31/3: Crowns Set

A new set of pins was announced today. The Crowns set comprises of 7 pins in a frame which show Royal Crowns 'through the years'.

The pins show the following crowns:

1066 - Harold II
1216 - Henry III
1461 - Edward IV
1625 - Charles I
1661 - St Edward's Crown (Charles II)
1820 - The State Diadem (George IV)
1837 - Imperial State Crown (Victoria)

Please note, these details are subject to correction as they are based on my poor eyesight and my Ladybird book of Kings and Queens!

Each crown has jewels attached.

The set is priced at £50 and is limited to 5,000 pieces. Pin numbers are 469-475 and availability is from Monday 4th April. I do not believe these pins will be available individually.

Glamorous Living are already taking orders http://www.glamorousliving.co.uk/crowns.html

This set has been released in time for the forthcoming Royal Wedding at the end of April.

28/2: Retail Update

Just a couple of updates as far as retailers are concerned today.

As you all know, the mascot guard pins that were launched on 1st March were exclusive to the London 2012 shops for a month. Glamorous Living have today started stocking these pins, so if you're interested, take a look at http://www.glamorousliving.co.uk/mascotguards.html

The London 2012 shop pin that was also launched on 1st March was originally only available at the new Heathrow T5 shop. That pin is now available at the St. Pancras shop too.

23/3: Pin Collecting Article on London 2012 Website

Those of you that look at the London 2012 website blog will have noticed an article today about pin collecting.

Tom from LOCOG, wrote a piece on pins, pin collecting and a little of the history of the hobby. He also spoke abut some of the designs we may see in the near future.

Click here to take a look.

Why not have a read and leave a comment - see if we can get some more people engaged in the hobby. If you feel like posting a positive comment about londonpins.co.uk - don't fight it! :-)

21/3: New Atos Origin Pin

A new partner pin from Atos Origin was spotted today. This is pin number two from Atos Origin and combines the company logo with a silver 2012 logo.

Pin ATO0002

This pin comes on a card with an image of the Olympic Stadium

If there are any Atos Origin readers out there that would like to contribute one of these pins to the collection, please feel free to email!

Thanks to a reader for the news and pictures.

18/3: Stamp Pins Update

The Royal Mail Olympic Stamp pins arrived today (click here for the original news on these pins), so here's an update.

As mentioned previously, each pin is presented with the matching stamp on a card. The stamp is held in a type of blister pack which exactly fits it, so the stamp does not move.

The card measures 8cm x 10cm and carries the London 2012 brand and logo. The top left of the card contains the name of the collection, the bottom left, the name of the sport and the bottom right the number of the pack in the series.

The back of the card carries a short piece about the sport represented as well as the usual bar code, manufacturer and copyright information. The holographic sticker is also on the back.

The back of the card also lists the next sport in the series, so for example, set 1 - 'Athletics: Track' shows that Cycling is the next in the series, even though the Cycling stamp wasn't released at the same time as this stamp. I presumed that the first pins would run in order and show the first stamps issued.

So onto the pin. Each pin measures 29mm x 29, and is printed. Whilst I'm not a fan of printed pins, the detail and complexity of the images means that soft enamel would be impossible, and in fact the printing suits the fact that this is a 'stamp on a pin'. Here are images of the pin and a close up to show the print effect and the 'perforated' edge

The back of the pin is also printed and has the pattern and information box. The pins have an issue size of 20,000 and are marked

2012-248

<=20000

TM (C) LOCOG 2011

ROYAL MAIL/HONAV

Overall a well thought out collectable, which has been thoughtfully presented.

However, for pin collectors who are only looking for the pin and not the 'pack' there are two things to note.

Firstly, the packs are priced at £7.99. Not too bad for a stamp/pin collectable where the packaging is of good quality. However if you are just interested in the pin, it's a little expensive for a printed pin. Maybe the pins will become available on their own rather than in the pack.

Secondly, each pin has been stuck to the card with a type of small sticky fixer. Presumably this is to stop the pin moving in transit and on display, and therefore ensure the pack always looks correct, rather than the pin spinning upside down. But the glue used is too strong and leaves residue which you need chemicals to remove. If you want to detach the pin from the card to wear or to even see the pin number, you need to slide a knife behind the pin, avoiding damaging the card and then slice the foam fixer so that part stays on the card and part stays on the pin. The part left on the pin needs to be cleaned off with some sort of adhesive remover (without scratching the back) and I've yet to think of a way to remove the sticker left on the card without damaging that. I can't help but wish they had used the type of rubber-glue that publishers use to stick things to the front of magazines. That way the pin could be easily detached and the glue 'rolled-off' the card.

17/3: Coca Cola 500 Day To Go Pin

Here's a picture of the Coca Cola 500 day pin I mentioned a couple of days ago.

Seems like there are already a few on eBay. Some have sold for around £25/£30 and others are listed from £25 to £45 at the time of writing. I'm trying to find out the issue size for this pin. Interestingly, this one does not have a London 2012 logo on it, but the back markings are consistent with the first pin.

16/3: Fake Pins

In the last couple of days, 2 separate readers in 2 different countries have both sent me emails which they have received offering them London 2012 pins. These emails state they are offering official London pins but the emails did not come from Honav, the only official licensee who can maufacture retail pins.

The emails included pictures or the pins that were available and I have reproduced them here. I obviously don't have permission from the originator of the emails to do that, but I think the end justifies the means this time. The pins being offered are fakes and do not originate from the official manufacturer and honest collectors and traders are paying high prices for these on auction sites.

You will see from the images that they are offering rare ODA pins such as the builder and environment pins. Click here for my post on these fakes back in December 2010. They are also offering the sold out mascot pins. Click on the images to enlarge them.

