29/12: New EDF Internal Pins

News of 2 EDF pins which are internal to the company and unlike their previous pins, will not be issued to the public.

EDF0011

EDF0015

Pin EDF0011 is the Supporters' Club pin. I believe this club is an internal promotion of the Games within EDF. I have no information on pin EDF0015 but given there is a star in the design, I'm guessing it is some sort of award or recognition pin. EDF0011 is limited to 2,000 pieces and EDF0015 to 500.

Please remember these are internal pins and will not be issued to the public. EDF will not be responding to requests for these pins. EDF are one of the best sponsors for engaging with and supporting collectors and are happy to send out pins where they can, but these two will not be available.

21/12: Royal Mail Stamp Pin - Aquatics

For those of you waiting to complete your set of Royal Mail stamp pins, some good news. The Aquatics pin that has been absent since the original launch back in the spring is now available.

The pin is contained in the pin and stamp set and is now available from the Royal Mail (08457 641 641) -  code NB0036 I believe. I presume it will soon be available in stores, most notably John Lewis who stock the range. I understand that the final pin in the set of 30, table tennis, should be released early next year.

19/12: Merry Christmas and Thank You

I would like to wish all the London 2012 pin collectors and readers of my website and blog a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Thank you all for your support, whether it's supplying news and pictures, passing on rumours, suggesting improvements or even correcting my spelling.

I never imagined that when I started the blog almost 3 years ago, that it would grow like this. That growth is down to you too with the support that you have all shown.

It's been great to meet lots of you and the pin events and email even more of you. I've made some amazing friends even if I've never met some of you face-to-face! I hope that I'll get to meet lists more people as we get to the Games.

I'm sure that next year will be manic. I'm not sure if I'll survive, but I hope I have fun trying!

And finally, for those of you, like me, who like statistics...

Since I started monitoring activity on the website (December 2009) there have been 69,389 visits from 23,264 unique visitors in 121 countries. In the last 4 months, the site is averaging over 5,000 visits per month. The blog has has around 35,000 visits  from nearly 10,000 unique visitors in the same time.

Thanks again for all your support and here's to 2012!

18/12: New Aminco Retail Pins Released

Some new Aminco retail pins have been released for the US market. These pins continue the pictogram series.

The latest pins cover the following sports...

• Water Polo
• Archery
• Road Cycling
• Track Cycling
• Dressage
• Hockey
• Judo
• Rowing
• Table Tennis
• Taekwondo
• Tennis
• Weightlifting

Further pictogram pins will be available in January.

The mascot sports series also continues. These seem to use the same images as the Honav set with the addition of the geometric shape background and the logo

As for the other Aminco pins, these are for sale only in the US and not for the UK market.

15/12: New Lloyds TSB Sponsor Pin

A new Lloyds TSB pin has been issued. This one is the result of a internal design competition and was won by a young girl - Katie Johnson.

Pin LLY0017 on card

Reverse of card

The pin shows a girl diving and being marked by three judges. The pin uses a print technique for the people and sparkly enamel for the 3 shades of water - a great effect. The new Lloyds composite logo is also shown

This is pin LLY0017 and comes on a special card which explains the competition on the reverse. There were 100 of these pins made and all have been issued to Lloyds TSB staff. This make it the rarest sponsor pin in the catalogue so far.

13/12: New NBC 'Mega' Pin

News from a reader in the US. A new 'mega-pin' will be released by NBC. I'm told it's a large 3D pin which weighs a lot and comes in a round metal tin. The retail price will be $65.

Pin NBC0012

It looks like the standard London icons such as Big Ben, Tower Bridge and a London Bus have been included along with an NBC London 2012 shield.

13/12: Coca Cola Update

A brief update from Coca Cola with a few more details about their plans for both the Coca-Cola Pin Trading Centres (CCPTC) and Olympic Torch Relay (OTR) next year.

Pin Trading Centres
The locations for the Olympic Park and Central London venues are almost finalised and they hope to be able to announce details in the New Year. There will also be a pin trading opportunity within the Athletes' Village. This will be a low key area in one of the spaces within the Village with access limited to discrete times of the day for a few pin traders.

