5/8: New Mascot Pins

I received the 2 latest Wenlock pins today. The first (0238) is a 'dangler'. Wenlock is suspended under a small orange 2012 logo. It's a lovely pin and I like the movement.

The other pin (0244) is the standard Wenlock pose, but rather than using the more traditional pin manufacture techniques, this one is printed (front and back). The pin is much smaller than the norm and, due to the smaller dimensions and method of production, is much lighter than the rest. The back too is printed. The pattern and information box is there, but not engraved. Personally, I hope that we don't see too many of this type of pin as it lacks the substance of the rest of the pins to date. We've seen this type of production with the UPS sponsor pins.

Another thing to notice with this pin is that there is no principal 2012 logo on it. There is one on Wenlock's chest, but it's not that large and distinctive. It's almost as if the mascot is the 'identifier' that indicates London 2012 rather than the logo.

Both of these pins came on a new type of backing card. I'm calling this version 3 in the inventory. Size-wise it's the same as version 2, but now the colouring and styling matches the packaging of other items of merchandise such as the key rings and magnets. Personally I like the new look. Read more about the packaging on the pinbacks page of the website.

4/8: First Coca-Cola London 2012 Pin Appears

Some of you may have already seen this, but it looks like the first, of what I'm sure will be hundreds, of the Coca-Cola pins has appeared on eBay (click here to view the auction). As they are a major player in pins and pin trading, I thought the fist 'Coke' pin was worth a mention.

This pin was issued as part of the 2 YTG milestone, but no word on where or when - did anyone see these on the day at any events?

What I find most interesting though is that this pin was made by Honav (it's number COC0001). I wonder if they will be making all the Coca-Cola pins or maybe, like Visa,some will be made under Honav's licence and some under whatever worldwide licence Coca-Cola have.

Also, it's worth noting that there's wording on the back 'produced from partly recycled material' - this first time we've seen this green message on a pin for 2012.

30/7: BP Pins for Open Weekend

As part of last week's Open Weekend, it looks like BP issued a couple of pins to mark the occasion.

No word yet on how many were issued but I'm trying to find out. Did anyone see these at an Open Weekend event?

Update 8/8/10: I can now confirm that in fact 5 pins were issued in this set, the Olympics Games logo in the main main colours plus the Paralympics logo version. Check out the inventory for photos of all 5.

30/7: London Landmark Design

Thanks to Tom for pointing this out to me. The 10 new London landmark pins launched this week, all fit together in the same way as the London at Night set to form a skyline.

I like the City Hall one, and hope Boris is promoting these amongst his staff! I'm surprised by some of the locations chosen and would have hoped that the London Eye would have figured on one of them. Maybe that landmark will be on another set one day.

28/7: Potential Merchandise (Not Pins this time!)

Not strictly a pin story but...

While I was waiting for the store launch yesterday, I met two guys from BL Sports. Their company is producing some of the bags that we'll be able to buy. They were kind enough to show me some of the pre-production products and let me take some pictures which they say are OK to share on the blog, so here goes...

Remember these are still in pre-production, so I presume subject to change. No word on dates that any of these may be available.

27/7: Shop at St. Pancras

I went along to the opening of the St. Pancras shop today. All in all an excellent new source of 2012 merchandise. They seem to have lots of the existing items and a new range of clothing too.

Chris, the manager, was very helpful, so I recommend you get down there when you have the chance.

Here are some photos of the shop exterior and interior as well as Boris Johnson and Lord Coe's speeches.

Shop front

Shop sign close up

Media attention


Boris and Seb speeches


Finding something to cut the ribbon

Not these!!

Sports clothing

Pin Wall

Branding and styling behind the tills

Kids

Women's

This is just a flavour, there's more shelving with polo shirts, rugbys, tees etc. as well as gifts, keyrings and the like.

18/7: Picture of Mandeville Mascot Pin

Following on from Friday's post, another kind reader has sent me a photo of both the Wenlock and Mandeville pins on card.

16/7: New Wenlock Pin (Available 27 July?)

Thanks to a reader, here's a look at the Wenlock pin given to internal staff back in May. If rumours are true, then this pin should be available to the rest of us at the 2 year to go mark. It's from a limited run of 5,000.

At first glance, it looks like the Wenlock pose is the same as the boxed set pin but the background and logo colour has changed. At the moment I cannot tell if the mascot is larger or smaller than the original.

There was a Mandeville pin issued too, so if anyone has a photo they would like to share, please mail it to info@london2012pins.com.

