23/12: Merry Christmas

I would like to wish all the readers and contributors to London Pins a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Thank you to everyone who has helped keep the site and blog up to date with information, comments or best wishes. It's a cliche, but I really could not do it without your help.

It was great to meet so many people in the pin trading centres during the summer that had used the site to learn more about pins, it makes the effort worthwhile to know that people find the site useful.

I also should apologise that during the Games and in the time since they closed, the website has not been kept as up-to-date as I hoped. I'm afraid that my real-life and day-job have had to take more of my time now that the Games are over. But, please, stick with me and eventually we'll have a comprehensive listing of all the London 2012 pins.

If you managed to come to one of the pin meets in 2012, then thank you for your support. I hope you enjoyed the experience and found other collectors to trade with and made some good friends and contacts. Thank you too, to Jan and everyone at the Railway Tavern in Stratford - for some this was the spiritual home of pin trading in 2012!

Thank you to all the sponsors who supported us this year with pins, information and venues. I'll refrain from mentioning names within the companies, but thank you especially to Coca-Cola, Lloyds TSB, EDF, BT, Cadbury and John Lewis.

Finally, a public thank you to my family for putting up with me and my collecting over the last few years. Thank you for your patience when I was updating the website instead of doing something around the house, for helping to photograph pin after pin on a Saturday and for carrying bags of pins to and from the Olympic Park each day!

Merry Christmas and keep reading in 2013, there's still lots to come.

Paul.

16/12: Website Updates

A few website updates have been uploaded this weekend. I've tried to work through some of the backlog of photos taken during the Games and also add pages for those sponsors who had not appeared so far.

You will now find pages for the following sponsors...

Acer
Jet Set
McCann World Group
Populous
Rapiscan

There are also some minor updates to the LOCOG Internal list as well as a page dedicated to Torch Relay (Retail and Sponsor) pins.

There are still lots of updates to come but I took some time today to add the new structure. The new pages have some details, but there are still images and details to come.

12/12: Free Pin Update

Firstly, an apology for the news blackout recently - as most of you know I have a day job, and it's been hectic recently. Pins have had to take a back seat for a while - sorry.

Anyway, a quick update on the freebies.

P&G came through with free pins as promised and have sent me some of their Team GB and Team Ireland pins. I know many of you will have emptied your local supermarkets earlier in the year to get these pins!

I can confirm that those who have already sent me an email will get the 2 Lloyds pins and the 2 P&G pins - there are enough to go around.

As we are now close to Christmas, I figured the postal service will be busy enough without sending pins into the chaos. Therefore I will contact all those that emailed me in the New Year and ask you to send an envelope then. I hope you agree it makes more sense.

Again, apologies for the delay, but, rest assured there are pins for you!

25/11: Pin Meet 12

Thanks to everyone who came along to the Railway Tavern yesterday and made the latest pin meet a success. I think we had between 25 and 30 collectors there at the peak with a mix of old and new faces. The free Lloyds TSB pins were popular and we would like to thank Lloyds TSB for offering them to us.

Thanks too to Jan and the team at the pub for making us feel welcome as always and allowing us to use the room for free.

I think most people there made a few decent trades and felt that the journey was worthwhile.

Talk turned to the next meet and I think we can probably manage one next Spring and then one at the first anniversary of the Opening Ceremony on Saturday 27th July 2013.

Keep an eye on the blog for details of dates and times.

17/11: London 2012 Pins on M and M Direct Site

Earlier this month, a reader spotted a website selling London 2012 merchandise. Click here for the original post.

A few readers have emailed me to say that this website is now selling a few London 2012 pins too. Click here to view the 'gifts' section.

They seem to have a few venue logo pins, some venue pictograms and a couple of venue sports poses.

The irony is that the sitting volleyball pin was nowhere to be seen for the first few days of the Paralympics, then was one of the most desirable pins for a few days as people tried to find them once they were released. Now they are in the 'bargain bucket'.

If only the distribution and retail process had been a little more thought through, then the collectors would have got the pins they wanted without the frenzy and the silly prices on eBay and the retailers would not be forced to sell at knock down prices.

Perhaps this may be the website where we finally see the pins that could not be found during the Games?

15/11: Another Sponsor Freebie Pin - P&G

I'm pleased to say that another Olympic sponsor has offered us some free pins. Proctor and Gamble have offered a number of pins to readers of London Pins.

At the moment, I do not know what design or designs they may be. I will not receive them until early December, so to those of you coming to the meet next week, I'm afraid they will not be available.

I think I will get enough to send them out and also keep sufficient until the first meet next year, so no one should miss out.

