Sunday 11 March 2012

11/3: Pin Meet 6 - Report

I'm pleased to say that the 6th Unofficial London 2012 Pin Collectors meet was very well attended and from the feedback I received on the day and in emails, it seems that everyone had a successful meet.



Firstly I'd like to start with some thanks...

To everyone that was able to make it, thank you for supporting the events and travelling from various locations to be there.
To Coca-Cola, thank you for taking the time to join us and share the news about the pin trading centres (more of that in a blog post to follow today) and for talking to us all to understand what we love about pins and trading.
To Honav, thank you for taking the time to listen to the comments and suggestions from many of the collectors that were there.
To the owners and staff at the Railway Tavern, thank you for allowing us to use the conservatory.
To EDF for giving pins to the attendees. The earliest people to register were given a 200 DTG paralympic pin and everyone else received an EDF/London2012 logo pin.

As for what happened...

Even though the events was due to start at 2.30pm, it seems we start a little earlier each time. A few gathered for a pre-meet lunch and trading started over lunch! It was good to see friends and catch up with the progress of collections. There was plenty of conversation regarding potentially fake pins on eBay and suspect backstamps on pins. From conversations I had, it seems that most people made some useful trades and many commented on the fact they had been able to find pins they didn't expect to. Everyone felt it had been a worthwhile trip.

Coca-Cola were able to confirm the pin trading centre locations and talk about the pin centre volunteer programme. I'll repeat what they said about the process in a blog post to follow this one today. Their two pin designers were able to join us and they had conversations with many people to see what London 2012 pin collectors were looking for. I think the general sense was that the pins that Coca-Cola issue for London 2012 were going to be different from those we may have seen before. I think there will be a sense of fun in their pins.

Two US members of Olympin - Don and Mike, joined us and were pleased to meet the London pin collectors. Hopefully they have seen we are a small but enthusiastic group.

To those collectors who were not able to join us, sorry you couldn't be there for whatever reason. Hopefully you may be able to make the next meet in May.

Thanks again to all of you who made the day such a success and a great deal of fun.


7 comments:

noel 9 said...

Great Time had by all. Thanks to all those I traded with. Lots of chat and laughs all round it seemed.

Thanks Paul for another enjoyable event.

wookie said...

...and thankfully not a stripey shirt in sight :)

noel 9 said...

Cadburys PURPLE shirts is so last January.... this March it is OLYMPIC RED Shirts..... come 100 days to go we may be looking at pastels, I just thought PURPLE AND RED that is the colours of the GAMES MAKERS Uniforms. What was I thinking ! AIN'T I GONNER LOOK GREAT this SUMMER !!

wookie said...

The mind boggles :)

molon said...

These pin meets are a real treat. I do look forward to them. Great opportunity to meet everyone, learn about pins and salivate over the collections of some others. Thanks Paul, and everyone else who was there.

noel 9 said...

From Saturdays pin meet, I now know that the Pin Board Wizard has located the HOLY FAITH PIN..... So that is 1 located .... only 2011 to find. Father Honav from the Brotherhood of the PIN was kind and did allow me an audience last saturday, and he mentioned that there may be another Faith Pin on its way from Pin - Heaven soon. Its nice to know that the Angels in Pin-Heaven do listen to our prayers.... even mine.

Remember, LET HIM WHO IS WITHOUT PIN, CAST THE FIRST MOAN


I think I should get that on a T SHIRT !

wookie said...

Yeah, a stripey one :)