What to do with Old Trophies. Do you have many trophies under your belt? Good for you, If you are the type of person who lives with the glory in your heart and wants to regain shelf space this post of for you.
If you have numerous trophies stored somewhere in your garage laying around next to your old fire extinguishers and are tired of seeing them taking up precious space, you probably have wondered, what to do with old trophies.
If you didn’t come up with an answer, don’t sweat it because this is exactly what we’ll be sharing with you, What to do with Old Trophies.
For most people, trophies, of course, are great. Trophies remind us and take us back to those glory days, those golden times when your effort was recognized by others.
But then again, if you think about it, yearly, they become less relevant. Particularly, if more trophies keep coming in. It is understandable that you can even sometimes create some sort of sentimental bond. It is truly a sad day when you begin cleaning up your garage and find them piled up in an old box.
However, we have good news, you’ll be glad to know that there is the possibility you won’t have to entirely get rid of your old trophies. Before you decide to throw away your beloved trophies in the trash due to age, consider possible reuses around your house.
You may be surprised at what you can do with old trophies. Below you’ll find different ideas regarding what to do with old trophies.
What to do with Old Trophies FAQs
What are old trophies made of?
Older silver medals and trophies made before about 1970 can be made of solid sterling silver or of silver plate that is worth recycling. Silver trophies and other silver awards made in recent years are very thinly plated and not worth recycling.
Can you make money off of old trophies?
You can give them to goodwill or the Salvation Army, as they sell them in Thrift Shops (for next to nothing). Sometimes schools and clubs take them, change out the tops, and give them for activities in their organizations.
What’s the best thing to do with old trophies?
The older the trophy the higher the monetary value it has. If you only have a few trophies to recycle, you can bring them to a local thrift store (Goodwill takes trophies) or surplus store (some surplus stores actually pay you for old trophies).
Can you get rid of old trophies?
At the very least, if any part of the trophy or award is made of metal, those parts can be removed and recycled at a scrap metal recycling facility.
How do you remove the plaque from a trophy?
To remove it, just insert the tip of an X-Acto knife and gently pry up one corner. Once you get it going, it’s pretty easy to just peel right off.
How do you remove metal plaque?
The easiest solution for removing fingerprints, dust, and other grease stains from stainless steel is simply rubbing the surface of the plaque with a microfiber cloth. This material is soft enough to remove the surface grease without scratching the delicate finish.
How do you classify trophies for recycling?
Single Material Trophies
- The single material trophies are the trophies made with just a single production material. In this light, you can have trophies made with only iron materials. You can also have trophies made with aluminum material and have those made with only gold or silver.
- For these kinds of trophies, you can always recycle them. This is because their materials are easily recyclable, and they don’t contain any other materials that could hinder their recycling.
Multiple Material Trophies
- As you may imagine, these kinds of trophies are the common ones. Because trophies are an indication of achievements, producers try to adorn them as much as possible. By doing this, they use more than one material to make the trophies.
- These materials may include iron, aluminum, plastic, stones, and many others. Where there is a mixture of more than one material, it becomes very difficult to recycle the trophies. This is because the way and manner in that metal are recycled, is different from the manner in which plastic is recycled. This means that before recycling can happen, the recycler would need to separate those materials. This, without a doubt, would take more time and human effort, thereby slowing down the recycling process.
What to do with Old Trophies Ideas
#1 Regift Your Old Trophy
Prepare your trophy.
Materials You’ll need
- Old trophies
- Some kind of mild solvent (window cleaner, alcohol, etc.)
- X-acto knife
- Stickers and labels relevant to your event/award project
What to do with Old Trophies, Recommended Products
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Directions
Remove the original topper label
- Your ordinary run-of-the-mill kid’s trophy, typically given out at dance or music recitals, usually consists of a plastic topper, and a plastic and sometimes marble base, affixed with labels. The topper label is usually something paper-based.
- In the case of the smaller trophies, with the acrylic toppers, it was pretty easy to peel the labels off. You can try using a solvent to remove it, or just peel it off, and then deal with the residue separately, which is what I chose to do because it was quick and easy.
Clean topper
The label residue is easy to scrape using your fingernail, and then just wiped it down with some window cleaner and a paper towel.
Remove base label
The base labels are usually made of a think piece of pliant metal adhered to a base plate. To remove it, just insert the tip of an X-Acto knife and gently pry up one corner. Once you get it going, it’s pretty easy to just peel right off.
Affix new topper labels
Cover the area where the paper backing was showing with a large GitHub sticker, and in the center of that, you can add a smaller Hack for Change sticker.
Affix new base labels
For the base, just print up some event labels, sized to the base plate section where they would go. Then cut them out and just pressed them onto the still sticky base plate area where the old metal labels had been.
You could also use a Silhouette or similar type die cutter or a label maker, and do an even better customization job.
#2 Refurbish your Old Trophies
Old trophies and medals are often made from recyclable materials, but they also hold value in their current form, and many can be reused. A number of companies have programs dedicated specifically to the art of refurbishing trophies.
These programs break unwanted awards down for parts, rebuilding new trophies and plaques with whichever parts are usable and recycling the rest. The rebuilt items are then donated to non-profit organizations or resold. They also allow you to ship trophies that are in, sufficiently good condition for nominal processing and shipping fees.
#3 Sell your Old Trophies
Some trophies have been made and given before 1970. These trophies, depending on their materials, may prove useful. For instance, trophies made with sterling silver are relevant and worth many things. Also, some trophies are plated with gold or bronze. The quantity of these precious stones on the trophies would go a long way to determine their worth.
You have to know that the value of your trophies depends on the kind of materials used in making them. If you have trophies full of plastic materials, they might not be worth more than a penny.
#4 Make Flower Cups
You can also make flower cups from your old trophies. If your trophies have a cup shape, then the deal is sealed. All you have to do is clean it and put some beautiful flowers on it.
#5 Cupcake Stand
If you are often short of an elevated stand after your cupcakes, you can use your old trophies. You only have to put your cupcakes on a tray and place the tray on the trophy. This way, your guests can make a pick of cupcakes.