So, those of you that have emailed me asking for the LTSB pins, please don't worry if you don't hear from me immediately after the pin meet later this month as I will wait until the P&G pins arrive before I get back to you all.

Thanks to P&G for supporting us like this and if any other sponsors would like to get in touch with any pin offers, we would be happy to hear from you.

13/11: Requests for LTSB Pins

I've had a number of emails from people asking me to send any spare Lloyds TSB freebie pins as they cannot make it to the meet. I appreciate that the website and blog are supported by many of you who cannot easily get to London for a meet, so I'd like to help where I can.

In order to distribute the pins from Lloyds TSB as far as possible, I'm happy to send out pins to those that ask.

Once the meet in November is over I'll send out the remaining pins to those of you that send me a stamped addressed envelope. One pair to each person that writes. PLEASE DON'T SEND AN ENVELOPE JUST YET!!

Drop me an email to info@londonpins.co.uk with your name. I'll keep the emails in the order that they arrive and then when I know how many pins I have left to offer, I'll email you back with my address so you can send an envelope.

Please remember that pins in an envelope can get damaged and I don't have the time to package the pins in bubble wrap. I therefore suggest you send a padded envelope with 'Large Letter' postage. The pins are individually wrapped in cellophane, so will not scratch against each other. I cannot be responsible for pins that get lost or damaged in the post or for insufficient postage. I will not be able to offer recorded delivery or obtain certificates of postage.

Hopefully this means that more collectors will be able to share in Lloyds TSB's generosity.

Watch this space - we MAY have another sponsor who can offer some pins too. More details to follow when I can confirm.

10/11: Pin Meet - 24th November - Free Pins

I'm very pleased to say that one of the most supportive London 2012 sponsors - Lloyds TSB has offered us some pins for the next meet on Saturday 24th November.

Everyone who can make it there will each receive both pins LLY0041 and 42. These were pins issued during the Olympic and Paralympic games. There's no need to sign up to get them, just ask on the day. Obviously the supply is not limitless, but there should be enough for everyone based on previous attendance.

Don't forget, we are at the Railway Tavern in Stratford, but with an earlier start time than usual. We begin at 12.30pm, so you may want to combine the meet with some lunch.

Hope to see lots of you there.

4/11: Not Pins, but London 2012 Merchandise

Thanks to a reader, here is a link to some end of line London 2012 clothing from a company called MandM Direct.

Some very good prices there if you're looking for some Olympic or Paralympic T-shirts.

23/10: Next Pin Meet - November 24th - UPDATED TIME

STOP PRESS: The time of the meet has been brought forward to 12.30pm due to a function in the pub conservatory later that day. However, if we want to continue after 4pm, we can move into the bar (space permitting).

---

It's only 5 minutes since we had the last pin meet, and already the next one is in the calendar!!

I asked for feedback at the last pin meet (both on the day and via the blog), as to when we should aim to get together again. A few people thought early next year would be good and would give everyone a chance to find new traders. However, the overwhelming majority thought we should ride the wave of enthusiasm and have a mete this side of Christmas.

So, I've approached the Railway Tavern again, and they have kindly offered us the venue on Saturday 24th November 2012 starting at 2.30pm. Thank you Jan and the team.

I'm not going to bother maintaining a sign-up list any more, as the chances of us getting freebies is zero, but if you want to drop me an email to info@londonpins.co.uk to confirm you'll be there, it will help me gauge numbers and enthusiasm - it' up to you.

So in summary...

• Date: Saturday 24th November 2012
• Time: 12.30pm - 4.00pm
• Venue: The Railway Tavern, 131 Angel Lane, Stratford, E15 1DB
• Cost: Free (but please support the pub by having a drink or two)

I hope that lots of you will be able to make it and that the new faces that came last time will want to come back for some more.

14/10: 11th Unofficial London 2012 Pin Collectors Meet

Yesterday we held our 11th pin meet and it was the first time we have gathered since the Olympic and Paralympic Games. It was great to see so people there, over 50 this time, as well as so many new faces. Around 70% of the people who came were new to one of these meets.

There were lots of trades carried out and many people were able to fill gaps in their collections. Many people were very focussed on certain themes and I spoke to collectors looking for NOC, media and sponsor pins as well as those trying to find some of the elusive retail designs that did not appear during the Games.

Lots of people I spoke to caught the collecting bug whilst attending an Olympic or Paralympic event and wanted to know more about the hobby. Hopefully they found the group welcoming and will want to come back to future meets.

We would like to thank Jan and the staff at the Railway Tavern for hosting us once again. They let us move the furniture around to make it more open for everyone and looked after us brilliantly - thank you.

