Now, however, you find a decent-sized cache and you may well find more than just a log book and McDonald's Happy Meal toys and Christmas cracker gifts. Consider below the different items which can be found in any geocaches big enough to hold them:
TOP RIGHT: Geocoin - not legal tender in any country, geocoins are designed by geocachers and then minted courtesy of certain websites which specialise in making them. They don't have to be round either - geocoins come in all shapes and sizes now but generally they are metal and engraved in some way. Every single geocoin has a unique six-digit trackable code so if you find one in a cache you can log it on the geocaching.com website. Geocoins are to be moved between caches and must not be kept by the finder unless they have the permission of the coin owner. Some people collect geocoins. I myself have a small collection, and eBay will show you various designs. Because they are often quite beautiful and creative, some people do not want to part with their coins and do not put them in caches, but often they are happy for other cachers to "discover" them in their collection.
TOP MIDDLE: Travel Bug or TB - Travel Bugs have a similar function to geocoins in that they each carry a unique six-digit trackable code which when entered into the geocaching.com website brings up details about the bug in question. These are not collectable in the same way that coins are though and tend to be attached to small items which have a mission, for example a TB may be attached to toy aeroplane which wants to visit caches near airports. As with geocoins, these are not to be kept by the finder but moved on to another cache. The TB's mission can normally be ascertained from the trackable's page, but sometimes it will have it written on it. Travel Bugs have now branched out so that they make almost anything trackable, for example T-shirts, car stickers and even tattoos.
TOP RIGHT: Trackable tags - Almost identical to Travel Bugs, these tend to be metal tags which have a picture on one side and a six-digit trackable code on the other. Not to be kept by the finder but moved on to another cache.
BOTTOM LEFT: PuzTox - A PuzTok is a fairly new creation so you might not have seen any in a cache yet. There are ten to collect in total and they were created for the 2012 Oxford Geolympix. Using the reverse of a PuzTok you can create and solve certain puzzle caches. They are not trackable.
BOTTOM MIDDLE: Pathtags - not a common find in caches in the UK, these have a much greater prominence in America. They are loggable like geocoins and TBs but not on the geocaching.com website. In fact their connection to geocaching is artificial; caches just make convenient places to trade them. Pathtags.com allows you to design and create your own tags, and to log others you have found. They can be bought but it is common practice to swap them much like you would trading cards.
BOTTOM RIGHT: Signature items - in this case a wooden token. A signature item can be anything which resembles a particular cacher. Mine have mushrooms on them and my caching name, "thebuttonmushroom" on the reverse. Some people leave calling cards, others have created their own unique signature items such as bottle caps. They are not trackable.
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