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.

5/6: Around the Rings Article - Olympic Torch Relay

Take a look at my recent article on Around the Rings for a review of the range of Olympic Torch relay pins.

Click here for the article.

31/5: Top Pin Trading Locations in London (6)

This week we get closer to the Olympic Park. In fact just outside, as we spotlight potential pin trading at...

Westfield, Stratford City

For many old hands this location is nothing new - we've had some pin meets here already! But for those new to London or visiting from abroad hopefully there is some useful information included.

Nestling right next to the Olympic Park is Westfield, Stratford City shopping centre. Opened late last year the shopping centre is already very well used, and situated right on top of Stratford underground station and next door to Stratford International station.

Most importantly, Westfield will be the gateway to the Olympic park - with 7 million people likely to travel through it on their way to the games this summer.

7 million people - some of them must be carrying a few pins? I certainly hope so! Without having any certainty yet over what the busiest routes will be from the transport hubs to the park entrance it is hard to suggest any individual spots that will be good for pin trading, but the outside corridors are likely to be very busy, as are the alfresco dining areas which might make for a good trader meeting point after a busy day on the park.

Westfield also has a number of shops occupied by current London 2012 partners. Samsung, Mini and Omega for instance all have prominent locations. John Lewis also has an Olympic store - and a great view of the Olympic park on its top floor. There is a London 2012 official store here too - under the Team GB brand of "Our Greatest Team".

When you add in great shopping, millions of people, the gateway to the Olympic Park, likely sponsor activities and pleasant outdoor locations I think we can guarantee that Westfield, Stratford City will be a genuinely great place to swap some pins this summer!

28/5: Last Stamp Pin Issued

For those of you collecting the pins of the Royal Mail Olympic stamps - good news! The final pin in the series, table tennis, was released today. This pin is from the second set of stamp ons issued back in July 2011.

Table Tennis stamp

The pin/stamp pack is available from the Royal Mail and also from Coin Bazaar.

27/5: Olympic Torch Relay Pins - Days 10 - 13

Here are the remaining 4 torch relay pins for May as the torch leaves Wales and heads back in to England.

Pin 1927 - Bangor

Pin 1928 - Chester

Pin 1929 - Stoke-on-Trent

Pin 1930 - Bolton

25/5: Coca-Cola Torch Relay Pin - Another Offer from Event Merchandising

Following on from last weeks offer for Olympic Torch Relay pins, I'm pleased to say that Event Merchandising Limited have returned with another offer for London Pins readers. This time for the 12 Coca-Cola torch relay pins - the 7 standard Coca-Cola OTR pins as well as the 5 city celebration pins that are only available at those venues

Remember that these pins are only available on the torch relay and 5 of them only at the city celebrations. So if you're not able to get to all 5 locations, this is one of the easiest ways of picking cup the entire set. Please note that these are 12 separate pins on cards. The offer from Event Merchandising is for the full set of 12 pins, you will not be able to order individual pins.

The price for all the pins will be £122 with free delivery in the UK.

As before, please contact steve@eventmerch.com with your order details.

Lastly, for all of you that contacted Steve last week regarding one of the original offers, he has confirmed to me that he will have answered everyone by Monday. Please bear with him as he's with the torch relay at the moment and as you can appreciate, that is taking up a lot of his time. If you haven't heard from him yet - he'll be in touch.

24/5: Gold Guards and Downing Street

This weeks new retail releases have a distinctly London feel with the mascots in their guards uniforms in gold and the front door of the Prime Minister's residence - 10 Downing Street.

Pin 1066

Pin 1067

Pin 0648

The guards are from an issue size of 10,000, but for some reason only 50 of each are being released initially. I'm not sure if the rest will be released individually, as sets or if they have all been snapped up. All I know for certain is that only 50 are available at the moment.

The 10 Downing Street pin is from an issue size of 10,000.

These will be at you favourite retailers this week.

Also available this week are two more Team GB/Paralympics GB pins to join the one that was issued last week, again from an issue size of 10,000.

