30/4: Pin Trading on the Map

Looking around the revamped London 2012 website tonight, I came across a link to an Olympic Park map.  On the map, the area around the Arcelor Mittal Orbit has been named Orbit Circus and in this area was an icon for the Coca-Cola Pin Trading Centre.

We've known the rough position of the pin trading centre was around the stadium and Orbit as Coca-Cola were able to share this with us at a recent pin meet, however I think this is the first time we've seen anything in print!

Here's a screen print of the map

Click on the image to view full size

The official version is on the London 2012 website at http://www.london2012.com/mm/Document/Documents/Venue/01/24/89/77/olympicparkmap2_Neutral.pdf

26/4: Top Pin Trading Locations in London

In the run up to the Opening Ceremony, I plan to publish a series of short articles written by a guest blogger. With experience of previous summer and winter Olympic Games, they will share some of their experiences with new pin traders or those who are not familiar with London.

Over the next 10 weeks, they will highlight 10 top places in and around London where you will have the opportunity to meet collectors and trade pins. Hopefully these pointers will make your trading just a little bit more successful.

In no particular order, we start this week with...

Public Transport

The London Underground - what is the first thing that springs to mind? Maybe quiet commuters, nose buried in a newspaper or a book? Nobody talking, everybody trying not catch each others eye? Well think again! During the Olympics the tubes will not be packed with commuters, but with spectators, day trippers, tourists, volunteers and Olympic enthusiasts!

In Athens and Beijing the newly-built metro systems were a prime location for swapping a pin or two. Everybody takes public transport during the Olympics, and many people will be sporting newly acquired pins on their lanyards, uniforms and maybe even their hat.

The tube or the bus are a great place to ask the person sitting or standing next to you whether they would like to swap the pin they are wearing for one of yours. So make sure you are wearing a few pins at all times - or at least carry a few handy in your pocket - you never know when you might bump into somebody who would be willing to trade that rare pin you need for your collection.

We wouldn't suggest that you ride the underground round and round just for the sake of trading a pin - but when you do use public transport then take the opportunity. The Olympics is the biggest festival a city ever gets to host - so lets take that friendly spirit into the Underground and get trading.

25/4: Logos, Mascots and Hearts (Oh My!)

This week sees the release of a large number of pins covering a few different subjects.

Logos

The existing London 2012 logo pins are joined by 8 new varieties...

• Mini White Olympic
• Mini White Paralympic
• Mini Gold Olympic
• Mini Silver Olympic
• Mini Bronze Olympic
• Mini Mirror Olympic
• Mini Mirror Paralympic
• Union Flag Paralympic

Pin 1128

Pin 1036

Mascots

Following on from Mandeville printed sports last week, this time it's Wenlock's turn. There are a full set of sports pins being issued as well as the Wenlock Olympic Torch pin seen at the meet in January. The torch pin is available in both enamel and print versions.

Pin 0552

Pin 1006

Hearts

Paralympics GB issue two team pins for retail this week, one in the shape of a heart and the other as a star.

Pin 0659

Pin 0657

These pins appear to have a pitted/shiny appearance and seem to come in gold and bronze colours.

All of these pins should appear by the end of the week from your favourite retailers I presume.

23/4: Mascot Sport Pins (Version 2)

Just when you thought you'd seen all the mascot sports pins, they make another appearance. This time in printed versions rather than enamel as before.

The Paralympic sports are first and feature Mandeville in 21 disciplines.

Pin 0411

The pins are numbered 409-414 and 859-873. They are available immediately so contact your favourite retailer if you are looking got add these to the collection.

Wenlock is not far behind and those pins should be released shortly.

22/4: More Panasonic Mascot Sports Pins

Towards the end of 2011 a pin showing Wenlock playing basketball was released by Panasonic. It doesn't appear to be widely available, but now it is joined by two more mascot sports pins.

These pins show Wenlock playing football and sailing. They use the standard mascot sports pose, but introduce a coloured background and, of course, the sponsor name.

20/4: P&G Promotion - Team GB and Team Ireland Pins

Thanks to two readers for pointing out a promotion by worldwide sponsor P&G. The company are offering the chance to earn points when you buy their products. These points which can be used to buy Olympics themed rewards. Each £1 you spend earns 4 points and 40 points will get you a pin badge.

There are 2 designs - one for Team GB and one for Team Ireland.

If you are interested, you can find out more at http://www.supersavvyme.co.uk/pg-olympics/rewards-home.aspx. The promotion runs until September.

20/4: 100 Days Pins Sold Out

Around the Rings reports that Honav UK have confirmed that the 100 day to go pins have sold out. That probably comes as no surprise to those that were searching for pins on Wednesday.