Plans for the volunteers are still being finalised by Coca-Cola, but they have confirmed that there will be interviews next year to determine who will be offered a role as a Coca Cola pin ambassador. Successful ambassadors will be provided with a uniform for the times they are in the CCPTC. Initial thoughts are that trading hours will be around 10am to 10pm in the park and 8am to 10pm in London, so there should be plenty of volunteering opportunities. Coca-Cola will be working on more detailed plans for the centres next year and at that time will be talking with representatives from pin collectors in the UK and overseas in order to canvass their opinions on pin trading centres.

Olympic Torch Relay
As for the Olympic Torch Relay, there will not be a Coca-Cola retail pin for every stop on the route, but there will be pins to mark five locations where Coca-Cola are hosting an event on the relay. Merchandising and pin plans are still being discussed within Coca Cola, but the thinking seems to be that collectors will be able to pick up a full set of retail Coca-Cola OTR pins without touring the country. How and where the pins may be purchased is still not confirmed.

The first internal Coca Cola OTR pin has been issued (COC0007) and it is only available to certain employees, it was not distributed company wide.

COC0007

Finally, Coca-Cola hope to attend the pin meet in January to update us on their plans.

13/12: New Sponsor Pins

A few new sponsor pins were added to the catalogue this weekend.

These were the first pin from security firm G4S combining their logo with the 2012 logo. Two more pins from Rio Tinto and also another Panasonic pin showing Wenlock - this time playing basketball.

G4S0001

RIO0001

RIO0002

WWL-PAN0003

Take a look at the catalogue for higher resolution images.

13/12: New Regional Pin

Thanks to a reader, here's news of another LOCOG regional pin. Even though the North West region issued a pin (REG0005) back in 2009, it seems that another has appeared.

Pin REG0019

The pin shape and logo colour is the same as the previous version, but the text of "North West" has now been replaced with "England's Northwest". Not only that, but the same reader believes that 2 other North West pin exist too. There's no information as to whether this is a new pin or if it was issued at the same time as the original.

11/12: Mascots Try for a Free Pin!

Honav hosted a small pin promotion in John Lewis, Oxford Street yesterday. There was the chance to win a free Snowman or Snowflake pin on the roll of the dice. Wenlock and Mandeville were on site as part of a general London 2012 promotion and decided to stop by to try their luck.

In the end, Mandeville proved to be more successful than Wenlock, but both mascots enjoyed themselves.

A number of people stopped by to ask about London 2012 pins as well as choose their favourite mascot sport or pictogram pins.

We also had the chance to meet an Olympic Gold medallist! A lady approached the pin displays and asked if there were any shooting pins. After showing her the Wenlock sports pin, we found out that she was Chiara Caneiro from Italy who won gold in Beijing at Women's skeet shooting.

11/12: Pin Meet 5 - Sponsor Support

I'm very pleased to confirm that BT have kindly offered pins to collectors who register and attend the pin meet in January. The meet falls shortly after the 200 days to go mark and BT are issuing a 200 day to go pin which they have offered to those who attend the meet.

So, please make sure you register if you plan to attend as, if pins are limited, they will be offered to those who signed up on a first-come, first-served basis.

The BT pin is limited to 4,000 pieces (as the 300 day pin was) and follows the design of the other BT countdown pins. Image to follow soon.

Thank you to BT for supporting the pin meet yet again.

11/12: London Bridges

A new boxed set of 6 pins will soon be available. 'London Bridges' is a jigsaw set of 6 of the bridges across the Thames.

The six bridges are...

Albert Bridge

Pin 0455

Chelsea Bridge

Pin 0456

Westminster Bridge

Pin 0457

Waterloo Bridge

Pin 0458

The Millennium Bridge

Pin 0459

Tower Bridge.

Pin 0460

The river in each pin has a sparkle effect much like the London at Night set, but I'm not sure the Thames has ever been that blue!

The pins come in a boxed set and the mount card is a plan of the London Boroughs.

The pins are limited to 5,000 pieces each and my understanding is that they will not be available separately. The price for the set is £55 and will be available to all retailers from launch.

6/12: Aggreko Pin Removed From Catalogue

I have been asked by Aggreko, via a third party, to remove their pin from the catalogue listing.

Apparently, they are unhappy that collectors know about their pin and have contacted them to request pins. They do not have pins for collectors and will not be distributing them to the public.

I've tried explaining to them, that my site exists only to provide a comprehensive catalogue of all London 2012 pins. The website has never encouraged collectors to contact sponsors, not has it ever published information as to how to contact organisations.

Despite my arguments, Aggreko does not wish to engage with us and has actively sought to suppress information.

