24/5: Seaside Pins

The series of pins depicting British Life continue this week with 8 pins on the subject of 'The Seaside'.

The pins are pictured below and show some typical seaside subjects such as ice cream and sandcastles.

Pin 0461 - Beach Hut

Pin 0462 - Deck Chair

Pin 0463 - Helter Skelter

Pin 0464 - Ice Cream

Pin 0465 - Parasol and Flip-Flops

Pin 0466 - Punch & Judy

Pin 0467 - Sandcastle

Pin 0468 - Sticks of Rock

The pins are available individually on card or as a boxed set. Prices for the pins are £6.50 individually or £55 for the boxed set. No word on retailers, but I imagine Glamorous Living and Pins & Things will be quick off the mark.

24/5: Mascot Guards - Printed Pins

Wenlock and Mandeville are appearing again in the guards uniforms, this time on printed pins.

The pins will be available separately, priced at £4 each, or as a pair on a 'twin-pack' card.

23/5: More ODA 'Great Team Effort' Pins

Two more of the ODA team effort pins have been spotted today.

Pin ODA 0016

Pin ODA 0017

These pins each come in Logo and Paralympic Logo versions like previous pins and each pin shares the same number between the 2 logo versions.

I'm told that the dump truck pin was issued to construction staff working in the 'Enabling Works' and 'Structures, Bridges and Highways' teams and the trees pin was issued to those working on 'Landscape and Public Realm'

As usual, no word on issue sizes for these pins.

22/5: London 2012 Pins from USA and Pin Licensing!

Late on Friday a few readers started receiving mailings about 24 commemorative (i.e. retail) pins available in the US. Just to be clear, these are official pins made under licence, but they are not part of the 2,012 pins being made by Honav UK, they are manufactured under a different LOCOG licence.

Before I talk about the pins, I just wanted to try and cover pin licensing, so after speaking to people with more experience than me on the subject, the position seems to be that LOCOG awards 2 licences for manufacturing pins that contain the London 2012 Games Marks (logo, mascots, "London 2012" etc.). One has gone to Honav UK to make pins for a worldwide market except the USA and one has gone to Aminco via the US Olympic Committee (USOC) to make pins for the USA market. Both sets of pins are allowed to use the Games Marks and LOCOG approves all the designs.

In addition to this, all NOCs are permitted to make pins with the Olympic Rings, and so NOCs can use any manufacturer they please and do not need to get LOCOG approval unless they wish to use the Games Marks. Kingdom Pins is one example of a manufacturer who will be making a number of pins for various NOCs.

The whole Olympic licensing model is extremely complex and this description is only meant to be an idiots guide to the pin licensing subject. If I have made a mistake or mis-interpreted something I apologise and will happily update the description if anyone has a better overview. I have tried a couple of times to get this information from official sources, but have not been successful.

Anyway, back to the pins. They are made by Aminco for retail only in the US. There are 24 pins broken into themes such as logo, mascot and icons. There are pins showing London Landmarks as well as a taxi, phone box. teapot and map of Britain in the Union Flag branding. I'm trying to get permission to use the images on the blog, but until that time can only direct you to one of the retailers - Classic Pins. I am not endorsing this retailer - just saying that they have images of all the pins which are well laid out. There are other retailers that have some of these pins. These pins are due to be available from the end of June.

If I get any more information on the pins, then I'll post again.

20/5: New Version of GE Pin

You may have seen a smaller version of the original GE pin on eBay recently. Here's a comparison of the latest pin and the original.

Original GE Pin (top) and latest version (below)

The original pin measures 38x21 whereas the new one is 35x20. The new one is made by Aminco rather than Honav like the original and has one pin on the back rather than two like the original.

18/5: Pin Meet - Sponsor Support

I'm very pleased to announce that two sponsors have responded positively to my request to support our pin meet in July.

Coca-Cola have offered a 1 Year To Go pin to the first 25 collectors to sign-up and attend the pin meet on July 23rd in Stratford. There will also be some 500 day to go pins on offer. Not only that, but a senior member of their 2012 team may be attending to listen to collectors first hand. Remember that Coca-Cola are THE pin trading people at the Games, so I really appreciate this offer to come along and talk with us. Thank you Coca-Cola.

I'm still talking to the other sponsor, so do not want to promise anything at the moment, suffice to say they were very encouraging and also hope to attend if possible.

