Saturday 11 August 2012

11/8: Olympin Pin Meet - Monday 13th August

The Olympin group have asked me to mention a pin swap they are holding at the Railway Tavern at 6.30pm on Monday 13th August.

Everyone is welcome to come along and try some trading.

Food and drink will be at your own expense.

They will be offering to sign up new members to the Olympin Club and have the last 30 or so 2012 Olympic pins for those that do.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Caveat emptor

KarenL said...

The Railway Tavern where? I'm assuming Stratford. I'm desperate for a Venue Specific Basketball pin (the one with the dates). Willing to trade a Swimming or Athletics.

DJ said...

The railway tavern is a short walk from the bus/railway station near Westfield Stratford City.

I had a meal in there late last year, though sadly i've never had the chance to attend a pin meet.

wookie said...

None of the London boys will be there

John Steed said...

What, have the London boys had enough of the herd of pin predators that have descended on London with their suitcases full of Atlanta pins, counterfeit pins, fantasy pins, and no London pins for trade?
Have no fear these London pins will all show up on Ebay.

Anonymous said...

Another reason to be proud to be British

wookie said...

JS...got it in one!

noel 9 said...

Yes old mate Wookie, I do not believe any of the Great British Traders will be attending. I do wonder why ! ( well I Don't Really !!! )

See you all at Hyde Park Sunday.

wookie said...

I hope that Jan & Tom have a good supply of shark repellent :)

KarenL said...

I went along, did seem like shark repellent would have been useful. Lots of money changing hands but it seemed as though I had better badges to trade than they were selling! I didnt buy anything as none of them had anything special, limited or venue specific.

When are the London boys meeting again? I'd prefer to meet with them to try and get the pins I need, especially as a newbie!

DJ said...

In regards to pin trading, i was able to do a bit up at the hyde park cola tent. Though the guys there didn't have any london pins which was a shame, i was able to get a nice Beijing 2008 pin, and an athens 2004 torch relay badge. I traded a couple of doubles i had gathered so i didn't lose anything unique, and it was just a fun experience.

wookie said...

Yeah it's funny how these guys have been picking up hundreds of 2012 pins over the last couple of weeks and yet don't have any doubles for trading isn't it?

Anonymous said...

Well hopefully by the time they come to list them all on eBay we will all have our completed collections and all their efforts will be worthless

DJ said...

I'm pretty pleased with my pin collection, it's probably nowhere near as big as what you guys have, but for me, collecting 110 pins is still an achievement.

London Pins said...

I have been asked to post the following by Sid from the Olympin Club.

Some pretty hostile comments to the invitation. I can't see how they can condemn everyone who has come over to enjoy the Games and pin trade as being cut from the same cloth. Pre Olympic pin trading and Games pin trading are totally different experiences. It is normal for some of the circle of local traders to be put off by the desires of so many new people from here and from other places that are interested in different kinds of pins than these early locals have spent so much time and energy on. The London pins of today will be the Atlanta, Athens, Vancouver pins of tomorrow. Should they be held in higher esteem than pins from past games? Some folks want Older pins and know what they are trading for. It is all in the eye of the beholder. Not all of us are bad and from what I have seen, not all of the London people are good. I hope most of us can get along and enjoy whatever portion of the big pin pie that strikes their fancy. As a matter of fact, I will predict that in 4 years the only people from GB still active will be those that embrace NOC, Media, and pins from the next games. People like Tom and Anthony. London 2012 will get stale for 99% of today's London Collectors. These have been memorable Games but they are a once in a lifetime experience. The Olympic Games are a once every two years experience. We should all enjoy the present, past and future of the movement.

noel 9 said...

The Olympic Games are now over,
the Pins have now been all packed away,
Some will remain forever in our collections,
whilst others will appear at a price on EBAY.
Some traders have been kind and friendly,
whilst others have really let down the side,
Some have come into Coke at Stratford,
whilst others have prefered and remained on the outside.
So some traders have been maked as sinners, but all have not been proper saints I will bet,
I wish all our foreign traders a safe homeward journey,
and thanks for helping reduce our national debt.
via Gatwick, Southend or Heathrow.
It's, Good Luck, Good Bye, and Fare well.
Meeting you all has been a real education,
Was it a good one ?
Yes it was, and I wish you all well.
The Olympic Games are now over, the Pins have now been all packed away,
Don't forget to declare your pin trades at customs,
You may have some import taxes to pay !
.

wookie said...

