Single Origin Items

All items in TF2 originate somewhere, and are given an attribute called <origin> that shows where the item came from. There are currently 22 possible origins, but some are not used or have been discontinued.

Origin	Origin Name	Introduced	Note
0	Timed Drop	2007-10-18 05:02:18	Discontinued 2017-01-08 06:11:40
1	Achievement	2009-10-30 01:00:00	Discontinued 2017-01-07 09:37:13
2	Purchased	2010-09-30 09:08:24	Discontinued 2017-01-08 06:16:49
3	Traded	2007-10-18 05:04:06	Discontinued 2012-06-28 01:56:33
4	Crafted	2010-10-06 10:03:54	Discontinued 2017-01-08 05:36:15
5	Store Promotion	2010-09-30 09:08:24	Discontinued 2017-01-07 08:12:09
6	Gifted	2010-09-30 10:02:31	Discontinued 2017-01-08 03:48:38
7	Support Granted	2010-10-07 11:28:49	Discontinued 2016-12-13 11:52:49
8	Found in Crate	2010-10-06 10:16:47	Discontinued 2017-01-08 02:39:21
9	Earned	2010-10-06 10:46:31	Discontinued 2017-01-07 10:20:35
10	Third-Party Promotion	2010-11-06 02:41:52	Discontinued 2016-12-26 02:24:51
11	Wrapped Gift	2010-10-29 11:17:08	Discontinued 2017-01-06 09:35:05
12	Halloween Drop	2010-10-28 12:49:43	Discontinued 2014-11-12 08:06:47
13	Steam Purchase	2007-12-31 08:58:10	Discontinued 2017-01-07 10:05:56
14	Foreign Item		Unused
15	CD Key	2011-07-19 11:29:56	Discontinued 2017-01-05 12:41:07
16	Collection Reward		Unused
17	Preview Item	2011-10-13 10:38:59	Discontinued 2017-01-08 02:23:30
18	Steam Workshop Contribution	2011-11-01 11:58:39	Discontinued 2016-12-24 06:08:06
19	Periodic score reward	2012-04-17 11:59:49	Discontinued 2016-09-15 11:59:39
20	MvM Badge completion reward	2012-08-16 06:30:20	Discontinued 2017-01-08 06:40:15
21	MvM Squad surplus reward	2012-08-16 06:30:20	Discontinued 2017-01-08 12:38:54
22	Recipe output	2013-08-28 04:34:44	Discontinued 2017-01-08 03:18:58
23	Quest Drop	2015-07-02 09:46:46	Discontinued 2016-11-17 07:55:47
24	Quest Loaner Item	2015-08-27 11:00:57	Discontinued 2016-04-05 04:40:24
25	Trade-Up	2015-10-28 11:54:32	Discontinued 2017-01-08 12:54:13
26	Viral Competitive Beta Pass Spread		Unused
27	CYOA Blood Money Purchase		Unused
28	Unknown		Unused
29	Untradable Free Contract Reward		Unused

While most items can be obtained via several means (e.g. Drop/Craft/Purchase) there are others that have but a single origin. I'll try to summarise some of those items in this article.

0 - Timed Drop

Normal Bat

These rare (but most common 'Normal' quality) weapons came to be due to an exploit or glitch. The most significant feature of these items are that they are the 'default' or 'fallback' item. Origin is '0', quality is '0', level is '0'.

Cheater's Lament

Granted to people who didn't 'cheat' the drop system, all were received as timed drops. Other 'Unique' items received only as timed drops include Grizzled Veteran, Soldier of Fortune, Mercenary, Primeval Warrior, Spellbook Magazine, Party Hat, Halloween Gift Cauldron, Gift-Stuffed Stocking, and some Crates.

Golden Wrench

Despite being a reward for crafting, these items were 'Timed Drops'.

Strange Spirit Of Giving

These Strange 'Gifts Given' counters are only available as 'Timed Drops' during Smissmas festivities.

Valve Eyelander

Valve quality items are either timed drops or Support Granted, the other 2 items that are 'Valve' quality are the Chargin' Targe and the Rocket Launcher.

1 - Achievement

Necro Smasher

Some items are only available via 'Achievement'. These are: Ghastlier Gibus, Ghastly Gibus, MONOCULUS!, Skull Island Topper, Ghostly Gibus, Fancy Spellbook, Necro Smasher, 'Fish', Moustachium Bar, Spacemetal Scrap, Halloween Gift Cauldron, Unfilled Fancy Spellbook, Frontline Field Recorder, Taunt: The Director's Vision, Full Head Of Steam, Spellbook Page (Tumidum), Samson Skewer, Dapper Disguise, Necronomicrown, Bloodhound, and Long Fall Loafers.

2 - Purchased

Upgrade to Premium Gift

Some items can only be 'Purchased'. These items include keys, unlocked crates and strange filters. As for cosmetics, Unique quality of the following must be 'Purchased': Benefactor's Kanmuri, Humanitarian's Hachimaki, Robot Chicken Hat, Shred Alert (Taunt), and Something Special For Someone Special.

4 - Crafted

Glitched Circuit Board

A minor glitch made some MvM bot parts craftable; after fixing the glitch, all the crafted parts were converted into 'Glitched Circuit Boards'. Other items that were craftable (but no longer are) are the Pile Of Ash and Bread Box. Pile Of Curses are only available via crafting too, but can still be crafted during the Scream Fortress events.