To date I have 6 definite attendees for the event, namely Bonwusah, Matthew, Wookie, Pippin, piscean62 and myself. If you plan to attend and are not on the list, please drop me an email to info@londonpins.co.uk.
I would encourage anyone out there who reads the blog or uses the website who may be tempted to try pin-trading to join us. Even if you don't make any trades, you'll still end up with a pin just for being there!

Details can be found at http://londonpins.blogspot.com/2011/05/115-3rd-unofficial-london-2012-pin.html.

Thanks once again to Coca-Cola for their support, I'm sure we all appreciate it.

17/5: New Cadbury Pin - CAD0002

When the Cadbury Spots and Stripes pins came out numbered CAD0003 and 4, it was obvious that CAD0002 was 'missing'. Jerry from Cadbury Spots & Stripes kindly posted on the blog comments that the pin was being issued internally following a colleague design competition.

Thanks to a reader, here is a picture of the pin.

The pin cleverly mixes the 2012 logo with the 'glass and a half' motif to form a very nice looking pin.

No word on issue size.

16/5: Olympin Club - Offer Extended

The team at the Olympin Club would like to extend their offer to UK collectors to join the club at a discounted rate for 2 years,

Here's the original post...

http://londonpins.blogspot.com/2011/04/154-olympin-collectors-club-special.html

This offer will be available until the end of the year or when the 2011 pins are all gone, whichever is sooner. As there are only around 60 pin remaining worldwide, I would advise applying now if you haven't already.

13/5: Mascot Sports, Father's Day & Union Flag Pins

It's a busy day for new pins today.

Firstly, Mandeville appears on 4 new pins trying out 4 Paralympic sports. The pins show him cycling, fencing, playing basketball and football. Hopefully these are just the first of lots more with Wenlock and Mandeville trying out Olympic and paralympic events.

Pin 0492

Pin 0493

Pin 0494

Pin 0495

Each pin is limited to 10,000 pieces. No word on price or retailers, but I imagine Glamorous Living will have it soon along with Pins & Things.

Next, with Father's Day approaching on Sunday 19th June, London 2012 have released a pin to celebrate the day.

Pin 0578

This pin is limited to 2,012 pieces. Again no word on price or retailers, but check out the usual suspects!

Finally for today, a new version of the Union Flag pin. 

This one is 'medium-sized' and sits between the original Union flag pin and the more recent 'mini' pin.

Pin 0621

This pin is 'limited' to 1,000,000 pieces. Yes that's correct 1 million, so expect to see this listed on eBay as 'rare' very soon!

The pin is 20x23mm, so not hugely different from the original. With an issue size this big, I imagine this isn't for collectors but rather the mass market and hopefully will be readily available on high street. With any luck, this will get London 2012 pins out to a wider audience.

12/5: ODA Learning Legacy Pins

Two more ODA pins have been spotted today.

This from Pippin on the message board...

These pins will be handed out by the ODA to reward good contributions to London 2012's commitment to provide an important learning legacy for how future major events are planned and managed, covering not just construction related topics but also issues such as diversity, environment, ethical procurement, sustainability, health, safety and welfare.


Along one arm are the words "raising the bar", to signify the achievement of higher standards.

Both pins are numbered ODA0015.

11/5: 3rd Unofficial London 2012 Pin Collectors 'Pin Meet'

I've got to find a snappier title for this!!

Anyway, I thought I would launch the next unofficial pin meet / trading event.

This one is timed to coincide with BP's Open Weekend in late July and is the weekend before the 1 Year To Go milestone.

The details are...

• Date: Saturday 23rd July 2011
• Time: 2.30pm - 4.30pm
• Venue: The Railway Tavern, 131 Angel Lane, Stratford, London, E15 1DB
• Venue Website: http://railwaytavernhotel.co.uk
• Cost: Free (but please see note below)
• Nearest Transport: Stratford Station (National Rail, Central Line, DLR)

Once again, the owners of the pub have very kindly allowed us to use their facilities free of charge, so I think that it's only fair if everyone who turns up buys a drink or two as a way of saying thank you. We have the conservatory for 2 hours, but I'm sure if a few people want to carry on chatting, we may be able to find a space in the bar or garden there or carry on elsewhere.





At the time of writing, there are no planned Transport for London engineering works that affect the Central or DLR lines.

I think I can say that the first 2 meets were very successful. There was a good deal of pin gossip and news and some good trades were made. I've received some very positive feedback. So, if you've wondered what pin trading is all about, now's your chance. I can promise you whether you're a novice or and old-hand, you'll be welcomed into the group.