9/7: 2 Years To Go and London Landmark Pins

Thanks to the Museum of London (click here for their shop) here's news of the 2 Years to Go pin available from 27th July.

The pin will be limited to 3,000 pieces like last year's and is available to pre-order from the Museum of London now. I presume the online shop will add it to their site soon.

The Museum was also kind enough to share news of the London Landmark range available soon. We've seen some of these floating around on eBay from abroad, but here's confirmation of the full line.

The Museum will be stocking these in due course and once again I expect we'll see them at other retailers and in the online shop.

No word on edition size or price for these pins yet. The pin numbers are 0056 - 0065.

Hopefully, this is just a selection of what we may see this month, as the online shop promised mascot items this month and we already know that the Wenlock and Mandeville pins issued internally to LOCOG staff back in May are due out at the 2 year to go mark.

Correction 27/7/10: Only the Wenlock pin was issued on 27/7/10, the Mandeville pin will come out on 29/8/10 in line with the Paralympics 2 year to go milestone.

5/7: Pride Pins on the Website

My Pride pins arrived today from the online shop. They're very simple but colourful.

Interestingly, the blue logo pin is from a a limited edition of 10,000, but the Paralympic logo pin is from an edition of only 2,012 making it one of the rarer retail pins. Time will tell if this affects it's price nearer the Games.

I'm looking forward to seeing the next pins from the Diversity range.

1/7: Pride London Pin

Looks like there will be 2 pins released in connection with Pride London this weekend. It's the first pin in a set of six to recognise diversity.

Here's a picture from Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson's Twitter feed.

http://twitpic.com/21bkv1.

Here's the link from the London 2012 site http://www.london2012.com/press/media-releases/2010/06/london-2012-celebrates-diversity-and-inclusion-with-new-.php

It seems they'll be on sale at Pride London on Saturday and from the online shop.

Thanks to Jordan for pointing out the news.

Update: Pins are now available on the online shop - click here

26/6: Quick Roundup

I know I've been a bit quiet this month, pin news has been quiet and home life has been hectic, but here's a quick round up of some news (most of which you probably already know!)

eBay has been active with BMW pins!! Anything from around £16 to £64 for the new BMW pin.

A Lloyds Banking Group pin has surfaced on eBay (note it's not Lloyds TSB). It was gold coloured with what appeared to be 3 stacked boxes on it. The number was LLY0001 - so a new numbering series (not the LTSB series anymore) which reflects the changes at Lloyds over the last year or so.

I've heard rumours of a London Buildings set to be released soon - this isn't the London at Night set re-issue, but new designs I believe.

Finally, you all know that it's 2 Years To Go on July 27th, but hands up who noticed that it's 750 Days to Go on July 8th? I wonder if we'll see a pin for this countdown milestone too?

I'm hoping that the new issues will pick up over the next few weeks until 27 July. Remember last year, there were quite a few pins issued around the 3YTG mark, so here's hoping.

24/5: More Wenlock & Mandeville pins

It appears than on Mascot launch day, as well as the limited edition pins released in the online shop, 2 more Wenlock and Mandeville pins (numbers 232 and 233) were issued to LOCOG/ODA staff. These pins are from an issue size of 5,000 each and appear to be numbered as part of the standard range rather than from the internal numbering series.

Given their numbers and issue size, it looks like they may be released to the public at a later date?

Thanks to a reader for this information, and hopefully I can add some photos soon.

Update 24/5: A reliable source indicates that these two pins should become available at the 2 year to go mark.

21/5: Modern Pentathlon Pictogram

Whilst not strictly a piece of pin news, it may have a knock on effect on the pins...

The pictogram towel available from the London 2012 shop contains a new version of the Modern Pentathlon pictogram. The pin badge shows a runner and 5 dots to signify the 5 different sports, but the towel has 'mini-images' of all 5 sports.

Perhaps the larger image size available on the towel allowed them to show all the sports. I guess that this image reduced to a pin would not show sufficient detail.

Any thoughts?

21/5: Wenlock and Mandeville

My mascot pins arrived today, so here are some pictures of the boxed set and details card.

The pins come in a card box which is 15.5 x 10.5 x 2cm. The box has a blue bottom and black top and the top has the Olympic and Paralympic logos in silver.

The pins, numbered 230 and 231, and are attached to a black tray which is in the blue box. The pins are polished silver and the rainbow has a glitter effect to it.

The information card is black with silver writing and a silver reverse. The whole thing is sealed within a sellophane wrapper. The back of the box has the standard pin card wording, barcode and hologram.

The website inventory has been updated with the new pins (in a new 'Mascots' section) and the set.

