Hanky points

Hanky Points are the form of rewards system in the Thieves' Guild. They can be exchanged for Thieving experience relevant to your current Thieving level by talking to the trainers. Succeeding at a thieving task reveals a blue or red hanky, depending on the difficulty of the task. Blue hankies are worth 1 hanky point; red hankies are worth 4 hanky points. The cap amount of Hanky Points you can earn in a week is relevant to your current Thieving level. They have no image and the only ways to learn how many you have is to ask one of the trainers or check the RuneScape toolbar under the Distraction Reminders section (has to be authorised first). They can be earned from a number of activities, including: pickpocketing trainers, blackjacking volunteers and trainers, cracking safes and stealing from chests. Once the cap amount is reached, the activities can continue but you cannot cash in your hankies until the next week.

You can collect up to your maximum hanky points for the week, hand them in for the reward, and then collect up to your maximum hanky points again but you will have to wait until it resets weekly on Wednesday at 00:00 UTC. Once you have your maximum amount of hanky points, you can continue the activities to gain more experience but, each time you succeed, you will get a message saying, "You have reached the maximum amount of hanky points you are allowed at your level." To find out how many hanky points you have, or to trade your points in for the experience reward, speak to any of the trainers or volunteers, or right click certain trainers or volunteers and select the 'Check-points' option (not all trainers and volunteers have this right-click option, however).

Note: Hankies are not items that go in your inventory, they are just mentioned in the chat log. For example, in the southern (more challenging) pickable chests: "There is a single red handkerchief inside."

Trivia

 * Blue and red banners are commonly hung in the Thieves' guild. They might be a reference to the colour-coded hanky point system. This is most notable in the cul-de-sac containing the practice chests as they seem to mark the difference between the two rows of practice chests (south chests give red hankies and north ones give blue hankies).