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What are the signature items that I see talked about in other topics?

 

I have seen some caches with little fish and numbers on the - they were very tiny - less than 1/2" long. I saw some other little trinkets that had writing so small I could barely make it out.

 

What is geneally considered the proper way do deal with them? Are they added as an extra along with a trade or is that considered your trade for what you take out? Are you supposed to trade by taking them or are they considered to belong to the cache owner? Moved to other caches like I do with some swag?

 

What is considered a good SI if I wanted to make my own? I saw a post last night where someone was complaining about 'cheap' ones like limp computer printed business type cards (sounds tacky to me). How about printing on magnets? You can buy business card magnets - you could print on that and cut them into fourths and still have a nice size little piece.

 

So what is the purpose of numbering them - to count your caches? So I know if I get #547 that this is your 547th find?

 

I'm new here so help me out please.

 

:P

Edited by CompuCash
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A signature item is something that people start to recognize as "yours" -- could be something that suits your personality, something related to your screen name, or just something cool.

 

Coins and such can be numbered and actually tracked via a site such as travelertags.com.

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Signature items to me are an interesting swag item that reflects a fellow geocacher. What it is...whatever you want. I generally leave my signature geotoken (just homemade and printed on my computer then laminated) as an extra item with my trade. I would possibly trade my signature item for another signature item (of about equal value) in a cache, but I would never consider my sig. item to be a valid trade for something nicer. I try to always trade equal or trade up. I usually leave a sig. item in every cache I visit (unless it's too small), even when I don't take something.

 

I also number mine, but there's not really a reason. I guess just so I can keep track of how many I've dropped in caches. I've also received e-mails from people telling me that they had/have my geotoken #whatever. It's kind of fun to hear that my item has moved, or become part of someone's personal collection. Here is a picture of my signature item.

cd9677c0-f7f7-42e5-902c-b72215cf5ba4.jpg

 

McWeb

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I have a signature item that is a simple keychain that looks exactly like my avatar picture. The sig item has my geocaching name on it and I try to place it in every cache I visit in which it will fit. I have seen many other sig items like wooden nickels, various types of keyrings, coins, business cards, etc. My opinion on sig items is that they are trade items just like everything else. Take mine and add to your sig collection, trade into another cache, whatever. One of my sig items even turned into a travel bug. ;)

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I have a signature card that I use that I printed out on my computer. It's nothing much, just lets people know I was there. I leave a card for people that collect them and one for the owner. But I use other swag when for trading items. I don't use just the sig card to trade items with. That's hardly fair and not trading up or equal, unless another sig card was the only thing I traded for out of the cache.

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Interesting that I'm following Captain Kidd with my response.

 

I had thought about leaving small vials with a grain of gold dust in them. That idea didn't pan out (groan..... unfortunate pun), so I decided to start leaving my official Cache Pirate instead.

 

c20588bb-010e-4695-a9fb-e22dcb1417ca.jpg

 

They're small enough to fit into film cannisters and are mighty detailed for their small size.

 

I set out one today and hope to drop off another either tonight or early next week. I'm looking forward to reading the responses of the finders.

 

Regards,

 

- Mark (S-4-C)

Edited by Strapped-4-Cache
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Many cachers leave a homemade signature item that is unique, but of no particular intrinsic value. These are generally left in addition to whatever items are traded.

 

I use a slightly different approach in this election year. I leave copies of "The US Constitution and Fascinating Facts About it", which I sign with the geocaching URL and my ID. These booklets retail for about $3, although I bought them in bulk for about half that price. Since they have intrinsic value, I usually take something in trade.

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I leave copies of "The US Constitution and Fascinating Facts About it", which I sign with the geocaching URL and my ID.

Yessss, I took one of those out of the cache in Goddard Park recently. It had been muggled and some dipstick tried to set fire to the booklet. Tried hard - it's burned at both ends. You'll be pleased to know they don't burn well. After delicately ascertaining that it had not also been tinkled upon, I took it so it wouldn't be seen by chilrun in that condition. Actually, it's still pretty readable :blink:

 

I've been leaving cool-looking but not valuable old British coins. I'm going to start leaving them in coin envelopes with a bit of information. There are lots of really great coins that aren't worth much, and every one is a history lesson.

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I use a green plastic army man with a little price tag that has a sticker of my avatar attached. I like the signature items that are easily identified as being from a particular cacher.... eg army man = sgt stitches. Each member of my family (The Cruz Commandos) uses the same thing with a different sticker attached, so if we all hit a cache, there are five little army men.... Cpl Kiwi, Cpl Coconut, Sgt Tiki, and Lt. Happy Camper.

 

We do not exchange them for items, only to mark a cache where we have been.

 

Some people like to collect the sig items. The best collection I ever saw wa "Marky and Joani's" collection. They had two scrap books and a box of different sig items... some very cool.

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I developed two series of signature items that we call "geotokens" out West. Some geocachers from WY (TH&G) put theirs out and I claimed one and loved the idea. And, frankly, I was getting tired of McToys. My first series of geotoken was the "lame" type--but I hadn't figured out what I wanted to do yet, so I created what I could at the time. They seem to have been well accepted, given the emails I got.

