Thief Cache

A Thief Cache is a barrel in that can be looted for various items. The thief caches in Riften appear immediately after the Dragonborn has joined the Thieves Guild (being the Guild Master is not required). The "special" missions assigned by Delvin Mallory must be completed for each specific hold in order for the other thief caches to appear.

The thief's cache shadowmark is present on the side of the Barrel.

At higher levels, most thief caches may contain a Daedric dagger with a random enchantment, some Daedric arrows and gems, and a way of lockpicking, be it a potion of lockpicking or a large amount of lockpicks.

Riften

 * In the garden at Honeyside, against the Riften city wall (by the potatoes, leeks and cabbages).
 * On the lower docks whilst standing outside Valindor's House, and looking straight ahead.
 * In the corner on the balcony overlooking the guards' training grounds by Mistveil Keep. Accessed through the second floor of the guard's barracks.

Markarth

 * Just outside of the door to Vlindrel Hall.
 * On the walkway above The Treasury House.
 * At the base of the waterfall below the blacksmith. Half-submerged in the water.

Windhelm

 * In the small courtyard on the side of Niranye's house.
 * Right next to the door to Sadri's Used Wares.
 * Tucked at the end of a tiny alley to the right of Hjerim's entrance.

Solitude

 * Behind Vittoria Vici's home, located next to Proudspire Manor.
 * To the right of Erikur's house among the other barrels.
 * At the end of alley between The Winking Skeever and Angeline's Aromatics.

Whiterun

 * Behind Carlotta Valentia's house.
 * In the cow pen of House Gray-Mane, in the corner of the arch to the Plains District.
 * Behind the Bannered Mare.
 * To the left (2 barrels) and right (1 barrel) of the main entrance to Dragonsreach.

Solstheim

 * Basement of Glover Mallory's House.

Trivia

 * With the Prowler's Profit ability, they will probably contain a considerable number of precious gems (3-10).
 * Looting all of the caches around the map with Prowler's Profit can be quite beneficial. By selling all the acquired gems and weapons to fences (all of whom have 4000 each, except Enthir who only has 500), a substantial amount of coin can be made.
 * It took at least ten days for the caches to respawn items if ones left the town completely. If entered within that period, the timer will revert back to zero. Waiting outside one of the towns for ten days will refill all Thief Caches in other holds including the one in Glover Mallory's house.
 * To change contents of the caches, save the game before entering any towns as the game will have the items fixed once the Dragonborn enter the city. Reload to randomize them. This trick can be useful for farming certain hard-to-find gems such as Flawless Sapphire/Diamonds or getting powerful enchanted daggers.

Bugs

 * Caches in Whiterun, Solitude, Windhelm, and Markarth may not show up at all, even after all the Thieves Guild quests have been completed. Been fixed with the 1.9 beta patch via Steam. However, a recent update on 8.4.13 fixed all bugs.