Leaving Sig Items

[+kc8hnz]

For those who leave sig items, after how many finds did you decide to make a personalized one for yourself? Having found 172 over the past year, do you think its too late to come up with one for myself, or is never too late.

[Azaruk]

It's never too late!

[+Snoogans]

It's never too late!

Yep. That's mostly all I trade for anymore.

[+reveritt]

It's never too late. I started dropping a personalized item after maybe 40 finds. After I distribute 100 of them, I plan to adopt a new signature item. I would be past that point by now, except that so many caches are small or micros these days, and my sig item won't fit.

[+Fergus]

I started leaving my chainmail balls on my second find. It helps that I had about 20 of them laying around the house.

[+Two Bear Cubs]

Hey Fergus,

 

How 'bout let's see one of those chainmail balls. Post a photo!

 

Somewhere out in the woods there must be a lot of little chain males limping.

[+ZackJones]

I started leaving a sig item once I figured out what I really wanted to leave in a cache

[+PC Painter]

I don't think I had found more than 4 caches, before I started leaving my own signature items....but...like others have said, it's NEVER too late to start!

[+Fergus]

 

Here is a picture of one of my chainmail balls that I leave in caches. Below is one of the pouches I often leave as a FTF prize, or if it is a cache I really like. Please note I have been using this pouch as a dice bag for many years so it is not very shiny.

 

Edited December 3, 2004 by Fergus

[+TotemLake]

It took me 7 caches. I happened to be in the vicinity of this one and didn't realize it was a micro and I needed to bring my own pen or pencil until I found it. (I didn't read the log completely.) Anyway, right after the DNF on this cache, I made labels and put them in my fanny pack with the intent to use this as a log notation in the event I forgot to bring a writing utensil. (I tried every piece of dirt, stick and leaf to make a mark that day.) Anyway, the rest is history, I made a signature card for the larger caches for the same reason, and I merely started dropping them off at every cache. The key tags are just an evolutionary step on my signature items.

 

Shortly afterwards, when I thought I had a writing utensil, it turned out I didn't, and used my label to log this one.

[+fly46]

I got mine a few months ago..

Figured out what I wanted and then once I finally found it, now I leave little glow in the dark flies in every cache. They even fit in hide a keys.

[+Clueless&Clumsy]

After about 10 or so caches we started leaving a spark plug gapper as my signature item. I am really into cars and I thought it was appropriate, and they will fit in almost any cache. Of course that is usually left along with other things that we put in the caches so that when we take something good out we leave something good, and invariably what we take out finds its way into another cache somewhere down the line.

[+AuntieWeasel]

I think it was around fifty, maybe higher, before I realized what I wanted to leave. Then I did another dozen or so before I had all the parts (mostly waiting for a rubberstamp).

 

There are two things I especially like about mine (world coins in coin envelopes): people seem to like them, and they're small. So I can throw half a dozen of them in my PDA case and fit them into very small caches.

[MTCache]

Fergus, what is the gauge/id of the rings used in the bag? It's a cool bag indeed.

This is a pic of my sig item.

Whatcha think of it? Some thing that you would want to find in a cache, and keep/collect?

Edited December 4, 2004 by MTCache

[+Lostby7]

I'm hitting my first cache tomorrow and now that I have read this thread I realize that I will need to bring something with me to trade....Hummmm Perhaps I can leave LiveSTRONG wristbands.....

[+sammyslinger]

Just made mine up today. Your're right after I get rid of these, I'll come up with a new one. My wife thinks I'm crazy spending all this time on color ink, laminate, and time. My sig. cards look better than my personal business cards. Crazy isn't it?

[+Dragonfire870]

Only after 3 finds. I read this thread and got the idea. I've printed up labels for micros, and I will be printing up cards for the regular-sized ones that aren't themed. The cards will take awhile as I have to get an ink cartridge and convince my mom that they need to be laminated. I'll be using the labels along with items in reg-sized.

Edited December 4, 2004 by Dragonfire870

[+MrCOgeo]

I started leaving my Geo-Tokens and Geo-Sig packs in caches after I found what I wanted to make and leave.

 

Picture of MRCOGEO GeoToken

[+flask]

some of my local cachers change signatures periodically. kahja and okillezzzz both make very nice ones. she has an ever-changing repertoire, and although i've seen most of them up close and personal, i don't have any i didn't find in the wild, so i don't have one of each kind.

 

i have some basic kinds: i pound pennies and engrave my name on them, i put little beads i made in a bag, i leave a very strong little magnet, or i leave a bootleg cd of music and/or stories i've written or arranged.

 

i love to see physical signatures. i'm not wild about cards, with very few exceptions. i will jump at any handmade of handpainted item, regardless of the skill of the artist. i'm all over numbered items.

 

well-known or collectible cachers particularly interest me. your signature needn't be complex, nor should you wait forever. today's newbie is tomorrow's legend.

[+carleenp]

It is never too late! I got a sig item after caching for a year or so. Also, as others have mentioned, some people change items from time to time. I over bought engraved pencils and found that after the locals initially took them, they sat in caches (who needs a ton of the same pencil?). So then I added pencil toppers. Now those have gotten kind of stale, so I am looking for something new. I would like to do handpainted rocks or painted origami animals, but since I take some time on those, they won't go in every cache. I am also looking at having coins made, but I am kind of at a loss about setting up a tracking web site. Although I guess I could not track them since people like to keep coins anyway. Finally, I am considering different pencil toppers. That might be my short term solution or solution for many caches, and then I will leave the handmade stuff or coins in favorite caches.

[+DustyJacket]

For those who leave sig items, after how many finds did you decide to make a personalized one for yourself? Having found 172 over the past year, do you think its too late to come up with one for myself, or is never too late.

I think I started after 10-20 caches.

 

I started with silver halves(40) and dollars (20) , then buttons from honeychile (about 70), then calendar cards from wundercards.com (another 20 or 30), and now I ordered 75 personalized LED flashlights.

 

I change mine every now and then, so folks can collect more than 1 type of thing.

 

I find more caches than we have unique cachers around here, and I'd hate for my signature items to just rot in caches because everyone already has one.

 

It is never too late to start.

 

(I only take signature items, unless my family is with me.)

Edited December 5, 2004 by DustyJacket

[+Right Wing Wacko]

I just hit that magic 1000 number, and I am just now thinking about putting together a signature item. I sure hope thats not to late!

[+Africard]

Due to the absence of letterboxes in my home country, I made a stamp of my avatar and stamp all logbooks with this...