Pin 0614

Pin 0615

Pin 0616

24/5: Top Pin Trading Locations in London (5)

We reach the halfway point in a run down of 10 top locations where pin trading may be going on in London this summer. This week it's the turn of...

Live Sites

Live Sites are a relatively new Olympic phenomenon. These large spaces could be described as the best way to see the Olympics and experience the atmosphere if you don't have a ticket to a sporting event or to the Olympic Park.

Many Games have had them, and they have had different levels of success. In Vancouver there were three downtown live sites - one of which hosted a number of the Sponsor pavilions which at London's Games you can find on the Olympic Park. In Beijing there were a number of sites too - but these were not so well attended. Atlanta carved out the centre of the city to create Centennial Olympic Park - the scene of great celebrations, as well as a tragic incident during those games.

For London 2012 there will be Live Sites stretching across the entire country, with 5 being located in London. The specific sites are in Hyde Park, Potters Fields, Victoria Park, Waltham Forest and Woolwich.

Pin for Hyde Park - One of the London 2012 Live Sites

The two major sites will be in Hyde Park (in Central London) and Victoria Park (close to the Olympic Park). These two will host Major events and concerts as part of the BT London Live 2012 programme.

But what are Live Sites? Well the main draw is Live Olympic and Paralympic Sport! Big Screens will relay the best of the action to spectators who get to experience a great atmopshere in an outside environment with thousands of other people. As well as the sport these sites usually have shops, food and entertainment. At the larger sites (such as Hyde Park and Victoria Park) stages will provide live entertainment too.

In fact Hyde Park is holding special Opening and Closing Ceremony Concerts which will be ticketed only. For the 28 July-11 August access is open to everybody - but you can also buy a guaranteed entry ticket.

Of course most appealingly - the Hyde Park Live Site is the location of one of the Coca-Cola pin trading centres - but more on these in a later post.

For pin collectors this will be a great location to trade pins. There will be plenty of traders about, and plenty of fans who will hopefully be wearing pins, and willing to trade a pin or two. So as always, keep your eyes peeled, enjoy the atmosphere and be ready to trade some pins!

For more details of where all the London 2012 Live Sites can be found then best to check the London 2012 Website for details.

23/5: Olympic Torch Relay Pins - Days 6 - 9

Here are the next 4 pins in the Olympic Torch Relay set that will be issued over the next few days as the torch heads into Wales.

Pin 1923 - Worcester

Pin 1924 - Cardiff

Pin 1925 - Swansea

Pin 1926 - Aberystwyth

23/5: Coca-Cola Torch Relay City Celebration Pins

Last week, we saw the seven Coca-Cola Olympic Torch Relay pins (click here for the blog entry). At that time, we knew that 5 city celebration event pins would be issued for the 5 Coca-Cola hosted events around the country.

The first of those events is in Cardiff on Friday. Here is the pin that will be available exclusively at that event.

Pin 1668

This pin is limited to 2,012 pieces and should be available at the Coca-Cola party in Cardiff.

23/5: Another Diversity Pin That will be Hard To Find

A while ago, we found about about the Faith pin that, despite being one of the 2,012 retail pins, was completely bought up by a number of organisations before hitting the retailers.

It seems that the same has happened with another pin from the Diversity series.

Pin 1058

The Gender pin was released last September, but it seems to have slipped under the radar. It never reached retailers, and all 2,012 pieces are now sold out. Looks like this is another pin from the retail range that will be hard to find.

21/5: Olympic Torch Relay Pins - Days 4 and 5

Here are the next 2 pins in the Olympic Torch Relay set for days 4 (Tuesday 22nd) and 5 (Wednesday 23rd).

Pin 1921 - Bristol

Pin 1922 - Cheltenham

Looking at the official London 2012 shop this evening, it paperers that the first pin - Land's End is now out of stock. It's possible that more may become available, but at the moment it looks like this pin is not available.

21/5: Pin Meet 8 - A Short Report

On Saturday, a group of collectors met at the spiritual home of London 2012 pin collecting - The Railway Tavern, thanks to the generosity of Jan and the team at the pub who let us use the facilities free of charge.