Opinion was divided on when to hold the next get-together with some thinking that we should keep interest going by meeting in late November, whereas others though that early next year was a better time to allow people to find some more pins to trade. I'd welcome opinions from readers either by a comment below or by email.

One thing we did agree on is that we should hold a '1 Year' trading event in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park when the first phase opens next year on Saturday 27th July. People felt that a picnic/pin trade event would be a good idea. So if you are interested, keep the date free in your diary. You can read more about the park and the timescale for opening here.

Thanks again to everyone who came along and enjoyed the day - hopefully you'll be able to make it to the next one.

9/10: Retail Pins Added to Catalogue

It's taken a while, but I have finally updated the retail part of the catalogue as far as possible with all the pins that came out during the Games.

The latest update contains...

Venue Sports Pins - mascot, venue and pictogram boxed sets
Venue logo pins
Sports pose pins
'Venues at Night'
National flags (pictures to follow)
Aminco retail

I have listed all the pins in the ranges and provided images of as many pins as possible (I'm still trying to track a few down and photographs them.

The grid has been updated with all the new images, but be aware there will be pins listed in the catalogue that do not show in the grid as I do not have images at the moment.

This latest update contains 290 images and almost 500 listing updates hence the time it has taken to complete it.

Thank you for bearing with me and I'll try to fill in the gaps in the images as soon as I can.

I will now be moving on to the internal, partner and media pins. Updates as soon as possible.

1/10: More Venue Pins at Glamorous Living

It seems that more of the elusive venue collection pins have appeared at Glamorous Living today. Thanks to a reader, news that some Gymnastics sports poses pins are now on sale.

The 5 pins in question were not widely available during the Games but have now appeared on the Glamorous Living website.

I would imagine that there will not be many of these sets available as the pins were limited to 2,012 each and potentially SOME were sold during the Olympics.

29/9: Next Pin Meet - 2 Weeks to Go

Don't forget that if you would like to come to the next Unofficial London 2012 Pin Collectors Pin Meet, we get together in two weeks - on Saturday 13th October.

We are meeting from 2.30pm at The Railway Tavern in Stratford. Click here for the original invitation and details.

I'm pleased to say that at the moment we have 34 people signed up to join us, that's the biggest pre-registration we've had. Not only that, but almost 60% of these are 'first-timers' who got the pin collecting bug during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

So, if you're still not sure if a pin meet is for you, rest assured there will be plenty of people joining us for the first time, so why not come along and try it out. If you're able to join us and have posted here or on the message board, why not come and try to enhance your collections with a little pin trading?

Hope to see you all there.

24/9: Sale at Pins and Things

I have been asked by John at Pins and Things to let you know that they are having a clearance sale on their website.

All London 2012 pins have been reduced by 1/3 (except special offers).

Tak a look at the website for specific prices.

21/9: Catalogue Updates

More catalogue updates have been made on the website...

• All the Coca-Cola retail pins (still waiting on Paralympic Pin of the Day Bottle Cap)
• Map of the UK
• Picnic Rug

This will be the last update for a few days as I'm now working through all the venue specific sets containing mascots, venues and pictograms. I will not upload these until I have all the pins listed and photographed.

If any of you managed to get the sets for Athletics, Dressage and Shooting would you please get in touch so I can confirm some details please.

19/9: Picnic Jigsaw Set

You wait ages for a jigsaw set to appear, and then two come along at once!

Another new set of pins has been released. This time 3 pins join together to form a picnic rug complete with basket and food.

Click on image to enlarge

The 3 pins are numbered 1802, 3 and 4 and are each limited to 10,000 pieces. Although they form a set, they are each on their own card.

Once again I am unable to confirm stockists or availability at the moment.

18/9: Map of the UK Puzzle Set

The Games may be over, but one of the best sets of pins we have seen (in my opinion) has been released - a puzzle/jigsaw set of the UK.

Click image to enlarge

This collection of 10 pins forms the map of Great Britain and Northern Ireland with icons for each region picked out over a Union Flag design.

The individual pins, numbered 1115 to 1124, are

• Highlands
• Scotland
• North East
• North West
• Northern Ireland
• Wales
• Midlands
• East of England
• South West
• South East

Each pin is limited to 10,000 pieces and they are on individual cards.

I have no details of availability or stockists.

16/9: Catalogue Updates

The retail part of the catalogue has been updated tonight with more of the pins issued just before and during the Games. In particular

• Pride the Lion Sports
• Team GB/ParalympicsGB venue collection
• Braille logo
• Welcome taxi, bus and telephone box
• Olympic/Paralympic Village
• Media Centre
• London Icons/Sports
• Thank You
• Chalk Hills
• Countdown
• Ceremonies
• Sports Shots

Pin 1125 - Braille Logo

Some new pins have been listed and some pins that were already listed have had images updated or details added. Click here to see the updated grid.