I should point out that at no time have Aggreko contacted me directly to discuss this or listen to my opinion.

Other sponsors have also been in the same position as Aggreko in that they are unable to issue pins to collectors, but these organisations have allowed their pins to be shown and managed the situation with a message on their website or emails to individual collectors. Unfortunately, Aggreko decided not to take this stance. There's is more of a "shoot the messenger" approach.

Apologies to collectors that, at the moment, I am unable to keep the catalogue as complete as possible, but I will endeavour to bring you as many pins as I can.

Should the pin appear on eBay, then I will republish the listing as at that time, I can consider the pin to be in the public domain.

5/12: Final Wellie Pins Issued

A few weeks ago, 6 wellington boot pins were issued. At the time, I mentioned that 2 more varieties were still to come. They are now available.

Pin 0975

Pin 0978

Both pins are limited to 2,012 pieces and price is £6.50.

2/12: More Countdown News

Some of you may have noticed, that when the 500 day to go pins were issued, there were only 3 varieties of the shard pin using combinations of the London 2012 brand colours.

These were pins 0480 - 0482. The combination of green shard and pink logo which should have been pin 0479 was never released.

Until now!

This pin will finally be released towards the back end of next week. But here's the important news. There will be less than 50 of them available for sale as individual pins. Overall, they are being limited to 1,000 pieces which makes them amongst the rarest retail pins, however as the majority are being held back for sets or have been sold to stakeholders, only a handful are available for sale. Not only that, but all of these pins are being sold by one retailer - Glamorous Living. 

So, my recommendation, if you want to get these pins individually, contact Glamorous Living as soon as their website launches them. These will probably be the most difficult pins to get so far.

Price will be £7

2/12: 200 Day To Go Countdown Pins - Updated

The next pins in the popular Countdown range have been announced. The 200 Day To Go pins will be available in early January, ready for the actual day on 9th January 2012.

There are 3 pins in the range - the standard shard pin and one pin each showing Wenlock and Mandeville. Mandeville's pin has the date 11/02/2012 as this is 200 days until the Paralympics.

No sooner are they announced, then one pin is out of stock. Yes, all of the Wenlock pins have been pre-ordered by retailers, so that means there are no more pins available to your favourite retailer once their initial allocation is sold. You may want to pre-order as soon as you can for this pin. Remember too, that previous countdown pins have been withdrawn form sale, so there is no telling how long this pin will remain on sale.

Pin 0927

Pin 0928

Pin 0947

Update: Each pin is limited to 2,012 pieces and the price of each will be £7

1/12: Message Board Issues - Updated

I'm getting reports that the message board has been corrupted and possibly hacked. I'm unable to check and investigate at the moment. Please do not attempt to access the message board until I have had a chance to take a look and post back on this blog.

The message board is hosted on by a free provider, so their levels of service are not fantastic. Please bear with me.

Updated 1/12/2011 @ 23:45

It looks like the board is unusable as I cannot access the administration section and many of you have seen the mess that comes up when you try to use the forum.

Although it's going to be inconvenient for everyone, I'm tempted to cut my losses on this forum and relocate to a new host. I cannot copy over the existing threads or user profiles. Anyone who wishes to continue to post (and I hope you do), will need to re-register on the new board. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but I cannot see a way forward.

I've set up a new board at http://londonpins.phpbbhosts.co.uk/index.php and have created the same forum structure as before. I have not set up the 'Wants & Traders' as we now have the pin trading lists or the 'Polls' as they haven't had much use for ages. If anyone would like to see either reinstated, drop me an email.

Please go ahead and re-register if you would like to and I will try to get all requests authorised as soon as I can. Hopefully before long, we will be back on our feet again.

Again, apologies for having to make you start again, but I cannot see a way forward on the existing forum.

Paul.

1/12: London Pins on Around The Rings

The world of London 2012 pins and collectables has spread a little further today. Around the Rings (ATR), the Olympic news website has asked me to write some articles about London 2012 pins. The first of these is published today - click here to read the article.

Although the site is subscription based, you should be able to read the full piece.

I was trying to summarise the 'story so far' with the pins issued (mainly the retail ones), and hope to follow this up with more features on their site.

I hope this will take our hobby to yet another new audience of the ATR readers.

29/11 - Sold Out Pins - Update

The kilt pin (0581) has now sold out, so the only stocks that remain are with retailers. This pin was limited to 2,012 pieces and has sold out in 3 months.

