20/7: This time next week...

With only one week to go, BT have marked the moment with a pin released today.

BT0017

The pin follows the familiar BT countdown style, although this pin is longer at 65mm long. 

17:7: Countdown Pins - Event Merchandise Offer

Steve at Event Merchandise has asked me to mention that they can supply all 6 of the final countdown pins (10, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1) for £35 including delivery (IUK addresses). They have them in stock and are ready to send as soon as payment is cleared.

Please confirm back by email to steve@eventmerch.com with credit card details/bank transfer and preferred delivery address.

15/7: It's the FInal Countdown...

The remaining six Olympic countdown pins have been announced. The pins for 10, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 day to go will each be released on the actual day, so you will not be able to buy them in advance.

Pin 1808

Pin 1809

Pin 1810

Pin 1811

Pin 1812

Pin 1813

Each pin combines a sparkly number with a gold or silver logo. No information yet on issue sizes.

10/6: Sponsor Countdown Pins

We passed the 50 days to go mark last week, and the only pin that seemed to surface was one from BT. They continue their range with the consistent design seen in their other countdown pins.

BT0016

There were rumours of a pin from another sponsor, but at the moment, nothing has been seen.

However, although not 50 day to go pins, lloyds TSB has been very busy and released 10 countdown pins. These were 500, 400, 300, 200 and 100 day pins in both Olympic and Paralympic varieties.

LLY0025

LLY0031

Even though Lloyds TSB have released 500 day pins, these new pins all use the more recent corporate logo - green rather than white. Overall they make a great set. You can see the complete range on the Lloyds TSB page of the website

5/6: New Sponsor and Media Pins

Some readers may have noticed a few pins appearing on eBay recently. The following 4 pins have all been sent to me by readers and have been added to the catalogue.

Pin BBC0001 (TBC)

The first pin is a media pin from the BBC. It is unmarked on the reverse and with nothing to identify the manufacturer or issue size. These pins are not for the public and will not be distributed outside of the BBC.

Pin TBC

The next is an Olympic Torch Relay pin from Lloyds TSB. The reference of this pin is yet to be confirmed. Again, this pin is for internal distribution only and will not be issued to the public.

Pin EDF0018

This pin is another in the great countdown range from EDF. Following the theme of their previous Paralympic countdown pins, this 100 days to go pin has an image of the Basketball Arena along with composite logos. This pin is limited to 1,000 pieces and only for internal distribution.

Pin WWL-SAM0010 (TBC)

The final new pin that has been spotted is from Samsung. This one was seen at one of the Olympic Torch Relay parties. My understanding is that it is not a Honav pin and again is for Samsung staff only.

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.

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.

26/3: 100 Day to Go Pins

With the 100 days to go milestone fast approaching, here are the pins that will be available to mark both the Olympic (18th April) and Paralympic (21st May) dates.

As for previous releases, there will be a 'shard' version as well as one for each mascot. These pins show each mascot in their 'Breaking the Tape' pose.

Pin 0929 

Pin 0930

Pin 0948

This time, I'm told the pins will not be available to buy until the day. Each pin is limited to 2,012 pieces but a large number of each have already been snapped up by London 2012 stakeholders (not my word!) meaning that there will be limited numbers available for retail sale. I don't have a clear definition of how small those numbers will be, but if you collect countdown pins, I wouldn't hang around on the day.

I'm not sure if your favourite sellers will have stock in advance of April 18th. Each pin is priced at £7.

4/3: New Countdown and Olympic pins in the US

It looks like Aminco are gearing up as we approach the Games. A new range of pins has been announced that should be available through April.

The first pins that we should see are countdown and show Wenlock at 6 months and possibly 100 days (still waiting for more information).

The remaining pins are more British Life and more traditional Olympic handover pins.

The British Life pins show a policeman's helmet, Wenlock and a post box, a bowler hat, a taxi and a cake stand.