From what I can tell, the pins were available on the official London 2012 online store, the London 2012 shops at stations (and perhaps airports?), and the online retailers Glamorous Living and Pins & Things.

By 9am on the day it appears that the official shop were out of Wenlock pins both online and in store and by mid morning it seemed like there was very little of anything left. Each design was limited to 2,012 pieces however as a number were sold to stakeholders (read more here), the number issued to the public was always going to make this a quick sell-out.

20/4: New Mascot Scenes and Sports

A new set of pins is now available showing Wenlock and Mandeville in a series of scenes. The first two pins show the mascots against a map of the UK or a map of the London boroughs.

Pin 1013

Pin 1012

The next two show them in their guard/beefeater uniforms standing in front of the appropriate royal residence

Pin 1008

Pin 1007

There are two pins shooing their mascot sports pose, but this time against a background of a boxing ring or basketball court

Pin 1010

Pin 1011

The final pin shows them in what I think is the Abbey Road zebra crossing.

Pin 1009

These are all printed pins and already available online from some retailers.

19/4: Video on London 2012 Pin Design Team

Looking round the internet for 100 day to go news, I came across this video tonight. It shows Honav, or Huajiang Culture Development Co Ltd. to give it its full name, designing some of the London 2012 pin badges. You can see some of the designs we know and also the Pin Trading hat featured on the blog a few days ago.

The video shows some designers discussing pins and whiteboards with interesting lists! I spotted "Countdown 10-1", "Country shaped pins", Contour Glass", 100 Days Countdown pin set", "Closing Ceremony", "See you next game". Of course these could be old lists or just ideas, but the video makes interesting viewing.

Take a look at http://english.cntv.cn/program/china24/20120418/122107.shtml

18/4: 100 Day Pins

On my travels today, I spotted 100 day pins from BT and Adidas.

The BT one continues their countdown design combining the a composite logo with a countdown panel. This one contains a new version of the BT/2012 composite logo though using a purple 2012 logo rather than a clear or white one.

BT0015

The Adidas pin mirrors the 1000 day and 1 year pins in that in merges black and gold elements with the srad shape and large numbers to create the pin.

ADI0006

No idea on issue sizes for these two at the moment.

There is also a 100 day pin from EDF. This continues their firework theme and the pin is limited to 600 pieces. Photo to follow soon.

Thanks to the fellow traders that I met up with today. We got wet but I think we agree it was worth it.

17/4: Original Faith Pins Available in Limited Numbers

The original Faith pins that were thought to have been completely allocated and sold out are now available in very limited numbers at your favourite retailers. I have no word on the numbers that have been released, but there are not many. Contact your preferred retailer as soon as you can to secure your pin!

16/4: New London 2012 Retail Pins in US

The US licensee for London 2012 pins, Aminco, have announced more pins that will be released in May. The majority of these spins continue the mascot sports series, but there are a couple of pins showing ceremonial carriages too.

As with the previous pins in this range, the mascot poses are identical to the mascot sports pins available in the UK, it's just that these have a shard background and a logo too.

As usual, these pins are made for the US market only and are not available for sale in this country.

15/4: Pin Meet - April 2012

Last Tuesday, we held another pin meet. This one was held in the John Lewis store on Oxford Street in connection with their relaunch of the London 2012 shop in the store. They have expanded the shop to take in more floor space and provide a greater range of merchandise. They now have a pin wall like the ones in the other London 2012 shops across London.

Lord Coe opened the new store and then took time to wander around and talk to staff and shoppers. During this time he stopped by the table where we were trading and had a look at a couple of display panels that Honav had brought to the event.

Lord Coe discussing some London 2012 pins with a member of John Lewis staff

Given the timing of the pin meet on a Tuesday and the fact that it was announced with little notice, the turnout was not one of our greatest. Having said that, a few new collectors that knew about the pin trading scene dropped by as well as a few of the old faces. A couple of trades were completed and a member of the London 2012 team from EDF turned up to say hello and offer a pair of pins to all that had registered and attended. Thanks to EDF for supporting us once again.

As I mentioned, Honav brought a selection of their future retail pins with them. Here are some of the highlights...

There were a few location specific pins that will only be sold in the venues that they celebrate. In particular we saw the Media Centre pins that will only be on offer to those that have access to the media areas.

Media centre location pin

There were a sample of the Torch Really pins that celebrate each overnight location of the torch on it's journey around the country. I understand that these pins will be sold as a set against a background of a map of the country. It will be an impressive, if expensive, set. The collectors at the meet agreed these were a very nice set of pins. I'm not sure if pins will be available individually to allow people to collect the ones that are local to them.

A torch relay pin

There were a pair of pins to celebrate pin collectors and traders - one was a cap adorned with pins and the other a lanyard with lots of pins on it.

