piece is better than the actual cache items. Am I supposed to leave them alone so they can prove they have been to the cache? I've taken signature arrowheads, personalized coins and cards. Others have taken the shark's tooth I leave. What's the proper thing to do?

[WH]

Signature items are just things that a specifc cacher leaves and are free for the trading if you come across them (dont forget to trade up). Some people actually collect signature items and will go out of there way to grab a cool one.

[+Stem]

I just finished a batch of sig items. I would hope people will use them for trade items. IMHO if someone leaves it in a cache, it is available for trade. The only exception would be if it is clearly marked for the owner, or a specific cacher.

 

My .02

[+Renegade Knight]

I think a sig item for a sig item is a fair trade. Same for a card for a card. However because cards are inexpensive and get destroyed in a cache I wouldn't lose sleep over just taking one if I didn't have a card handy to trade.

 

My early signature item was a trading card. Most of them got destroyed. I'm only aware of one that was saved.

[+ShowStop]

Sometimes a person's signature card or piece is better than the actual cache items. Am I supposed to leave them alone so they can prove they have been to the cache? I've taken signature arrowheads, personalized coins and cards. Others have taken the shark's tooth I leave. What's the proper thing to do?

Signature items are fair trade items in my mind. I have a sig item that is similar to my avatar image. Its turns out to be a popular item to be taken by other geocachers. I even put my name on them, but people still like them. Doesn't bother me. I love the idea of my sig items moving around the country.

 

As for proof you found the cache, thats what the log is for. Other then the log book and pen, I say everything else is game for trading.

[WH]

As for proof you found the cache, thats what the log is for. Other then the log book and pen, I say everything else is game for trading.

oops

[+wimseyguy]

Trade away as long as it's fair. I'm not sure how one values a sig item. I think it's pretty funny to find a sig item inside a cache when that cacher hasn't found it yet though.

[+Ed Rad]

Please take it! I really enjoy seeing that another cacher liked my sig item enough to take it!

[+brdad]

I have two sig items, and like to see people take them. One is a CD slideshow/screensaver of pictures of Maine I have taken, which I leave once in a while in a tougher cache. They can be kept or copied and placed in another cache and are manually tracked, similar to a TB. The other is a flat marble with once of the pictures from the CD on it - those are designed to be kept, though I do know of one that made it to a cacher in NY, which was cool. Check my webpage for more details.

[+flask]

i have a variety of signature items:

 

i have a series of bootleg cd's which, although they are all my own material, some of the performers are not me, and none of the recordings were intended for public release.

 

i also have a pounded penny that has my name on it.

 

here and there i leave the odd handmade kaleidoscope or painted box or what-have-you.

 

i collect other cacher's signatures, and often collect a series from one cacher. i'm finding my collection of signatures to be far more interesting than anything else i find. more than anything else i value something handmade or especially representative of a cacher.

 

wheel15 (painted rocks) and rusty-o-junk (handmade puzzles) spring to my mind. kahja (antique keys with attached artwork)does, too, but i've never collected hers. when i've seen them, it's always been when i'm WITH her, and i kind of feel that to collect them, i have to find them in the wild.

 

every once in a while i ask a cacher for a good signature to seed one of my caches with. some people will go to caches specifically to pick up signatures, so i think it's a hoot to start a cache with highly prized signatures of cachers who have clearly never been to the cache.

 

i'm not terribly attracted to the business cards. some people like them.

[+Huntnlady]

Signature business cards are worth what? 1/2 a cent apiece, if that? I sincerely hope that isn't the only thing people are trading with. I tend to throw out the ones that accumulate in my caches after awhile. Feel free to take one, heck- take two or three. After they get dirty and bent they are just another thing to CITO.

[Nick_T]

Personally I tend to stay away from signature items in caches. I feal that the signature items are left specifially for the cache owner and the other items left by the cache owner and visitors are good for the trading. I'm not saying that I'm right or anything, this is just my way of doing business.