Spine-Twisting Skull

Spine-Cooling/Tingling/Twisting Skulls can still be crafted (and are only available via crafting) if you have an Unusual Haunted Metal Scrap and some refined metal. If you want a tradable skull though, you'll need to track down an extremely rare tradable Haunted Metal Scrap.

Sydney Straw Boat

Unique quality variants of the following items are only available via crafting: Fortune Hunter, Steel Songbird, Merc Medal, Pounding Father, Heroic Companion Badge, Scrap Pack, Mister Bubbles, Cockfighter, Doublecross-Comm, Der Maschinensoldaten-Helm, Blind Justice, Person in the Iron Mask, Bolgan Family Crest, Atomic Accolade, Heavy Artillery Officer's Cap, Doe-Boy, First American, Lone Star, Awesomenauts Badge, Professor's Pineapple, Buck Turner All-Stars, Big Daddy, Apoco-Fists, Cross-Comm Crash Helmet, Area 451, Bushman's Boonie, Russian Rocketeer, Warsworn Helmet, Sydney Straw Boat, Point and Shoot, Cold War Luchador, Vox Diabolus, Tomb Wrapper, Sharp Dresser, War Head, Mark of the Saint, Quadwrangler, Bolgan, Croft's Crest, Dashin' Hashshashin, Vigilant Pin, Battle Bob, Faerie Solitaire Pin, AWPer Hand, Combat Medic's Crusher Cap, Die Regime-Panzerung, Cross-Comm Express, Crosslinker's Coil, Crafty Hair.

5 - Store Promotion

Mann Co. Online Cap

The promotional hat for the Mann Co. Online Store is exclusively 'Store Promotion'.

6 - Gifted

Genuine Robo-Sandvich

Genuine variants of the Robo-Sandvich, Friends Forever Companion Square Badge, and Ap-Sap all come from promotional gift boxes, and are therefore exclusively 'Gifted'.

Orange Summer 2013 Cooler

Using 'Claim Checks' is the only way to obtain Summer 2013 Coolers. Along similar lines, the Seal Mask comes from the Antique Halloween Goodie Cauldron; the Scorched Crate comes from Pile of Curses. Also, the Delivered Giftapult Package is always 'Gifted'.

Strange Snack Attack

Strange Bread Box items are exclusive to Bread Boxes (uncraftable Store Purchase origins exist for Unique variants).

Haunted Forgotten King's Restless Head

Haunted items from Unlocked Creepy Crates are always 'Gifted'. Furthermore, Haunted Voodoo-Cursed Souls are always 'Gifted' from Piles of Curses.

8 - Found in Crate

Strange Festive Bat

A lot of items are exclusive to crates (to encourage you to buy keys!), including some that are no longer available like Strange variants of Festive Weapons, Rainblower, Lollichop, and Strange/Unique variants of Limited Late Summer Crate cosmetics.

Unusual HazMat Headcase

Barring a few exceptions, all Unusual quality hats are 'Found in Crate'.

Crone's Dome

Haunted cosmetics from Scream Fortress 2012-2013 were only obtainable from Spooky/Eerie Crates.

Chemistry Set (Collector's Festive)

Chemistry Sets for Collector's Festive weapons were only obtainable from crates, as are some Strangifier Kits (Strange Bacon Grease, Big Cheif, Private Eye, Apparition's Aspect, Pomson 6000, etc.) and Killstreak Kits (Stock weapons, Necro Smasher, HHHH).

Strange Part: Unusual-Wearing Player Kills

Strange Parts always come from crates, as does the Mann Co. Painting Set.

9 - Earned

Professor Speks

Most 'Earned' origin items come from Duelling rewards and are always items that are part of the drop system. A few items are exclusively 'Earned' origin, including the Professor Speks, Saxxy Clapper Badge, Operation Oil Spill Badge, Operation Steel Trap Badge, Operation Gear Grinder Badge, Operation Mecha Engine Badge, and Operation Two Cities Badge.

10 - Third-Party Promotion

Hat of Undeniable Wealth And Respect

'Third-Party Promotion' exclusive items include the H.O.U.W.A.R, Treasure Hat, Bounty Hat, Conspiracy Cap/Public Accessor (Genuine), War on Smissmas Battle Socks, War on Smissmas Battle Hood, Sack Fulla Smissmas, Portable Smissmas Spirit Dispenser, Smissmas Caribou, Randolph the Blood-Nosed Caribou, Summer Adventure Pack, Summer Starter Kit, and a plethora of Tournament Medals.

12 - Halloween Drop

Medic Costume Transmogrifier

Transmogrifiers and Spellbook Pages (except Tumidum) are only found as Halloween Drops (from the halloween gifts on Helltower).

13 - Steam Purchase

Summer Shades

A few Unique items like the Summer Shades and Proof of Purchase are always 'Steam Purchase' origin.

Genuine Alien Cranium

Most 'Genuine' promotional items are only available as a 'Steam Purchase'.

15 - CD Key

What's in the Companion Square Box?

This box as well as a variant of the Mann Co. Store Package (defindex: 839) are only available via 'CD Key'.

Genuine Red-Tape Recorder

Interestingly the Sleeping Dogs promos have 2 different entries in the schema, Genuine variants of one of the entries are only available via 'CD Key.

20 - MvM Badge completion reward

Strange Gold Botkiller Scattergun Mk.I

All Strange Botkillers are MvM Badge completion rewards.

Fabricator

Also only available via MvM Badge completion are Fabricators (Specialized and Professional), and Robot Parts.

22 - Recipe output

Rump-o'-Lantern

Collector's items are always Recipe outputs.