Around 18 collectors managed to get there and even though numbers were slightly down on last time, you would never have guessed it by the amount of activity, conversation and trades that were going on. Based on the feedback I have received, I think it's safe to say that everyone thought it was worth attending and a number of people commented on the good trades that they had made.

We were joined once again by two of the team from Coca-Cola. We would like to thank them not only for turning up and talking with us, but also for offering everyone a Coca-Cola torch relay pin and for showing us all 12 of the new torch relay retail pins. The pins certainly caused a stir amongst the collectors there.

Thank you also to Honav for coming along and showing us some of the new retail pins that are coming soon. I personally liked a set of street signs and the map if the UK jigsaw set.

At this meet we were also joined by a film crew making a small film about subjects connected to the Olympics and also a photographer and representative from the marketing department of LOCOG. Both groups covered the entire afternoon and took the opportunity to talk to lots of collectors. Hopefully it will help to promote pin collecting during the Games.

Thank you to everyone who came along and made the day a success, I hope you will all be back for the next one - Saturday 16th June at 12pm in the Stadium Suite at John Lewis, Westfield Stratford City.

20/5: Olympic Torch Relay Pins - Days 2 and 3

Here are the retail Olympic Torch Pins pins for days 2 (Sunday 20th) and 3 (Monday 21st).

Pin 1919 - Exeter

Pin 1920 - Taunton

The first 14 in the set are available to buy individually from the official London 2012 online store.

18/5: Torch Relay Pins - Offer from Event Merchandising

As the Olympic Torch Relay travels around the country, each evening it stops at a Celebration Venue. At these venues a fully branded and official London 2012 Torch relay shop will be present. These shops are being operated by Event Merchandising Limited and they are the only retailer selling official London 2012 merchandise within these celebration sites. They will have products that are exclusive and only available through that shop such as torch logo key rings, magnets etc.

They will of course, be stocking the Olympic Torch Relay pins and over the course of the relay will have all 75 designs. They are reaching out to the readers of London Pins with a series of offers for anyone who cannot make it to all 70 celebration venues!

Offer 1 : A complete set of individual pins

Order all 75 pins as individual pins (not a framed set) and Event Merchandising are offering the discounted price of £5 per pin.

Not only that, but they hope to send them to you in batches. That way, you will receive a set of pins for several days of the relay before those days occur. That way you will have the pin on the day of the relay. As the torch progresses you will be sent the next set of pins so you will always have them in advance.

This may take them a little while to arrange for the first few pins, but once we get to June they hope to have this delivery worked out.

BUT: These pins will be supplied from Event Merchandising's very limited stock. To ensure you get your order processed, they need to know numbers by 4pm tomorrow (Saturday 19th May) as once the Celebration Venue at Plymouth opens, these pins will go on general sale and may sell out. If you want to take up this offer, act fast.

Offer 2: The framed set

If you like the look of the framed set shown yesterday, they are offering this to readers for 10% off the recommended retail price. This set will not be delivered until the torch relay is complete and must be ordered by 30th June.

Offer 3: Multiples of a single pin

For those of you that are looking for multiple pins for a particular venue, then they can offer to supply them at £6 each, but they require a minimum order of 5 of a particular pin.

Notes:
Please be aware that Event Merchandising cannot supply odd pins here and there. To be able to offer these deals to readers they need you to commit to a certain level of order. Individual pins will be available at the Celebration Venues and through other retailers if any stock remains at the end of the Torch Relay.

To take up one of these offers, please contact Steve at Event Merchandising via email - steve@eventmerch.com.

Your items can be delivered free of charge to their London 2012 shop in Jubilee Place, Canary Wharf, or sent directly to you for £1.99 for a single order of pins, £5.99 for the regular batches of the individual pins (one-off, not per batch) or £4.99 for the framed set.

Payment can be in cash at the Canary Wharf shop, Visa or Bank Transfer. They will be able to tell you more when you place an order.