The handover pins show Beijing/London and Vancouver/London handovers. The national flags pin which looked like it was being issued a while ago also looks like it's now being released.

As with all other Aminco pins issued under the USOC licence, these are made for sale to the US market only.

23/2: EDF Countdown Pin

The latest in the superb series of EDF Paralympic Countdown pins has been released. The 200 day to go pin continues the venues theme and shows the 'Pringle' shape of the velodrome.

EDF0017

The scan does not do this pin justice as it looks a lot better in the flesh. As for the 300 day pin, it combines the venue with a panel containing to EDF and Paralympic Games logo and the date of the 200 day milestone stamped too. This pin is limited to 600 pieces.

15/1: EDF 200 Days To Go Pin

EDF are the latest sponsor to have released a pin to celebrate the 200 days to go date last Monday. This pin continues the fireworks theme they introduced at 1 year to go.

EDF0019

It is the 3rd pin in the series following 1 year to go and 300 days to go. Issue size is 500 pieces.

5/1: Countdown News

With 200 days to go to the Olympic Opening Ceremony, here are a few news snippets...

A new Facebook page and Twitter account has appeared marking the Olympic countdown -https://www.facebook.com/supportursport. or @supportursport. This is a legitimate and official site and offers a competition with prizes including an Olympic Stadium tour and test event tickets.

I hear rumours of possible 200 day to go pin promotional events on Monday, but have no more details than that at the moment. Updates here if I get anything.

Finally, you can read my latest article for Around the Rings at by clicking this link. This one deals with the London 2012 countdown pins issued so far.

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

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.

24/9: BT 300 Day To Go Pin

BT are the first sponsor to announce a 300 day to go pin ready for 1st October. This pin follows the design of their previous pins and hopefully will be followed by more 'hundreds' countdowns.

Pin BT0006

No word on issue size for this pin at the moment.

19/9: 300 Days To Go Pins

October 1st marks the 300 day to go mark for the Olympic Games and November 3rd the for the Paralympic Games. To continue the countdown series, here are the pins that will be available. There are 3 pins in total, a shard and a mascot pin for the Olympic Games and a mascot pin for the Paralympics.

Pin 0925

Pin 0926

Pin 0946

As for the 500 and 400 day to go pins, these are limited to 2,012 pieces each. Recommended price of each pin is £6.50 each. Hopefully we can expect retailers to have these soon so that they are available before the actual day.

10/11: New Partner Pins

Here's a round up of new partner pins that readers have spotted recently.

Firstly BAA, who were recently signed up as an official supplier

British Airports Authority (BAA) - First Pin

Next a pair of pins from BP supporting Team GB and ParalympicsGB

BP0008

BP0009

Next the first London pin from the worldwide sponsor Proctor & Gamble - a 1 YTG pin

P&G0001

Another boxed set from Samsung. This one contains a composite logo pin (possible the one seen when the Torch relay was launched) plus 3 'icon' pins representing London.

Samsung set of four

Composite logo

House of Parliament

Double Decker Bus

Guard

Finally another composite logo pin from Visa.

Visa

Thank you to Pinmaster, Bryan, Bonwusah, Robert and Andree for the information and photos. I will add these pins to the catalogue soon.

10/8: Paralympic 1 Year To Go Pin

A pin is being issued for the Paralympic 1 Year To Go milestone on 29th August. This is the first and therefore only 'year' Paralympic countdown pin.

Pin 0688

Issue size is 3,000 and the price is £6.50. It will be available in the next day or two.

9/8: More 1 Year To Go Pins

Two more 1 Year to Go pins have been spotted.

Firstly, thanks to a reader, a pin from Adidas.

Pin ADI0005

This is pin ADI0005 and is manufactured by Honav.

There is also a pin from Dow (spotted on eBay)

Pin WWL-DOW0001

This pin has been manufactured by Aminco under their licence and so I have given it the reference WWL-DOW0001.