 

I upgraded the second series by cutting slices of a tree limb, branding each slice with my cactus brand that I got in AZ, then handwriting the info I want on it (mention it when claiming cache, find link by profile to email me of finding token, keep, trade or just pass on and a number, just for my own logic--or lack thereof). Some get decorated with tiny little dog bones or paw prints that I get from Hobby Lobby's scrapbooking dept. to add to the interest. They don't cost me much, but I do put a good amount of time into them and keeping that branding iron hot gets costly given the winds in CO.

 

I'm much more likely to grab someone's sig. item than toys anymore, and I'm finding many geocachers (usually ones without kids) are more interested in the geotokens and other sig. items since it's geocaching specific.

 

There's another thread somewhere in these forums that discusses, and shows many sig. items if you want/need some ideas.

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:lol:

What are the signature items that I see talked about in other topics?

 

That nasty mess of mildewed pulp at the bottom of the tupperware cache container is a conglomeration of too many overly ambitious but extremely uninventive cachers' signature items: tacky business card-sized notes proclaiming who they are. Ya want it? You can have it. There are plenty of those moldy messes here in Kansas you can have. :blink:

Edited by Sparky-Watts
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some really neat ideas here for signature items

 

I have a bunch of business card magnets -

 

thought of printing up some neat to be determined logo - maybe like my avitar -

maybe I can get 6 on a bc cover with special laminate (heavy duty packing

tape) and cut them up - then it would be a magnet item and not a limp and

sucky card.

 

comments?

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I think that what Sparky is trying to say, is if you're going to do a sig item, make it worthy to pick up, keep and/or move it along.

 

Personally, I have a GeoCoin minted for me. You can see them, track them collect them, buy them, etc at my site... Vacman's Geocaching Page

 

Don't do a cheap packing tape item. It won't last and won't be kept. If you're going to do a paper token, get a decent laminater. You'll find all kinds of fun things to do with it.

Edited by Vacman
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I think that what Sparky is trying to say, is if you're going to do a sig item, make it worthy to pick up, keep and/or move it along.

 

Yup, pretty much. Don't leave something that is going to be another piece of trash rotting in the bottom of a cache. I've found a couple paper items that were ok, one from Lone Duck (I think) that had a pic of Daffy (or a similar kind of duck) that was laminated with a good laminator. Others, like I said, were just cheap, tacky business cards that were mush at the bottom of the box.

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Hi All,

 

I just started caching a few weeks ago and have become totally hooked. I go almost every other day now with my Dog and a friend and we love every minute of it. In an effort to learn as much as possible about geocaching I have been reading the forums quite a bit. I found this thread on sig items to be quite interesting to say the least.

 

My sig item comes from when I had a company go belly up in the dot com crash and was left with a good pile of software we developed. One of the products is a coffee table disc about wood. I thought it would be a great thing to leave in the caches as it is informative, useful, and unique, which I always like to be:-) Anyway, it has been a week or so since I started leaving these Cd's so havent gotten any feedback on them at all. I dont put my Geocaching.com info on them, I just mention that I dropped it off in the cache's real and online logs. But I am interested in what others think of this.

 

Dont be afraid to be honest and tell me the truth, I realy want to know whether people would like to find something like this or not? One thing I do ask is that either way you feel about it please explain why.

 

Thanks

 

Rick

Edited by Run
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very interesting idea - if the CD is well labeled I might take it - otherwise since there is such a proliferation of crappy CD's I might just glance at it and put it back.

 

Since I started this thread I will add:

 

I am still studying what I want for a signature item. I am currently investigating either the 'wooden nickel' approach or a custom poker chip. Until I find what I want I made some magnets. I also made some labels to put in the log books that include the number of the find. For now I am using a copy of my avitar on the labels and signature token. Wooden nickels are inexpensive but they are also kind of 'cheap' too. I might end up with blanks that I put my own label on. But I don't want it to just look like I put a round label on a piece of plastic either. So I am playing with some ideas and making some of my own prototypes to see if I like the idea. While investigating poker chips, I noted that Monte Carlo uses rectangle chips - might be neat. I also found that Avary has magnet sheets that you can run through your ink jet printer - this is still a viable idea as I kind of like the little magnets I made the other night - 4 slices off a business card magnet. These magnets are much thicker and nicer than the printable types. They have to be pretty thin and flexible to go through a printer.

 

Check out the Avery web site (avery.com natch :( ) as they have many neat products. I am wondering how a T shirt iron-on would work on a wooden nickel blank. Could have interesting applications. They even have bumper sticker blanks. These could be used to make several 'stickers' that could be put onto anything as a sig item. Avery also has stickers in several forms. Their web site is not exactly intuitive and you have to keep poking around (check related items at the bottom of a product and then the design ideas) to find things but keep at it and you can find some pretty neat stuff.

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Ya just go to google and get a ton of hits on 'poker chips'. I actually found some good deals.

 

Given my name here, and since I have a ton of old useless 31/4" floppies I had also thought of putting a neat label on them for tokens but while certainly unique, no one would want to keep it.