7/5: Two New ODA Pins.

Thanks to a reader here's news of two internal ODA pins that are being issued.

The two cuttings below are from 'Park Life' the internal monthly magazine distributed across the offices and canteens on the Olympic Park. The ODA are producing pins which promote the environment and heath and safety.

Extracts reproduced without permission from 'Park Life' and are the property of the ODA

5/5: New Internal Pin

Thanks to one of my readers, here's a photo and details of a new internal pin issued recently. It's the next in the 'Partner Workshop' series.

This is pin LOC0007 and unlike last year, there was only one pin issued this year with both the Games and Paralympic Games logos. Notice that they've used the 'dynamic' pictograms look to draw Tower Bridge. In my view one of the best images so far, I think the 3/4 view of the bridge with the perspective and the coloured lines is fantastic.

I'll update the inventory soon - just waiting for a couple of details.

26/4: Retail Update

The 33 Borough pins and 2 Vancouver bridge pins are available in the London 2012 online shop (they've been there since last week - I'm a bit behind on writing up my news!).

The Museum of London tells me they have the Borough pins in stock and available in their museum shop (call ahead if you're going, just to make sure), and they should be in their online shop this week.

Pins and Things has the Vancouver bridge pins on their website.

14/4: News Update

It's been a bit quiet lately, but the new online shop brought 4 new flowers pins. The inventory has been updated with the new pin details.

The last remaining pictograms are now available and once again, the images on the inventory have been updated.

Some other news items...

There IS a boxed set of the London Borough pins, but the bad news is, they will not be available for retail. There will be 100 sets used as giveaways in a regular and repeating prize draw across the boroughs and as VIP gifts. The 33 individual pins will be available via the online store and other retailers such as the Museum of London. They should also be available locally within each borough in the form of a mail order.

On the sponsor side, there is good progress on the first pin from a Tier 3 sponsor which hopefully will be announced soon.

That's it for now, but more news as and when I have it.

13/4: London 2012 Online Shop Goes Live

The official online shop opened today with clothing and collectibles. The range of pins being stocked is very comprehensive, with 4 new pins available for the first time. The new ones are the 'Autumn Flowers' collection.

Unfortunately the Borough pins and Vancouver/London bridge pins are not there, so let's hope they appear soon.

The online store can be found at http://shop.london2012.com/

9/3: London Landmark Pins Released

As hoped, LOCOG announced the London Landmark pins today. They are a lovely set and make great use of the angular nature of the logo and brand and use tones of the 4 main LOCOG colours. The landmarks themselves are picked out in silver and have a slight relief to them - they are not completely flat.

Pins are limited to 3000 of each (still to be confirmed).

Click here for the official website page

Click here for a list and images

As an example (and because I live in LB Sutton), here's my 'home' pin

Image reproduced from www.london2012.com

Notice that the names of the boroughs are not written in the 'brand font'. Most of the previous pins that have had writing on used that font - look at the London at Night set. It's not always the case, the 1000DTG pins used a mixture of fonts, but it's interesting that these pins use a 'regular' typeface for the names.

The press release sites all the usual retailers, so hopefully they'll be available in the next week or so.

4/3: London Landmark (Borough) Pins

Looks like the London Borough pins are very close now. Digging around on the internet I came across the London Councils website (www.londoncouncils.gov.uk). There's a section on meetings and specifically about a Leaders Committee meeting next Tuesday (9th March). There's an agenda item about London 2012 and in a document related to that meeting there's information relating to the unveiling of the pins.

For copyright reasons, I cannot reproduce the text, however the document may be viewed under the following link. Click the link (page open in a new window) and then click on the document.

http://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/committees/agenda.htm?pk_agenda_items=3999

So it looks like the Borough pins will be with us soon. Maybe we'll get to see what they look like before long.

It was a similar document on the same website that, last year, gave the first information about the London Landmarks vote.

25/2: Team GB Vancouver Pin

Whilst not strictly a London 2012 Pin, I thought it worth a quick note about the 'Snowflake' pin worn by our GB athletes and officials in the Vancouver Opening Ceremony.

It appears that although it's a Team GB pin, it's a LOCOG pin.

The markings on the back of the pin are

(R) (C) LOCOG 2010

Team GB

TGB0001

Honav

These are standard LOCOG/Honav markings and seem to introduce another number series - TGB. Hopefully we can look forward to more of these in the run up to 2012.