This seems a good time for a round-up of all the sold-out pins. If you need any of these for your collection, act quickly!

Pin No	Description	Issue Size
0127	Countdown - 3 Years To Go	3,000
0216	London Boroughs - Lambeth	3,000
0222	London Boroughs - Southwark	3,000
0230	Mascots - Wenlock (Launch Pin)	2,012
0231	Mascots - Mandeville (Launch Pin)	2,012
0232	Mascots - Wenlock	5,000
0233	Mascots - Mandeville	5,000
0535	London 2012 Shop	2,012
0581	Emblems of Scotland - Kilt	2,012
0586	Team GB - Logo (Gold)	2,012
0587	Team GB - Logo (Silver)	2,012
0590	Team GB - Square - White	50,000
0593	ParalympicsGB - Small Oval - White	50,000
0629	1 Year to Go - Wenlock and 1YTG Sign	1,000
0630	1 Year to Go - Mandeville and 1YTG Sign	1,000
0800	Countdown - 2 Years To Go	3,000

Remember too that all countdown pins have been removed from sale, although some can still be found on certain websites.

13/11: New Logo Set

Earlier this month, a new set of logo pins was produced. This one contains new versions of the familiar Union Flag and White logos, but in addition, the Paralympic logo is now available in white.

Pins 0689, 0444 and 0443

The pins are each limited to 1 million pieces and are larger than the original pins being 27x31mm. Although there are 1m of each pin, there's no word on how many sets will be issued. The pins are presented in a box with an orange base and black lid with logos printed on the box lid in silver. They went on sale on 1st November priced £20, but for now they are exclusive to British Airways long haul flights and the BA High Life shop. No word yet on whether these pins will ever be available individually.

13/11: Get Set Mascots

Earlier this year, LOCOG ran a competition under their Get Set programme for schools to design a look for Wenlock or Mandeville which represented their local community or region. You can read more about the competition here.

Those designs have been turned into pins which will be available from next week.

Pin 1024 - Wales

Pin 1025 - South West

Pin 1026 - Northern Ireland

Pin 1027 - East of England

Pin 1028 - East Midlands

Pin 1029 - Scotland

Pin 1030 - Yorkshire 

Pin 1031 - West Midlands

Pin 1032 - South East

Pin 1033 - London

Pin 1034 - North East

Pin 1035 - North West

Each pin is limited to 50,000 and initially they will be exclusive to John Lewis, no word on price yet.

11/11: 2012 Pin Meet - Number 1

Get your diaries out, we have a date for the first pin meet of 2012!

With support from John Lewis and Honav, we have been able to set up the first pin meet for the New Year.

Date: Saturday 21st January 2012
Venue: The Stadium Suite, John Lewis, Westfield Stratford City
Time: Still to be confirmed, but I'm hoping 11am to 4pm approximately

When the first concept images of the London 2012 shop in John Lewis were shown, a number of collectors commented that it seemed a good place for a pin meet. A few months later and I'm pleased to say that John Lewis are supporting the pin community by hosting a meet in their store.

Of course, this will be an 'open-door' event and therefore the public will be able to take a first hand look at pin collecting and join in if they fancy. John Lewis will be advertising the event beforehand and so I hope that we may get a good number of people to see what pin collecting and trading is all about.

It's still in the early days of planning so I've no idea what, if anything, may be on offer on the day. I will however be talking to our favourite sponsors to see if they may be able to support us. If anyone has any ideas for the day or is able to generate some interest (or pins) from their sponsor contacts, please feel free to pitch in.

So, please put the date in your diaries and as usual let me know if you plan to attend by dropping an email to info@londonpins.co.uk. As usual any freebies from sponsors that are limited in number will be allocated on a first come, first served basis, so get your names down. Even if you're a regular or have said you plan to come along to the next meet, please drop me an email.

Let's see if we can get the number of pre-registered collectors up into the 30s or 40s this time.

11/11: New ODA Park Pins

On Wednesday, 2 more in the ODA Olympic Park series of pins were released. These pins recognise the Structures, Bridges and Highways (SBH) team.

Pin ODA0029

Pin ODA0030

As with previous ODA Park pins, they come in Olympic and Paralympic varieties and show a cross section through a bridge (I think - Pippin help me out please!). They were issued at a 'Thank You' event on Wednesday. There are a number already on eBay!