 

Nick T

[mistaken4sisters]

We started painting wooden tiles (no 2 have been alike so far) and adding little dogs & cats (marked with our name) when we cache, along with whatever else we feel like trading. Just recently we got a note that someone picked up one of our dogs, and was taking it back to Tennessee...from NYC. We thought it was cool & are interested to see where they end up. We've also taken some sig items, but always note that in our logs so that if the owners want them returned to the cache, its not a problem...we just think they're really neat. There are many out there we've seen on websites & posted here that we'd love to run into. The imagination & work that go into them are amazing, and we certainly enjoy them, just like we hope people will enjoy ours. We've found a bunch of sig items from local cachers, some of who explicitly say please take it. Our refridgerator hasn't looked this lively in quite a while.

 

We have no expectations about what happens to ours, other than someone gains some enjoyment from them (even if its just a laugh at our less that talented artwork), whether they are a collector or a child who liked the dog, cat or tiles. To us its not about the trading, but rather seeing the work that people put into making the caching experience a personal one.

[+Gizmo & Brazin]

Personally I tend to stay away from signature items in caches. I feal that the signature items are left specifially for the cache owner and the other items left by the cache owner and visitors are good for the trading. I'm not saying that I'm right or anything, this is just my way of doing business.

 

Nick T

But remember Nick, a person who hides caches (I have a few) tends to get many of the same people (locals mostly) finding each one. If a person left their sig item in each cache, and everyone who found the cache left it for the cache owner, I would get several of the same sig items while others would not get any. Plus if all sig items were left only for those who placed the cache, people who have yet to hide a cache would never get to collect a sig item. I also have a sig item I leave in the ones I find. Should you ever come upon one, please by all means, take it.

[Nick_T]

I see your point on this Gizmo, didn't really take in consideration the fact of folks having multiple caches. Maybe what mistaken4sisters suggests is a better way of doing business........

 

We've also taken some sig items, but always note that in our logs so that if the owners want them returned to the cache.......

 

I'm new to this thing also so I'm not real set in the way I do things yet and always lookin for things I can do to better the enjoyment of the sport. I know if someone took my signature card and pin from a cache that I've visited I wouldn't be upset.

 

Thanks for posting up.

 

Nick T

[+flask]

i'm always flattered when somebody starts collecting my signatures. heck, i used to think when you've seen one pounded penny with "flask" engraved on it, you'd seen them all. apparently there are people who think differently.

 

some of our local cachers have such popular signatures, there's a second rush to caches AFTER the FF rush. the "FTFafterwheel15" race is a pretty good one. she does these little intricate miniature paintings on rocks. and when we cache with other people, the RULE is that the first person to spot the thin get s to pick trade items first. so far i have lost every race in which one of these rocks were at stake.

 

if i simply wanted to prove i'd been there, i'd sign the log.

[+hikemeister]

Yes, definately take them if you like.

 

I wondered the same thing when I started geocaching last May.

 

Then I noticed that folks were taking my signature items (hand painted smooth stones from a nearby beach, with the GC logo), and some even driving a distance to get them.

 

I started collecting signature items a few months ago, and now only trade when I find them.

 

Hikemeister

[GeoWorms]

Personally, we want people to trade for our sig items. We place personalized corkscrews in caches, and they are made to be used. Until wine bottles are allowed in caches there's no reason to let it sit there and waste away.

 

I agree that the logbook is our proof that we were there--the sig item is meant to be shared and enjoyed.

[+Night Stalker]

I look for signature items to trade for. In many caches they are the most interesting things in there anymore.

[+fly46]

Personally, I think that if someone leaves a signature CARD that it's free for the taking. Same with travel bugs, but that's another arguement...

 

Now, if they leave a signature ITEM, then by all means, trade for them.. Those things cost money! Granted, some cost more than others - my main ones are about a quarter each, but I have also seen someone that leaves homemade soap in a cache, one local cacher leaves buttons, etc...

 

That's my opinion anyway.