Thursday 23 October 2014

23/10: Sports Pose Pin - Greco-Roman Wrestling

Scanning eBay this evening, I came across a pin which was rare to say the least during the Games. I think I only know of about 3 or 4 in the hands of collectors.

It's one of the sports pose venue pins - Greco Roman Wresting (1916)



This was one of the pins that seemed to appear at the Olympic Park for one afternoon in 2012 and was never seen again. I always thought that boxes of pins had been hidden at the back of a cupboard during the Games - maybe it was true!

Take a look at Tragars Collectables on eBay if this is one that you need for your collection. I see that the Archery pose in is there too - another rare one.

Sunday 1 June 2014

1/6: New pins discovered

Updated: 8/6 - correction and supplementary details to Indian language pins.

Even 2 years after the Olympic and Paralympic Games, there are still some pins only now coming to light.

New BA Pin Version
An alternate version of the BA Language pin for India has been discovered.

BA0005 (India) - Hindi (Top) and Punjabi (Bottom) versions

The original issued in 2012 was in Hindi (the text reads 'Namstey' - a Hindu greeting) and the new version is in Punjabi (the text reads 'Sat Sri Akal' - a Sikh greeting). At the time of its release, I was told that there were 100 of the original pins. The new pin has turned up on eBay and the seller states that there were only 20 of the later version made.

The new version has been added to the BA page on the catalogue

Two Prototypes
At the pin meet in April, collectors shared two pins we believe to be prototypes that never went into production.

A pin from Cisco stamped on the back as CIS0001. The actual CIS001 used a similar white design but on a shard shape background. This is a Honav pin.

CIS0001

A panasonic logo pin from Aminco

Saturday 31 May 2014

31/5: Pin Swapping - QEOP - 8 June 2014

As part of the Commonwealth Games baton relay, the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is hosting a Festival of Sport on Sunday 8th June. Click here for details. The day runs from 9.30am until 5pm and one of our number has managed to arrange a pin swapping area. A few collectors will be there throughout the day hosting a small 'show & tell' of London 2012 Olympic pins as well as swapping pins with visitors.

If you fancy catching up with some collectors, seeing some London 2012 pins or trying your hand at swapping pins then come along.

I'm not sure where we will be based, but I'm told it should be in the south of the park in the vicinity of the stadium. Keep an eye on Twitter (@londonpins and @markkasspins) and Facebook (London Pins) on the day for news and location.

As usual when we get together, there is no selling of pins and there is no obligation on either party to swap pins.

Hope to see as many as possible there.

Sunday 6 April 2014

6/4: Pin Meet - Opening Day on the Olympic Park

Yesterday's pin meet was off with a shaky start thanks to QEOP security staff. I'm not going to say anymore about them or their actions here.

Thankfully, a couple in our group knew members of the QEOP management team and the latter were more than accommodating and were extremely supportive - thank you.

Once we had found a space on the main walkway to the stadium, about a dozen traders turned up.


The footfall at the pitch was quote good with many members of the public coming to take a look. All the trading was between the good unsurprisingly but overall a good day. As always it was great to catch up with collectors.

The Olympic Park looked fantastic - a very good transformation.

Tuesday 1 April 2014

1/4: Pin Meet - Saturday 5th April - Olympic Park

It looks like we have more than a handful of people that are interested in meeting up in the newly  opened south section of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park this Saturday.

The weather looks ok-ish. Should stay dry if a little cool.

I suggest that we meet up at 'The Podium' near the Orbit. From what I can tell, this is the venue that houses the shop for the Orbit and where you can buy food and drink. I don't think we'll be able to take up tables/seats at the Podium itself, but hopefully we'll find a patch of grass nearby. It looks like it's in the same area that the Coca-Cola pin trading centre occupied - it's a sign!

My original suggestion was a picnic and pin trade - I'll let you decide if you feel like the picnic!

I suggest we meet at 12pm, to give people time to get there. The park opens at 10am, so it'll give a chance for any queues to disperse.

Click here to take a look at the QEOP news page describing the opening on Saturday.

Click here to view the latest park map - you can see 'The Podium' marked at the bottom of the map near the Orbit.




Please remember that we're only there to trade and swap pins - no selling!

Hope to see lots of you there on Saturday.

Tuesday 25 February 2014

25/2: Potential Pin Meet - Olympic Park 5th April 2014

Who's up for an open air pin meet on the day that the south part of the Queen Elizabeth Park opens to the public - Saturday 5th April 2014. Read more about QEOP here.

Rather than go to a specific venue, I was thinking that we could meet up at an agreed location (for example at the Orbit) and then find some benches or a patch of the park, and set out a few bags of pins.

I think we'd mainly trade between each other, but you never know, if there's some interest, we could think about going back a month later or so. As the park opens that day, there should be some good footfall and maybe some press interest.

So, who fancies coming along with their pins, a rug, some sandwiches and an umbrella (essential British travelling items).

I suggest we meet at 12pm at a location to be agreed and then take it from there.

Please 'sign-up' by way of a comment below and leave any suggestions as to where would be a good meeting point - easy to find but fairly specific please.

If we get enough people, then I'll post something here nearer the date with specifics.

Wednesday 12 February 2014

12/2: Team GB Sochi Pin - Official Team Pin

Thanks to a reader 'in the know', I can now share details of the official team pin given to Sochi athletes. Visually, it's almost identical to the retail one mentioned in the previous blog post.

Internal Team GB Pin

Retail Team GB Pin

The main difference between them is the internal pin does not have the excess metal around the rings and 'Sochi 2014'. The rear of the internal pin is marked 'Better Never Stops' just like the London 2012 internal pins issued to the athletes. The internal pin is also a gold colour. I have no information on the manufacturer of either version or issue sizes of each pin.

Many thanks to the reader who got in touch with the details and the image.

UPDATE: The retail pins available from the Team GB shop have the back stamp 'Better Never Stops' and not GBPINS14 as first thought.

Sunday 9 February 2014

9/2: Team GB Pin for Sochi 2014

For those of you London 2012 collectors who, like me, also collect Team GB pins, you may be interested to know that a new retail pin to support our team in Sochi has just been released.

Image reproduced from Team GB shop website

The pin is available from the Team GB shop (click here for the link) for £5. Whilst it is a retail pin, the style looks identical to the internal pin TGB0004 issued for London 2012. Presumably, the athletes in Sochi have a different design as their 'team pin'.

As far as I know this pin is only available in the gold colour with no silver variety as we saw in London 2012.

The back of this pin is marked GBBPINS14 I believe - the same as the product code shown on the shop website.

Sunday 26 January 2014

26/1: National Flag Pins

I'm pleased to say that, thanks to the hard work of one of the London Pins readers - Mike, all the 204 national flag pins issued to mark all competing countries at London 2012 are now on the catalogue. Mike has taken and edited photos of every pin and sent them to me.


You can view the entire set by clicking on this link for the Flags page.

Some of the pins were available individually, but the vast majority were only available as a framed set.

Friday 24 January 2014

24/1: Prototype BBC Gold Pin?

A reader has contacted me about a prototype gold pin made by Aminco for the BBC. He was given them during the Games by a BBC employee. He was told they were made for approval but that the eventual pins were made by another manufacturer.

Photo (c) 007bond.jamesbond

The photograph shows the gold prototype alongside a standard white BBC pin for comparison.

Does anyone have any more information about this pin or any confirmation of its authenticity?