16/2: New Bridge Pins are from Honav

It's official, the 2 new bridge pins shown in yesterday's blog post are from Honav. It looks like they are retail pins. I'm hoping to get images of the pin backs to confirm the details, but if they are for retail, then we should expect to see them for sale in the usual places soon.

Maybe they'll be released on or around the Vancouver closing ceremony?

15/2: More Bridge Pin News

Following on from the previous bridge pin news from Vancouver, it looks like another 2 pins have surfaced.

Here's the original produced by VANOC

Here are 2 more that have appeared on eBay.

(Images reproduced with permission)

No word yet on where the two newer pins come from, I'm still chasing information on those but maybe they're from LOCOG. The first one of the two with the pink logo definitely looks like a LOCOG pin given the angular shape of the white block and the cut-outs in the logo.

More news when I have it.

10/2: Official Vancouver/London Bridge Pin

After a couple of suspect Vancouver/London pins appearing on eBay which, in my opinion, were completely unofficial, it looks like we finally have the real thing a couple of days before the Winter Games open.

It's an attractive pin with the Canadian Flag and Vancouver 2012 Logo and also the Union Flag and London 2012 Logo in blue.

The following image has been taken from http://www.artissaminco.ca/docs/Pin_List.pdf

I'll be adding it into the inventory as soon as mine arrive from Canada.

27/1: Police Pin Update

I've found out that the police/London 2012 pin on eBay is NOT issued by the police in connection with the Olympics.

Apparently it was issued some time ago internally to support a charity and has absolutely no connection with London 2012. The letters in the rings represent traffic garages in London. I've therefore removed it from the listings and added it to the unofficial page so that future readers will know a little more about it. I think it's an interesting curiosity, but not part of the catalogue.

25/1: Regional Pins

Just a quick update this evening. Thanks to a response from one of the regional committees and an email from a reader, I can confirm that there are no regional pins being made for the London region (REG0003) and the West Midlands region (REG0011).

I'll leave them in the catalogue for completeness, but update the comments this week.

Better news is that it looks like the 33 London Borough pins may be out in March according to an unconfirmed comment from the London Development Agency. Remember this is not yet confirmed by LOCOG, so we'll have to see.

18/1: eBay Round-Up

Seems like most of the interesting pin activity is happening on eBay at the moment so here's a quick round up.

An Adecco pin (ADE0001) went over the weekend for £51. I think this is the top price paid so far for one of these pins and (someone please let me know if I'm wrong) I think the top price paid so far for a sponsor pin?

The Metropolitan Police Olympic Rings pin that went at New Year possibly came from the traffic division. I'm on the trail of more information to confirm this and will report back if I can. I'm holding back adding this one to the inventory until I get more details.

Finally a new Visa Europe pin has appeared - VSA0009. A rectangular gold pin with the 2012 logo and Visa Worldwide Partner. Again I'm trying to find out more details. I'll add this one to the inventory as it appears genuine.

If you have any news you think should be shared, please drop me a line.

16/1: Different Type of Sponsor Pin

Thanks to a regular reader and also to a fellow collector in Canada, here's news of a new sponsor pin seen recently.

This one is slightly different in that it hasn't been made by Honav under licence from LOCOG.

The back of the pin is marked

36 USC 220506

AMINCO

China

showing that it's been made by the Vancouver 2010 pin manufacturers.

I presume that as Visa are a worldwide Olympic partner rather than specific to London 2012, they have access to all Games logos and can choose who manufacturers the pin. I guess this one is not commissioned by Visa Europe like the previous ones. I suspect we'll see more of these types of sponsor pins from the Worldwide/Tier 1 partners.

I'm now debating whether this starts a new section of the inventory - I think it does, and I'll start a numbering convention, any ideas?

I'm trying to track down some information on who can use the Olympic Rings, 2012 logo and 'London 2012' on their pins, so will report back if I can.

12/1: Mini News Update

A few snippets of information in what appears to be a quiet pin time at the moment...

Those of you hoping for a 900 Days To Go pin on the 8th February may be disappointed. It looks like there are no plans to issue such a pin. We may have to wait for 750 or 500 days.

Still no date on the re-issue of the London at Night set, but there are prototypes of the new packaging being assessed, so hopefully not much longer.
No news on the London Landmarks set either.

I'm trying to find out if we can expect any new designs in the next month or so. We've had nothing (retail) for a while, so here's hoping there's something soon.

Rumours of a BMW partner pin, possibly in the first quarter of 2010.

Not a lot for now I'm afraid.