Don't forget this offer is just for the Torch Relay London 2012 pins.

I hope to be able to bring you news of the Coca-Cola Torch Relay pins soon and another offer from Event Merchandising next week.

If you plan to go to a Celebration Venue during the relay, make sure to visit the London 2012 shop while you're there.

Thank you to Steve and the team at Event Merchandising for putting these offers together.

18/5: Coca-Cola Olympic Torch Relay Pins

Thanks to the team at Coca-Cola, I'm able to show you some of the pins that will be available during the Olympic Torch Relay. All of these are retail pins that will be available from tomorrow along the Torch Really Route. I understand they will also be available at each day's Celebration Venue.

These seven pins show

• Wenlock and the torch with the Torch Relay logo and Coca-Cola logo
• a gold pin with a map of the UK, the torch and composite logos
• a slider pin which moves between the start and end dates of the Torch Relay
• 4 Coca-Cola vehicles used on the Torch Relay showcasing Move to the Beat and Future Flames.

The issue sizes are <=10,000 for the mascot pin, <=5,000 for the gold map pin, <=5,000 for the slider and <=2,012 for each vehicle.

On May 25^th in Cardiff, along with the pins shown, a city exclusive pin will also be available for sale. In addition, four other key city pins will also be available on the route. More information and visuals of these 5 pins to come in the next week.

In total, there are 12 retail pins in the Coca-Cola Torch Relay range, the 7 shown and the 5 city pins.

18/5: Olympic Torch Relay - Day 1 Pin

Tomorrow sees day 1 of the Olympic Torch Relay and the first 2 pins in the set of 75 that will be issued by London 2012.

Pin 1917 - Land's End

Pin 1918 - Plymouth

These pins will be available tomorrow at the Celebration Venue in Plymouth. The issue size for each pin is 2,012 pieces, but the number available to retailers is significantly less.

18/5: Coca Cola Bottle Set - Updated Info

There have been a number of comments regarding the photograph of the Coca-Cola bottle pin set I posted a few days ago.

To clear up any confusion, this is a set created as a Premia incentives gift by the Coca-Cola bottling subsidiary in the UK to be given away to specific clients and customers. 


It is not being offered for sale to the public and should not be confused with the official Coca-Cola Olympic and Paralympic Games retail pins that will be released for sale in the run up to the Games, including the hugely collectible 'Pin of the Day' single pins, and the Limited Edition framed bottle sets of these Pins.


These will be available from the Coca-Cola Pin Trading Centres and on-line only.


Please don't contact Coca-Cola for one of these sets as they are not being distributed to collectors.

17/5: Pin Meet This Saturday

A quick reminder to anyone who might like to attend that we have our next pin meet on Saturday 19th May. We're back at the Railway Tavern in Stratford thanks to the very generous support of the owners. We start at 2.30pm and have a good mix of collectors there.

If you've followed the website, blog and forum and have yet to tried some pin trading, then why not come along and see what you think.

As we approach the Games, media interest in pin collecting and trading is increasing and there's a good chance that there will be a small film crew there making a feature on various aspects of the Olympics. There should also be a few members of the press from London and national titles.

No-one is obliged to be filmed or contribute in anyway, so just participate as much as you are comfortable.

I'm pleased to say that Honav plan to be there and with any luck we may have a sponsor dropping by.

I'm looking forward to seeing lots of you there on Saturday and hopefully we will all have a good days trading.

18/5: Torch Relay Pin Set

Here it is in all its glory - the 70-pin framed set celebrating the Olympic Torch Relay. Apologies for the file size, but it lets you see a lot of detail.

Click to view a larger image

Counting up the pins, you may notice that there are 75 in the set even though there are 70 days in the relay. There are 2 pins for the first day and I presume 2 for the final day, so somewhere along the route it seems that a few extra pins have sneaked in!

These can be ordered from a number of retailers during the relay itself, and then they will be dispatched once the Games start. Hopefully we'll get some news from the retailers soon.

I hope to have information on the size of the frame soon.