Now that the Games have finished and I have more time, I will aim to add updates twice a week until the catalogue is up to date.

7/9: Venue Sets at Glamorous Living

Thanks to a reader, news that some of the venue boxed sets are now available at Glamorous Living. They appear to have a Marathon Swimming set (3 pins) and Equestrian Pictograms (3 pins)

Images from Glamorous Living

Click here and go to the bottom of the page.

This raises the question if other sets will appear soon as well as whether other retailers will start to stock these sets too. If you see any others, please get in touch.

30/8: Paralympic Sports Poses

Following on from the range of sports pose pins available for the Olympics, London 2012 has issued a range for the Paralympics too.

The pins available (in the Olympic Park stores) were...

Athletics - Sprint

Athletics - Sprint (Visually Impaired with Guide Runner)

Athletics - Wheelchair Racing

Athletics - Shot

Athletics - Discus

Athletics - Javelin

Athletics - Long Jump

Atheltics - High Jump

Wheelchair Rugby

Wheelchair Tennis

5-a-side Football

7-a-side Football

Shooting

Swimming

Wheelchair Fencing

Wheelchair Basketball

Equestrian

Wheelchair Archery

Sailing

Judo

Road Cycling

Track Cycling

Table Tennis

Rowing

Goalball

Boccia

Apologies for the descriptions - they are mine and not whats printed on the pins!

I could not find pins for Sitting Volleyball or Powerlifiting although I imagine they must exist.

It looks like each pin is limited to 2,012 pieces.

There are also two new 'Venue Collection' pins relating to the Paralympics

Pins 1091 and 1094

These pins combine the ParalympicsGB logo and the Agitos and mirror those issued for the Olympics. These pins are limited to 3,000 (blue)  and 5,000 (gold) pieces.

30/8: Paralympic Closing Ceremony Pin - Retail Update

Some of you may know that one online retailer launched the Paralympic Closing Ceremony pin yesterday and then marked it as out of stock soon afterwards.

Therefore it has been decided to allow all retailers to issue this pin, although WHEN it is available is up to each retailer.

I suggest therefore you check out your favourite sources to see who has started to sell the pin.

28/8: Website Updates

I know I've been a bit slow with the updates since the Olympic Games ended, but I have made the first update to the catalogue today.

It's not as full and update as I would have liked, but to be honest with so many new pins, I thought it was better to make some updates and then fill in details later.

Sports Pose pins added to the catalogue

The commemorative section has been updated with many sets but only contains numbers, names and issue sizes. Pictures and backstamp details etc. will follow.

The ranges added are

Sports Poses
Venue Specific Pins
Coca-Cola
Pin of the Day
Days of the Games

Pride Sports
Street Names
Chalk Hills
and more.

The updates are spread throughout the higher pin numbers, so take a look at those pages or
at the following themed pages. These cover most of the updates

Sports
Venue
Pictograms
Mascots
UK
Daily
London

Venue Sports Logo pins added to the catalogue

I have also updated the grid pages too, but as a number of the pins do not have images yet, they may not show on the grids.

Bear with me, we will get there!

Thanks to Mike B for lots of help with the details of the commemorative pins.

As for sponsor pins, there are now updates for

Thames Water
Ticketmaster
Westfield

More to come.

28/8: Covent Garden Stall & Trafalgar Square

For this week only, there will be a stall in Covent Garden selling London 2012 pins at 3 for £10. I'm not sure of the range available or the exact location, but if anyone is down there, please add a comment to let us know more.

I've also been told that there will be a unit in Trafalgar Square during the Paralympics selling pins too.

27/8: Next Unofficial London 2012 Pin Traders Meet

I'm pleased to say that following feedback from those that replied, I have arranged the next pin meet, here are the details...

• Date: Saturday 13th October 2012
• Time : 2.30pm
• Venue: The Railway Tavern, 131 Angel Lane, Stratford, London, E15 1DB
• Venue Website: http://www.railwaytavernhotel.co.uk
• Cost: Free
• Nearest Transport: Stratford Station (National Rail, Central Line, DLR)

We would love to see as many collectors there as possible, whether you're an old-hand or started collecting during the Games. Please come along and meet other collectors and try your hand at some pin trading post-Games. Don't worry of you haven't got much to trade, you'll be very welcome.

I've had lots of emails from new collectors in the weeks leading up to the Games and during the Olympics, so I really hope that many of you will be able to come along to this pin meet.

