Leather-Key Case-Butterfly Mini Teardrop

I maintain records on my trackables. They have the goal to circulate more than five years and to be moved by at least 25 cachers. That is a target rate of five drops per year for five years, or a drop every 73 days. The average drop rate of my trackables in the US is 124 days, in Europe it is 71 days. As of 13-Jun-24 this trackable had survived for 1.9 years and had been moved by 3 cachers, for an average drop every 237 days, or 1.5 drops per year. Please keep it moving, then drop it in a safe place!

No permission is needed to leave the U.S. While in the U.S., please drop it at an event, in a Premium Member only OR a rural cache near a busy trail or road. Do not place it in an urban, non-premium cache. Transport the bug in the original plastic bag for as long as the bag lasts; the bag keeps the trackable clean and dry, protects the number and prevents tangling with other items. Otherwise, take the trackable anywhere you wish.

This trackable is one of a series fashioned from leather blanks, some of which are intended as livestock ear-tags while others are for fancy-tooled earrings for ladies (men too, I suppose). I have no talent for leather tooling, but I was able to provide a little personality to the leather with some simple, imperfectly-applied stamping tools. Each trackable is named with a combination of the item made with leather shown in the gallery, for the subject of the stamp, and for the shape of the blank.

I have concerns about how well leather trackables will stand up to the conditions one sometimes finds in caches, but the blanks are a good size and comparatively inexpensive, so I am testing them. Each trackable starts in a heat-sealed bag that will eventually leak or disappear. The leather is also treated with a beeswax-propolis-oil compound to help shed water. Some discoloration is expected. If it is easy to do so, I would appreciate comments on the condition of the leather in the trackable discover- or find-logs.