Sid, you must have viewed the pin-trading centres through rose-tinted spectacles. London and the London collecting gang welcomed the world with open arms, and were only too keen to trade with everybody, and we weren't at all "put off" by the influx of collectors from overseas.
What we saw though was a bunch of guys who mostly only displayed old pins that were as common as muck (nothing special or rare), demanded 2 or 3 London pins for each of them from naive youngsters (who could have become the collectors of tomorrow) and then put all these pins away to be eBayed as soon as they got back to their lodgings. Don't tell me that you haven't seen the hundreds of pins listed every day on eBay. Most of these guys are high echelon Olympin members, but it wasn't just limited to them as there were various traders from other countries doing the same thing. It's clear this is how these guys pay for their biennial trips to the games, but it left a really bad taste in the mouths of the genuine guys from London. Is there any wonder that there is "hostility"? Of course there were exceptions, and a few really quite decent traders, but I'm afraid that they were vastly outnumbered. I will match your prediction with one that the hard-core London collectors will still be meeting up every 3 months or so in 4 years time because there are just so many pins that we still need. Collectors still meet up regularly in many of the cities where the games have been held, as well you know.

wookie said...

I nominate Noel for Poet Pineate :)

Acer said...

How could they not of known about the one US trader who made up their own Opening and Closing Ceremony pins plus dozens of others and who now lists well over 1,000 auctions on ebay themselves. Everything from the London 2012 pins that they got while in London to their made up pins right
down to those hard to get Atlanta pins!

piscean62 said...

Personally I am not greatly pleased to be told, in a superior and patronising tone, what I am supposed to collect/not collect and what pins I am supposed to like/not like, both now and in the future.

Some people need to come off their high horse, and would do better to address the problem of a rapacious and exploitative element within their own ranks instead. That problem has been obvious to any genuine London pin trader spending time at the Games. (I, too have encountered several individuals who tried to con me out of desirable London pins with trash and fakes. All of them American or Canadian.)

Instead of moaning about hostility encountered here, Olympin ought to pull its collective head out of the sand and start wondering just why this might be the case - and do something about it. Or would they rather not upset a fair proportion of their own membership?

John Steed said...

Sid do not make me laugh. You cannot deny that that once again there is a huge backlash
at the army of pin con artists (many your fine upstanding members) that decended
on London to prey on those that do not know better.
Are you denying this fact. Is this backlash a figment of everyones imagination?
Or do we just not understand? LOL!!!!
This is no way to advance the hobby, rather it turns off many new collectors.
Why do all these upstanding members have a need to make their own pins
when there are over 5000 official pins?
Why does coke allow people to use their facilities when it is obvious they
are hoarding the London pins to put on Ebay, while pedalling their
bogus, counterfeit, fantasy pins & old pins?
It is well known that you pros consider anybody trading current games pins
for current games pins are considered idiots.
It is much more profitable to trade your old pins for current ones because
the current ones will sell on Ebay.
You and your gang will make excuse after excuse to justify your behavior.
Yes a few collectors are looking for a few older pins, but when every
foreign trader has barely any London pins, even after 2 weeks of trading,
& only has old pins, & only wants to trade for London pins, something stinks.
Having one of your most esteemed members flogging 25+ "fantasy" pins should be
setting off alarm bells within your group? Something stinks.
This person, together with their team has almost 2000 auctions on ebay,
but has very few London pins for trade. Something stinks.
Then you have the master counterfeiter doing interviews as the largest pin trader
in the world, & flogging his garbage to the unsuspecting public. Something stinks.
Then you have all of his sales force from around the world, Calgary, Athens, Spain etc
also conning the public. Something stinks.
The hobby has serious issues that your group ignores.
It is not all your groups fault. Afterall these members are just taking advantage of
the fact that nobody, from the IOC, LOCOG, Sponsors, Partners, Honav, Host City bylaw officers,
police etc will do anything.
If this continues the pin trading hobby will go the way the hockey card hobby went.
Why do you and your group make excuses rather than clean up your collective act.
Enough of the excuses and justifications, you are grown men/women and know your members,
and know the shenanigens they are pulling. Yes not all your members are guilty by their actions,
but are guilty by looking the other way, ignoring the bad apples, & just accepting
their behaviour as part of the hobby.
This is why I have zero interest in being one of your hypocritical members of your club.
So spare me your excuses & justifications, I know and you know that all is not right
within your beloved pin hobby. It has been hijacked by a bunch of con artists, only because
nobody will stand up to them. I fear it will get much worse before it gets better,
if it gets better.

Anonymous said...

Hi There,

Would love to swap my closing ceremony pin (not day) for an opening ceremony pin. If anyone is interested please contact me and I hope we can meet up in London somewhere.

Thanks

wookie said...


a) Your post is off topic

b) You posted anonymously, so it is a complete waste of time as nobody can contact you !

noel 9 said...

Thanks Wookie

But I will only take the Job if it comes with an official PIN BADGE.

(Not one of those old ones or fantasy ones...... or FAKES ! )