The white areas in the images are where I have blanked out the manufacturer detail. I'm not here to name names, I'm just trying to warn honest collectors that a number of fakes are around and identify the pins that might be suspect.

Remember that all new retail pins come on a backing card with the Olympic hologram to prove authenticity. Any new retail pin offered in a plastic bag should be queried. To check what the backing cards look like, please take a look at my website. Click here for the link. As far as possible I list the version or colour of the backing card associated with the pin.

Please look out for these pins when you buy or trade. If you are trading with someone new to you, ask for photographs of their pins being offered, not a generic picture or one from my site with the site address cut off. 

15/3: 500 Day To Go Pins

The only sponsor pins that came to light today were BT and Coca-Cola.

The BT one follows the style of their 1000 days and 2 year pins

No picture of the Coca-Cola one yet, but it is described as having the Olympic rings, a GB flag, a Coca-Cola bottle and '500 Days to Go'. Update soon I hope.

15/3: Ticketing Pin

So, it's 500 days to go, you've just applied for your tickets, and wait!  Here's the opportunity for a pin...

A reader, Pippin, has said that when he made his ticket application, he got the chance to purchase a Ticketing pin.

No word on issue size but given the number of tickets that are available, I guess it's a big number!

I believe that this pin is one of the 2,012 retail pins, but I need to confirm that.

14/3: Countdown Clocks

The countdown clocks were unveiled in Trafalgar Square this evening, and here are a couple of pictures, one showing the Olympic Games countdown and the other the Paralympic Games countdown.

The logos on each clock are illuminated from behind so they glow.

There were no London2012 / Omega pins around during the presentation, but I was lucky enough to see some Omega people as I was leaving (it was actually thanks to my daughter, but that's another story!) and managed to get a generic Omega pin.

The pin is 25x10mm and has no markings on the reverse.

Let's hope Omega or LOCOG release a pin of each clock, the shape would look fantastic on a pin.

13/3: Thomas Cook Pin

Looks like Thomas Cook have released a pin. It is a silver base with the Thomas Cook logo sandwiched between a blue Games logo and the Paralympic logo. The pin is 55mm wide by 28mm tall.
The pins are for staff only and will not be available to the public.

Photo reproduced with permission.

11/3: 500 DTG Pins Available from 9.00am on 12th March

A couple of days ago, there was a comment on the London Pins message board about the being able to buy the 500 day to go pins in advance so that they could be worn on the day.

I'm pleased to say that in direct response to that comment, I've been told that the sale date has been brought forward and the 500 day to go pins will be available for sale from 9am tomorrow morning - Saturday 12th March.

I understand that stock is with some retailers and that they have been told that it can be sold from tomorrow morning.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE check with your preferred retailer before making any journeys just in case they aren't aware or haven't got their stock yet, but my understanding is that some (maybe all) of the retailers will sell 500 day to go pins from tomorrow.

It just goes to show that the blog and forum are read by people with influence!!

Thank you to LOCOG and Honav for listening to the collectors.

11/3: Message Board Unavailable

Apologies, but it looks like the forum message board is unavailable at the moment.

As London Pins is completely non-profit, I use a free service to provide the forum. Unfortunately, this means that the system availability can be a problem at times.

It's not just my message board that is down, it appears to be the entire message board provider, so I guess they are looking at the problem.

Sorry for the inconvenience, and rest assured I'll keep checking to see when it's back.

I'm exploring other avenues to deliver the forum and hope to have some news soon.

Paul.

9/3: Mini Pin

No, not  a smaller version of another pin this time. But a pin of a Mini.

Pin MINI0001

Thanks to a reader for sending me the details. This pin was issued on 1st March to workers at the Cowley plant just outside Oxford where BMW produce the Mini, The pin shows a cream coloured car with an orange logo and the wording 'official partner'.

No word on the issue size.

7/3: New Internal Velodrome Pin

Is it me, or are pins like buses? You wait for ages then all the news comes at once!

Anyway, last one for today...

A new internal ODA pin has been released. Thanks to a reader who sent me news about a pair of pins issued last week, presumably to coincide with the official opening of the Velodrome - the first Olympic Park venue to be completed.

The pin shows the long sweeping lines of the Velodrome roof along with the tagline 'A great team effort'.

The pin comes in two varieties - a blue logo and Paralympic logo. These are pins ODA0012 and ODA0013 respectively and measure 50mm x 17mm. They were issued in bags and not on cards to ODA permanent staff I am told.

Given the popularity of venue pins, I guess this will be on most traders' wish list.

7/3: London 2012 Shop Pin

Along with the new London 2012 shop at Heathrow last week, a new pin was released.

This pin is exclusive to the London 2012 shop and at present only available in Heathrow, although I understand it will be moving into the other shops (St Pancras and Paddington) soon.

This is pin number 535 and is limited to 2,012 pieces.

7/3: 500 Day To Go Pins

Details about the 500 day to go pins are available today.

Four Pins will be available from next Tuesday  - 15th March. Three of them use the irregular shape background, countdown number and date and complement previous countdown pins.

This time however, there is a mascot pin too. Wenlock appears on a 500 day pin.

All pins are limited to 2,012 each making them the smallest issue countdown pin so far. All are priced at £6.50.

Also, no word on retailers, but given these are countdown pins, I expect you'll see them in almost all the standard places.

Update 8/3: St Paul's Cathedral confirmed they will be selling the 500 day pins.

7/3: New Inclusion Pins

London 2012 have released 2 new inclusion pins today. These follow on from the diversity pins issued last year.










The packaging for these pins contains the following panel.




Pin numbers are 387 and 388, they are priced at £5, and they are available now.