In the last pin meet we were very fortunate that a London 2012 sponsor gave a pair of pins to each collector who attended. Now I'm not promising that will happen this time, but I am speaking to a couple of sponsors to see if they may be able to support us.

If you would like to come or would like more details, please drop me an email to info@londonpins.co.uk so I know you may be there. That way if there is a last minute change, I can make sure everyone knows.

I hope to see as many people there as possible. 

8/5: More ODA Olympic Park Pins

As more and more of the Olympic Park is completed, we are seeing more of the ODA Olympic Park Pins.

Readers have contacted me with details of 6 pins this week.

ODA0014 - Aquatics Centre

ODA0018 - Energy Centre

ODA0022 - International Broadcast Centre (IBC)
ODA0022 - Main Press Centre (MPC)

No pictures of these I'm afraid.

There has also been a report of a Handball Arena pin and a Basketball Arena pin, but these sightings have not produced pin numbers or photographs. This source has offered reliable ODA Park pin information in the past.

Previously we have seen both Games logo and Paralympic Games logo versions of the buildings. Sometimes these two logo versions have consecutive pin numbers and latterly the same pin numbers. There's no indication yet whether dual versions of these pins exist, but it is most likely.

I imagine that given the pin numbers of the IBC and MPC pins, one of them uses the Games logo and one the Paralympic Games logo.

Thank you to Pippin and Timo for the images.

7/5: New Coca Cola Pin

Coca Cola are releasing a new pin to be issued internally within the company to their employees.

Pin COC0003

The issue size for this pin is 7,000 and shows their new composite logo that will appear on a lot of Coca-Cola products over the coming months.

Interestingly, although it has been issued in connection with the London 2012 Games and is manufactured by Honav (again from partly recycled material), they decided to use the Union flag and Olympic Rings rather than the London 2012 logo.

The pin is 32x33mm, so very slightly smaller than the 500 day pin issued in March, although the design is similar.

6/5: Mascot Birthday Pins

Wenlock and Mandeville will be 1 year old soon and to celebrate, London 2012 have released 3 new pins.

The first two come as a set with the mascots running on a rainbow with the relevant Games logo as a dangler.

Pin 0623

Pin 0624

The set is priced at £25 and is limited to 2,012 pieces. It should be available from Monday 9th May and is already on pre-order at Glamorous Living.

This set comes with an information card

The 3rd pin is a larger-than-normal pin and shows M & W with a birthday cake and a rainbow

Pin 0625

This one is limited to 3,000 pieces and is priced at £10. Availability and pre-order as for the set above.

4/5: Partner Pin Round-Up (Updated Image)

I've been a bit quiet the last few days, but eBay has been busy with partner/sponsor pins. Here's a round-up of some partner pin details...

BP
A few days ago an eBay seller put 3 BP pins up for sale. These pins had the same shape and look as the Open Weekend ones from last year and the more recent green/paralympic pins that have been seen.

The main 'difference' of these 3 new pins was the coloured flash below the 'official partner' wording.

The backs of the pins are also different from anything we've seen before.

Each pin has 3 separate sections on the back. The top section on each pin has either the dates '2009-2010', '2010-2011' or '2011-2012'. I think this indicates the years for which the pin has been awarded.

The central section appears to have a pattern of interlocking circles of varying diameters - not sure if this is some internal BP logo or reminiscent of the Olympic Rings (?). There are also the words 'Beacon Awards' - I presume some internal scheme run within BP?

The bottom section has the reference details '® © LOCOG 2011 BP BP0015 HONAV' on the first pin and BP0016 or BP0017 on the other 2 pins.

I can not get any details on issue size or rarity for these pins.

Images reproduced with permission

British Airways

Last week a silver BA pin (BA0001) came up for sale - it raised a high price being the first one we have seen. 

Now, at the time of writing, 9 more have come out of hiding. I presume these are a staff only pin which are now finding their way to eBay. I imagine, like BMW and Thomas Cook, the prices will start to fall as buyers realise there are a few for sale.

GE

Today a new GE pin came to light. No pictures of this one, but it's been described as being the same as GE0001 but smaller.

This pin is measured as 34mmx17mm, so slightly smaller than the first one. But, the more interesting fact is that this one has been produced by Aminco. It has an official stamp on the back and was received from an official source. It is not supplied on card this time, but in a plastic bag.