27/7: Team GB Pins - Sponsor and British House

News today of some non-retail pins that are being issued in connection with Team GB and Rio 2016.

The first is a sponsor pin from Camelot / ITV and features both company logos together with the Team GB logo and the slogan 'I AM TEAM GB'

I have no details on pin reference or size as yet, but there are only 200 of these in circulation

A second Camelot / ITV pin is also due out, and there will be 1,000 of these. More details soon I hope.

-o-

The other pin announced today is the 'British House' pin. This pin is only available to delegates, athletes and guests who visit the Team GB British House in Rio. There are 4,200 of these in circulation and 200 of them will be available for retail but are not part of the Team GB retail series. This pins are sure to be popular with collectors due to their rarity.

I do not have a pin image but the design is shown below.

1/6: New pins discovered

Updated: 8/6 - correction and supplementary details to Indian language pins.

Even 2 years after the Olympic and Paralympic Games, there are still some pins only now coming to light.

New BA Pin Version
An alternate version of the BA Language pin for India has been discovered.

BA0005 (India) - Hindi (Top) and Punjabi (Bottom) versions

The original issued in 2012 was in Hindi (the text reads 'Namstey' - a Hindu greeting) and the new version is in Punjabi (the text reads 'Sat Sri Akal' - a Sikh greeting). At the time of its release, I was told that there were 100 of the original pins. The new pin has turned up on eBay and the seller states that there were only 20 of the later version made.

The new version has been added to the BA page on the catalogue

Two Prototypes

At the pin meet in April, collectors shared two pins we believe to be prototypes that never went into production.

A pin from Cisco stamped on the back as CIS0001. The actual CIS001 used a similar white design but on a shard shape background. This is a Honav pin.

CIS0001

A panasonic logo pin from Aminco

8/11: Catalogue Update - Media Pins and More

For those of you that thought you'd never see an update to the the media section of the catalogue, I'm pleased to announce that I've finally made all the updates.

I can't claim much credit for the details - I'm indebted to Tom for almost all the information and images - thank you Tom.

It's taken me a while to get it finished, for which I apologise, but I've taken a day off work to get it sorted. The updates were all broadcast pins with one press pin added too. I'm happy that every pin I know about is on the site now. So, as usual, if you have anything I've missed, please let me know.

Click here to take a look at the broadcast section.

In addition to the media update, there are some other additions too...

Commemorative - the rare logo pin 0442 has been added

IOC/IPC - Mandeville pin

Partner  - Coca-Cola/Innocent smoothie pins and 3 P&G pins

Other - Anton Bauer pins

And finally, I've added the Samsung Collectors Board pins that were everywhere during the Games.
Like some of the other pins on the site - they weren't official London 2012 pins, but played a major part in pin trading, so it's only right to add them. The details are there now and the images will be added on Sunday - I ran out of daylight today!

These Samsung pins are on their own page - Click here to take a look.

So, for now, the online catalogue is pretty much up to date. If you think I'm missing something them please get in touch.

The pin trading lists have been updated with these changes too.

16/5: Minor Catalogue Updates

There have been a few minor updates to the catalogue this week...

EDF
The EDF varieties, mentioned back in January, still seem to be confusing collectors. My original understanding was that increases in issue sizes for some of the countdown pins, together with the change in wording form 'Sustainability Partner' to 'Official Partner' meant that we would see varieties of the pins mentioned at the time.

Last week a reader had spoken to their EDF contact and was told that not all of the varieties were made. Talking to other collectors, it seems we all have the same gaps in our collection - the 'Sustainability' versions of EDF0017, 18, 19, 20 and 21.

Until we actually see these pins, I have taken them off of the catalogue and have assumed that the issue sizes were made up entirely of 'Official' wording varieties.

My latest theory is that when EDF changed the wording on the pins, their future designs, i.e. the later countdown pins, were updated to reflect the change thereby creating two versions. However, when the pins actually came to be produced, the 'Official' wording change was 'in place' and therefore all the pins were produced with this wording. It's only a theory and not based on any information from EDF. Click here for the EDF page.

Kingdom Sports

A couple of entires from the tickets/hospitality firm. Click here for the catalogue page.

Coca-Cola

The jigsaw bottle issued by their UK bottling arm of Coke and a set of London 2012 themed (although not branded) pins from the Chinese market. Click here for the Coca-Cola page.

All of these changes have been reflected in the pin trading lists.

21/4: Latest Pin Meet Report

We held our latest pin meet yesterday, and I'm pleased to say that despite the long gap since our last get-together, the enthusiasm (and attendance) was as strong as ever.

There were lots of regular faces but also a large number of new collectors that had caught the bug during the Games and decided to try out a pin meet.