10/11: All Countdown Pins to be Withdrawn from Sale

Honav have announced this afternoon that next Tuesday (15th November) ALL countdown pins issued to date will be withdrawn from sale. This includes all 'Year To Go' and 'Days To Go' pins and also covers the 'Shard' and mascot versions. Not only will no more be sent to retailers, but also any existing stock that is with the retailers will be returned. This means that if you still want to buy any of the countdown pins issued so far individually, you have until the close of business on Tuesday to get them.

The 3 YTG, 2YTG and 1 YTG 'Peep' pins have already been marked as sold out, but there are still some left with retailers. From next Tuesday, these will be unavailable too.

This is not the last time you'll ever see these pins as I understand that full countdown sets may be available at some later date, presumably once the Games have started and there's nothing left to countdown! But if you need to fill a single gap in your collection, act before next Tuesday.

7/11: More Sell-Out Pins

News from Honav today that 3 more pin styles have sold out.

The 1 Year to Go Mascot 'Peep' pins (0629 and 0630) and the gold Team GB pin (0586) have all now sold out. There were 1,000 of he countdown pins issued and 2,012 of the Team GB pin,

Please remember that 'sold-out' in this case means that there no further stocks with the manufacturer, that's not to say that there is not remaining stock with some retailers.

3/11: Olympin 2012 Pins On The Way

The guys at Olympin tell me that for all those UK members signed up for the 2012 membership year, the club pins are on the way. They were mailed earlier this week, so should be arriving soon.

They have also confirmed that the 2 year offer made back in May has now closed and that the price for UK collectors for the 2012 membership will be US$20. This will get you the 2012 club pin and the 2012 membership list.

Those interested can sign up here -  Click here for an online application form in Google Docs.

3/11: More John Lewis Promotion Events

Following on from last weeks successful promotion in their store on Oxford Street, there are further events in 2 more John Lewis stores over the next week.

Saturday 5th November - Welwyn Garden City
Saturday 12th November - Liverpool

The format will be similar to the London event with the promotion of some of the pin ranges and the chance to win a pin by answering some quiz questions. Both events run from 11.30am until 2pm.

If you get a chance to visit either event, please fell free to leave a comment on this post to let us know how it went.

Just for the record, I'm not receiving any payment for promoting these events, not even a set of John Lewis pins :-), and I know they read this blog!

31/10: Coca-Cola Pin Trading Centres - Request for Volunteers

As you may be aware, during the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Coca Cola will be hosting the official pin trading centres. These are venues where pin collectors can come together and trade Olympic pins. The centres are manned by volunteers and Coca Cola staff who ensure that everyone has a great experience. They are there to explain the process to new traders and to make sure that everyone has a fair chance to display their trades. At present, the plan is to have two centres, one located inside the Olympic Park and another in a central London location. The Olympic Park venue will be open during the Olympic and Paralympic Games and accessible only to those with tickets which allow entry to the Park itself. The central London venue will be open from approximately a week before the opening of the Olympic Games right through until the end of the Paralympic Games and will be open to all.

If you are interested in volunteering to help staff one of the centres, then Coca Cola would like to hear from you. I have offered to collect the details of people who would like to be considered for a volunteer role in one of the Coca Cola Pin Trading Centres (CCPTC). At this stage, this is just a registration of you interest. There is no commitment and no guarantee that you will be chosen. We would, though, like to find out the numbers of people interested in helping out.

If you have been to one of the pin meets and given me your name, there is no need to email me, you're already on the list!

I appreciate that many readers live outside London and have other commitments, so if you could indicate your approximate availability that would help with assessing your interest.

If you would like to volunteer or know more, please drop me an email with your details to info@londonpins.co.uk.

30/10: New Christmas Pins and White Logo Pin

New Christmas pins were announced on Friday along with a new version of the white logo pin.

The Christmas pins show Wenlock slam-dunking a present into a stocking (similar to the US version), Mandeville carrying a snowball and a printed version of the snowman pin released last year.

Pin 0854

Pin 0855

Pin 0288

The mascot pins are limited to 2,012 pieces each and the snowman is limited to 50,000 pieces. These pins are already available from Glamorous Living but most likely be available from all the main retailers.

Also announced last week was another version of the white logo pin. 

Pin 0445

This one is limited to 1.5 million pieces and is aimed at the mass market via high-street retailers rather than collectors. The main difference between this pin and the original is that the spaces between the digits are filled rather than cut through.