22/12: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I would like to say 'Thank You' to all the people who have read and contributed to the website and blog this year. I never thought that when I started this back in the spring that I would reached as many people as I have. In the last couple of weeks the website has been read by over 270 different people in 25 countries across 4 continents, it may not sound much to you, but I'm amazed! I don't have any statistics earlier than December otherwise I'm sure I'd have rivalled the BBC or Amazon websites!

So thank you, please keep writing with information when you have it and share your news with the community.

I hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Paul.

22/12: New Internal Pins

LOCOG have issued 3 new internal pins recently.

The first 2 are, I understand, gifts for their staff as a seasonal 'thank you'. They are both silver and show the logo on one pin and the Paralympic logo on the other. Both pins are slightly smaller than the normal logo pins.

The third new pin is the 'Inspire Mark' which will probably be given to certain members of those organisations who qualify for the Inspire Mark.

1/12: News Update

I was lucky enough to speak to Honav UK today so can give you an update on what's been happening.

Firstly some sponsor pin activity.

• New pins are now out for UPS, British Airways, Cadbury and Scottish Widows.
• There are some sponsor Paralympic 1000 DTG pins coming out on Thursday.
• Both Tier 2 and Tier 3 partners are planning further pins at the moment (I think, though, that we won't see anything until next year (my opinion)

I have pictures and details of all the new pins (9 in all) so will get the inventory updated this week (probably after the Paralympic 1000DTG mark on 3 December).

Now for the LOCOG pins.

• No date yet on the new packaging for the London at Night set
• No date for the amended pictograms
• The 33 London Boroughs (or London Landmarks) set are in design at the moment

Lastly, the ODA have run a pin design competition internally to create a design to support their environmental and sustainability work. The judging is taking place at the moment, so expect another internal pin next year to go with the builder's hats.

Don't forget that the final 1000DTG pin comes out on Thursday to mark the countdown to the Paralympic Games. The Museum of London will be stocking it and Runner's Need will not. I'm not sure about Crest or Hux777. Please mention the London2012Pins.com website when speaking to retailers, it helps to spread the word - thank you.

So, check out the inventory later in the week or over the weekend - it depends how much time I get to upload the new details!

Thank you to Honav UK and the Museum of London for providing information.

22/11: New Partner & Internal Pins

It's been a bit quiet on the news front lately, but here's an update for the partner and internal inventories.

A new BA 1000 Days To Go pin has been found as well as 3 more of the regional internal pins. Thanks to readers for sharing the information.

Also, on the pin forum, one reader has told us about an Adidas 1000 Days To Go pin, but for now I'm holding off adding it to the inventory until I can get a photo or some more details to verify it's existance.

4/11: Pictograms & Retailer Round-Up

A quick summary of the pictogram pin situation and retailer position.

There will be 38 Olympic pictogram pins and 21 Paralympic pictogram pins available individually. No mention of any sets yet, but I'm sure they'll be here eventually.

There seems to be an issue over the track cycling and mountain bike pins and these two will be delayed for a while due to manufacturing issues.

The RRP for each pin is £5.00 and the editions sizes are 5,000 for the Olympic pins and 3,000 for the Paralympic pins. So for a whole set you're looking at just shy of £300!

As for the retailers, this is the situation... (in alphabetical order - no favourites!)

Hux777 - is selling the Olympic pins now and plans to have the Paralympic pins

Museum of London - is taking pre-orders for 17 of the Paralympic pins but the website will be continued to be updated with the rest and they hope to have stock in the shop for all pins (apart from the 2 mentioned above) by next Monday.

Runners Need - is only stocking the track athletics pin in their shops. [Edit 6/11: Runners Need will not be supplying any individual pins other than the athletics pin, although will probably stock sets if they are created]

Thank you to all of the retailers above who have been good enough to share details with me over the last 2 days so that I could clarify what's available.

The inventory has been updated with details - no pictures until I get my pins!

1/11: News Round Up

The blog's been a bit quiet for the last week as I was spending the time getting the website refreshed. I've given it a new theme and improved the menu. Hopefully you'll find it easier to find pins in the inventory as I've split it down by number and category. There's a new article on fake pins and the download section now has the inventory available for download as a PDF.

On the news front...

You will probably have seen that the London at Night set has been withdrawn from sale and is to be re-issued in new packaging. No word on timescales, but I would think we'll see something in a few weeks.

The 1000 day pins came out yesterday, and don't forget they'll be a Paralympic 1000 day pin out on 3 December to complete the set.

I think the pictogram pins are not too far away, lets hope they come as a complete set like the Beijing ones did. The Museum of London website is showing them as coming soon and I think that Runners Need will be stocking them too. I hope to have more news this week.