From the feedback I received, it seems that there were a number of very successful trades made with all of us managing to fill gaps in our collections.

A lot of the conversations centred around pins that were not seen during the Games, prices on eBay and how to display collections as well as thoughts towards Sochi and Rio.

Someone from EDF came along and was trading a pin none of us had seen before. It combined the EDF logo with the tagline 'We helped London 2012 shine brighter'.  Whilst it did not contain the London 2012 logo it did use the typeface. There are no back markings on the pin.

Thoughts turned to the nect pin meet and the plans are still to gather in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park (the permanent name for the redeveloped Olympic Park) on Saturday 27th July - the anniversary of the Opening Ceremony. Plans are in their early stages at the moment, but will depend on the access available on the day and the number of collectors who plan to attend the Sainsbury's Anniversary Games in the stadium that day. Keep reading the blog as I'll post more details when they are confirmed.

Finally, on a personal note, I'd like to thank everyone there yesterday who were part of my gift. I was really touched by the thoughts and sentiments expressed and appreciate your kind words. 

10/2: Partner Pin Updates

More updates to the sponsor pins section of the catalogue this morning.

This time the are updates for the following sponsors...

• Coca-Cola - addition of retail and joint McDonald's/Coca-Cola pins 
• GE - additional images and pins
• McDonald's - addition of joint McDonald's/Coca-Cola pins

with a couple of minor updates to

• BP - additional pin
• Deloitte - additional pin
• P&G - relabelling of all their not Honav pins to WWL- notation
• UPS - update to a backing card for UPS0027

Thanks to readers for a couple of these updates.

27/1: EDF Pins - Wording Varieties and Issue Sizes

Thanks to a reader who pointed out that the EDF Union Flag pin (EDF0012) listed on the catalogue comes in two varieties.

Although both pins are EDF0012, the original (top) pin has the wording 'sustainability partner' whilst the subsequent print uses the wording 'official partner'. Notice too, that on the original pin, the logo has a silver border, whereas on the later pin it does not. The backs of the pins are identical other than the original pin seems to have a more defined texture.

Looking back at information from EDF, I noticed that between December 2011 and May 2012, some of the issue sizes increased - this pin being one of them. Originally the issue size was 1,500 but this was increased to 20,500 nearer the Games. Presumably EDF decided to use this for promotional purposes during the Games and had more produced, but with the new wording. 

This is not the only pin in their range that changed the wording and increased in number...

EDF0008	Olympic 1 YTG	1,000 > 1,500
EDF0012	Olympic Union Flag	1,500 > 20,500
EDF0013	Olympic 300 DTG	500 > 1,000
EDF0014	Paralympic 300DTG	1,000 > 1,700
EDF0017	Paralympic 200DTG	600 > 1,300
EDF0018	Paralympic 100 DTG	600 > 1,000
EDF0019	Olympic 200DTG	500 > 1,000
EDF0020	Olympic 100DTG	600 > 1,100
EDF0021	Olympic Games Time	600 > 1,100

I am assuming that all the smaller sizes were produced as 'sustainability partner pins' and all the increases were produced as 'official partner' pins. I also assume that the 'reprints' were to provide enough sock to issue the countdown boxed sets seen during the Olympic and Paralympic Games. I will update the catalogue to reflect the two varieties of each pin and the different issue sizes.

Not only have we seen variations in wording and issue sizes with he EDF countdown pins, but also in the small TM or (R) markings that appear alongside the logo on the pin. To date we have seen variations in pins EDF0014 and EDF0028 where they may use either the TM - Trademark symbol, the (R) - Registered design symbol or no symbol at all.

Thanks to Angela for pointing out the difference which prompted me to investigate further.

26/7: Daily Update (D-2)

Probably the easiest and quickest way is for me to 'brain-dump' anything I found each day. Photos will be added where possible, but for now consider that the catalogue will always be out of date. It WILL catch up eventually.

So here's the news for Wednesday 25th (D-2)...

I was lucky enough to get into the Olympic Park today and even luckier to get into the Media area thanks to the great team at Around the Rings.

As well as lots of media (press and broadcast pins)

 I also saw the venue specific media pins - 3 in total.

and 2 Team GB venue pins. The team GB ones are not specific to the Media Centre as I saw them in one of the superstores on the Olympic Park.

I also managed to get a Coca-Cola venue operations pin from one of the army personnel.

There are also new pins from Visa, McDonalds and a great torch pin from BP

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. 

18/7: New Coca-Cola Partner Pin

A new Coca-Cola internal pin has appeared on the scene.

This pin has not been produced by a professional designer but rather was produced from a competition they ran earlier this year. It was a chance for the Coke families to design a London 2012 pin. The winning design was voted for by staff and they produced a pin for each member of staff in the country. The issue size is 5,000.