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Ya just go to google and get a ton of hits on 'poker chips'. I actually found some good deals.

 

Given my name here, and since I have a ton of old useless 31/4" floppies I had also thought of putting a neat label on them for tokens but while certainly unique, no one would want to keep it.

I think the major drawback to leaving any type of software in a cache is the number of unsavory cachers (those who like to ruin the game for everyone else by trashing, stealing, trading down, etc.). I certainly wouldn't put any software into my computer that I got from a cache, simply for the fear of viri that may be on it.

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Just decided on some signsture items and they arrived today. We now have a nice supply of little yellow rubber duck key chains for family caches and compass key chains for other caches. We wrote in permanent marker our geo team's name and the year. We will be placing them this weekend in some caches. :D

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Ya just go to google and get a ton of hits on 'poker chips'.  I actually found some good deals.

 

Given my name here, and since I have a ton of old useless 31/4" floppies I had also thought of putting a neat label on them for tokens but while certainly unique, no one would want to keep it.

I think the major drawback to leaving any type of software in a cache is the number of unsavory cachers (those who like to ruin the game for everyone else by trashing, stealing, trading down, etc.). I certainly wouldn't put any software into my computer that I got from a cache, simply for the fear of viri that may be on it.

 

NO NO !! I woudln't put software on the disks they'd just be a signature item with my label on them -

 

but like I said I've sorta ruled it out because no one would take it.

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I found a terrific source of custom-printed poker chips that will make EXCELLENT signature items!

ABC Awards makes them.

I found them with several auction listings in eBay for custom poker chips. I was interested so I looked further. Long story made short: You choose the border color, you choose the picture or graphic for the center (yes -- you can send him your own photo or graphic that you've designed), you choose the wording around the outside border, and you can put a dollar amount on it if you choose (or not).

 

The finished product is VERY high quality. I would be quite happy to find one in a cache. The price per chip starts at $2.95 / chip in quantities up to 50. The price per chip drops from there in larger quantities. But that is everything (but shipping). There is NO setup fee, etc.

You just e-mail him the picture you want to use, the wording you want around the border, the color of the border, and a dollar amount (if you choose). He will then e-mail you a proof picture of what it will look like for your approval. If you're happy, he will send you a Paypal invoice. As soon as he's paid, he makes the chips and sends them out.

I have NOTHING to do with this company other than being a very happy customer. I was just so happy with the product, price, and, especially, his communication and business attitude, that I thought I'd share this as a great source for signature trade items.

Edited by OuttaHand
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Really just getting started on mine. I have another site I've had for a while, but I use...unfortunate language and teach people how to make moonshine and stuff, so I realized I couldn't put the URL on trade items. Don't want little Suzy or Johnny's mama to come after me with the Ouchy Stick.

 

Particularly enjoyed your map, though it took me a couple of tries not to land my marker a hundred miles out in the North Atlantic. And I think my personal icon is a tiny black woman. I knew I should've gone for the alien.

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We use buttons made for us by Bumblebuttons.com SHe has very good prices and a very fast turn around. And you only have to order 6 or 10 depending on the size.

We have two sizes, Large for regulars caches and a small one for micros. I also have a night time only cache that has a button made just for that cache.

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I'm pretty new at this and didn't know until recently that others besides myself were using signature items, (Though it seemed natural) I've been leaving mine almost since I started. I found nifty little glass stars and crescent moons in the floral department of the craft store with the floral marbles. I made a rubber stamp with a sun moon and star on it for letterboxing, which I started at the same time as geocaching, so it went with that. Since then, my husband found little glass figures, about the size of one of those erasers you stick on the end of a pencil, and now several of our family are leaving those. I leave angels mostly, but will leave a bee, frog, alligator, heart, shell, ladybug or butterfly depending on the cache. We have found a bead store that will sell us these in bulk, 25 for $4.50. I leave one or more in every cache I visit that will hold one, and that is most....My intent is first to let other local cachers recognize I've been there, and second, I hope some finders will like them and want to take them. (They are quite detailed and clever) If you want to contact our source, there are even more types, like ducks, teddy bears....To contact the place we are buying these from e-mail lois@wynwoods.com -Glory Seeker

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I just print out my Trail Hound avitar with You've been found.... Trail Hound!!!

Circleing it , on business card stock and cut to size (square) Run it through a cheap home laminator and use that as a sig item...works great. Plus I had CoyoteRed and Sissy make me a rubber stamp that I sign the logs with.. They both match. I'm happy with that.

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As a noobie, I'm still pondering the PERfect sig item. But meanwhile... I snagged a big bag (must be over 100) of glow-in-the-dark plastic stars - ranging in size from 1/2" to 5" - at a thrift store recently (musta been a full set from some kids bedroom ceiling).

 

Kinda fun, and the range of sizes good for tossing in both film canisters and ammo boxes. I've only dropped a few so far, and don't have any name/info on 'em. But am trying to figure out how I might add such. There's even a couple of comets and one largish glow-in-the-dark "saturn" that I'm saving for the cache I find the YJTB in :o

 

Then again, whatwith my screen name, am thinking maybe a wee globe would be best. Anybody know where I might get bitty ones cheap?

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