Celebrating London 2012 pin trading

As always, thank you to those that attended and we look forward to our next meet in May at the Railway Tavern.

12/4: 100 Days to Go - Any Plans?

I've been holding on to see what, if anything, LOCOG may be planning for next Wednesday (18th) to celebrate 100 days to go. At the pin meet in John Lewis on Tuesday we heard from a LOCOG person that there IS something planned although they could not share any details.

So at the moment, we don't know what, where, when or even if the general public will be able to join in.

I know a few people have planned to be free to come into London that day, so really this is a call to see who is planning what on the day?

I think my plans may be to hit St Pancras, Trafalgar Square and Westfield Stratford City (not necessarily in that order) to see what is happening. Of course if announcements are made on Tuesday evening or on the Wednesday morning news, then it could all change.

What are people planning to do? Anyone fancy gathering at some location and seeing if we can get some trading going?

Please feel free to post your ideas or plans here and let's see what we come up with.

9/4: Union Flag Pins

At the last pin meet, a few people were discussing the various varieties of Union Flag pins, so I thought I would compile a list of the versions available to date and the differences between them.

Top Row: 0011, 0419, 0420
Middle Row: 0443, 0621, 0987
Bottom Row: 0702, 0703, 0704

Pin No	Manufacture	Size	Centre spaces
0011	Soft Enamel	Regular	Cut-through
0419	Soft Enamel	Large	Solid
0420	Silk Screen	Mini	Solid
0443	Soft Enamel/Resin	Large	Cut-through
0621	Silk Screen	Midi	Solid
0987	Soft Enamel/Resin	Regular	Solid
0702	Offset Printed	Large	Solid
0703	Offset Printed	Midi	Solid
0704	Offset Printed	Mini	Solid

8/4: RateMyCollection.com

Whilst not strictly London 2012 pin news, I've come across a website that may be of interest to readers of this blog.

RateMyCollection.com is billed as 'the global marketplace for presenting your collections'. It's a networking site for collectors to share their love for collecting and is based in the UK.

This site allows you to upload pictures and information about your collections and have readers review and rate them. There is a message board and it looks like a great way to interact with other collectors.

Not only that, but they have a limited number of pin badges to give away to the first readers to upload their collections as an incentive for joining the community. Each pin is individually numbered (shown below)

What not take a look and see if it's for you?

You can find the website at www.ratemycollection.com.

5/4: Mascot Article on Around the Rings

For those of you reading my articles on Around the Rings, the latest one has just been published. This time it's an overview of the mascot pins that have been issued so far.

Click here to read the article.

4/4: Internal Torch Relay Pin

I spotted an Olympic Torch really pin on eBay today which is advertised as internal to LOCOG.

This pin uses a 'flame' version of the logo over a gold shard with the text 'Moment to shine'. There is no pin number on the back, but it does have TM and manufacturer details which means it mirrors the backstamp of the regional pins.

The auction finishes on Easter Sunday - click here for the eBay link

Thanks to 12e01a68m, for allowing me to use the image

3/4: Final IOC Poster Pins

For those of you collecting the IOC poster pins, you will be pleased to know that the last 3 are on their way. Pins 741, 744 and 745 showing the posters for 1936 and 1956 will be available soon.

Pin 0745

They are priced at £6 and should be at your favourite retailers within the next couple of weeks.

This means that the only IOC pin still missing is the Sydney 200 logo pin, number 796. Hopefully this cannot be too far away.

1/4: Pin Meet for July

Now that we have meetings planned for April (10th - John Lewis Oxford Street), May (19th - Railway Tavern) and June (16th - John Lewis, Stratford), I'm pleased to say that we now have a date for July.

I would therefore like to invite you to the July Unofficial London 2012 Pin Collectors Meet as follows...

Date : Saturday 21st July 2012
Time: 2:30pm - 5:00pm
Venue: The Railway Tavern, 131 Angel Lane, Stratford, E15 1DB.

I'm pleased to say that Jan has invited us back again for a pin meet on the final weekend before the Opening Ceremony. Not only that, but on the day the Olympic Torch Relay passes the pub - not once but twice! The torch is going to the Westfield shopping centre and passes the pub on both the way in and the way out. Looking at the timings, it seems that the relay will pass the pub before the pin meet is due to start, but seems like a good day to turn up early, get some refreshments and watch the torch go past.

So, as always, if you would like to come to the meet, please drop me an email to info@londonpins.co.uk. To those of you coming to the Games from abroad, why not join us if you're arriving in London early? It's a chance to catch up with some of the UK traders before the Games.

I hope to see as many of you there as possible and thank you once again to the Railway Tavern for allowing us to use the conservatory.