As with most internal pins, this is for staff only and is not going to be issued to the public.

15/7: New Sponsor Pins

A number of new sponsor pins have been spotted this week.

Adidas promote their lightest running spike ever with a pin showing the adiZero Prime spike.

ADI0011

EDF have marked 50 days to the Paralympics with another in their countdown pin range showing the Olympic Park venues. This time it's the turn of the Copper Box which will be used for the goalball competition.

EDF0028

Lloyds Banking Group have issued 8 pins (4 each in their Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB brands) showing Wenlock and Mandeville in a range of sports.

BOS0011

LLY0021

See the full set of pins on the Lloyds TSB page of the catalogue

27/6: EDF Pin News

A new pin from EDF has been spotted. This time it's a London landmark - the London Eye. As EDF sponsor the London Eye, this is a very appropriate subject.

EDF0031

The pin is limited to 2,500 pieces I understand and is for internal distribution to staff only. It will not be issued to the public.

24/6: New Pins Seen at Pin Meet

At the pin meet last week, Honav were kind enough to bring along some new pins to show us. I mentioned a few in the meet report, but here are some more of the pins they brought along - a mix of retail and sponsor.

There were a set of retail pins that combined the London landmarks designs we have seen previously with sports, such as an equestrian rider 'jumping' the House or Parliament. They are reminiscent of some of the 'Back the Bid' imagery we saw in 2005.

Another set of retail pins showed sporting terms in highly coloured pins. Examples were 'Slam dunk' from basket ball and 'Drop Shot' in tennis.

There were a few pins which showed sporting equipment in gold along with a Games logo. The photograph shows a basketball and hoop, there was also a tennis racquet and a football pin

The Arcelor Mittal orbit was shown on a pin using the landlines graphics seen in previous retail pins.

Whilst all of these pins were confirmed as retail, I have no details on whether they may be restricted to specific locations or venues or whether they will be on general release.

Several sponsor pins were on show too, and given they were on display, I presume that all have been issued to the companies concerned.

BAA/Heathrow continued their range with a green and purple pin echoing their first issue and they also had on display some gold, silver and froze pins which we presume will be awarded to staff based on their commitment.

Lloyds TSB had a couple of pins which combined there logos with the mascot sport poses.

BMW have issued a Mini (the car) pin s before, but this time the logo on the car uses the flame infill and the writing on the pin mentions the Olympic Torch Relay.

The final pin was another issue from the Lloyds Banking Group - this time celebrating World Sport Day and shows the mascots vaulting over the globe. This was a larger than average pin and based on comments on the day, one of the most popular in the room with collectors.

Please remember that all of the pins shown here from the sponsors are for internal use only and will not be issued to the public. 

18/6: Pin Meet 9 - Report

Last Saturday, we had our 9th unofficial pin meet. We returned to the John Lewis store in the Westfield, Stratford City complex. This venue is open to the public and therefore we had the chance to speak to lots of visitors and explain pin trading. Whilst the trades themselves were mainly confined to the pin-heads, we certainly raised the awareness amongst those we spoke to.

Lots of people in the room

The day was extremely busy with many successful trades being completed. We started around 11am and were still going strong at 4pm with very little quiet time during the day.

London 2012 came along to film the event in order to produce a promotional video for their website. Zoe Salmon was the host and took the time to speak to a couple of us about pins, collecting and what makes us collect.

Zoe Salmon looking over some pins

A collector explaining pin trading to Zoe

I'm pleased to say that as well as the usual faces, there were a number of new collectors there and several from Europe. It was certainly the busiest event so far.

Honav brought along a number of items to show us, the Olympic Torch relay set and a huge framed set of oversized mascot sport pins. The Torch Relay set caused a stir with members of the public and was very well received.

The Olympic Torch Relay set

They also teased us with new retail pin designs that we will see soon. These included the remaining countdown pins for 10, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 day to go...

It's the final countdown...

 There was an Opening Ceremony pin...

The Opening Ceremony pin

They also brought along some of the 200+ national flag pins coming soon.

Just some of the national flag pins

We also saw a new sponsor pin form one of the traders. The meet provided the first sighting of the first pin from Arcelor Mittal.

Pin AM0001

Overall it was a very successful meet. There has been very positive feedback and we are all looking forward to the next one on Saturday 21st July which we hope will be able to be held as part of the Cocoa-Cola pin trading centre in Hyde Park. More details to follow soon.

10/6: Torch Relay Pins from Lloyds

Keeping on the Lloyds TSB theme, we have seen the Olympic Torch Relay pin from them last week, but there also appears to be a Bank of Scotland version of the pin too.

BOS0017

LLY0020

I hope to have issue sizes for all of the new Lloyds TSB pins soon.

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.