If you would like to come, then drop me an email to info@londonpins.co.uk and I'll add your name to the list. Whilst there's no obligation to email me (you can just turn up), I keep a list of names that register, so that if we have any freebies to hand out, they are distributed in a first-signed up, first-served process. So the earlier you email me, the more chance you have of getting any free pins.

As usual I will be inviting licensees and sponsors to join us, so we will see who is able to come.

As for the previous meets, the pub is allowing us to use the conservatory free of charge, so please consider buying some food or drink while you are there.

Let's see if we can get the biggest turn out yet for a pin meet in London and hopefully make this the first of a regular pin meets post London 2012.

24/8: Paralympic Opening Ceremony Pin

The Paralympic Opening Ceremony pin is now available. This pin complements the Olympic Opening Ceremony pin in that it too has an array of coloured banners exploding from the Olympic Stadium and uses a white logo.

Pin 2011

This pin is limited to 5,000 pieces, half of that for the Olympic version, and given how quickly that sold out, I would imagine this pin will be popular too.

The pin will be available from some retailers from today and from the official London 2012 shop next Wednesday.

24/8: Dates for a Pin Meet

I'm trying to organise a pin meet after the Paralympics and wanted to canvass opinion on the preferred date.

The Railway Tavern in Stratford is available on both Saturday 6th October and Saturday 13th October from 2.30pm on each day.

Please let me know if you have a preference for either date and then I will contact the Tavern. I hope to let them know our preferred date on Sunday, so please leave a comment or email me as soon as you can.

23/8: Chalk Hills Pins

Even though the Olympic Games have finished, London 2012 have released some more 'British' pins. The latest 5 pins depict chalk carvings on hills.

Pin 1795 - Fovant

Pin 1796 - Osmington Horse

Pin 1797 - Long Man of Wilmington

Pin 1798 - Whipsnade Lion

Pin 1799 - Wye Crown

The pins fit together as a puzzle set and each is limited to 2,012 pieces. They are available now.

22/8: Request for Information

I'm now working on the hundreds of catalogue updates for the pins that came out during the Games and I would like your help please.

I have quite a few retail, sponsor and internal pins that I picked up over the Games, but I know there are lots that readers will have that I do not. So, if you would like to help out with the catalogue, could you please send me a list of the pins you think I should add to the lists.

I know I'm going to get duplicate information, but it's worth it to try and find all the pins that we have between us. At the moment I'm just looking for references, descriptions and pin sizes - photos will come later if you can help me.

So, if you can, please list the pins you know about on a spreadsheet - one column for the reference on the back of the pin and one column for a description of the pin - please keep it as short but as descriptive as possible, and one for the size of the pin in millimetres (width and then height).

Send your lists to info@londonpins.co.uk please. I can't promise to acknowledge everyone immediately, but I'll work through all the details and get back to you if I need more information such as backstamp or card information.

Thanks everyone.

16/8: Coca-Cola Pin of the Day Set

For those of you that have not had a chance to see the Coke Pin of the Day set, here it is.

The 17 pins are presented in a black frame along with the completer 'bottle-top' pin only available in the set.

The frame measures approximately 55x33cm and is presented in a black box which is lined and padded. Each set is numbered and there are 750 sets in total.

15/8: So, How Was it For You?

Now that I've recovered from a fantastic Olympic Games and man-flu, I thought I'd put together a quick review of my perceptions of the pins and pin trading during the Games. Please remember, this is only a quick round up of what I saw and hopefully over the next few weeks I will be able to pull together details of most of the pins that were around.

Firstly I start by apologising for the lack of news updates and tweets during the Games. I had intended to track what was new day-by-day and publish the information for the benefit of those who were at the venues and those who couldn't make it. Even though experienced collectors had warned me of the frantic activity that would be seen, I never dreamed that the days would be quite so tiring and leave so little time to post. Between going to events with my family (and we were very lucky to see some fantastic sports), pin trading and travelling I never seemed to have the time to collate and post what was happening. Looking at the forum though it seems that people were sharing news where they could.

Anyway, my overriding memory of pin trading during the Games was how much I enjoyed meeting and talking to members of the public who had never seen pin trading before. I made a conscious decision on the first day that if I was going to enjoy my trading, then I needed to keep away from those that were seeking to gather pins to sell. It seemed to me that some 'collectors' were there with a different motive than me and a different attitude toward those that had pins. Once I appreciated that, and avoided them, I had a great time. Did I get as many pins as some - no, did I get all the hard to get ones - no, did I make some duff trades where I gave too much away - yes, did I have a great time and fulfil my original objectives - absolutely. To all those that came to my table and traded or just said 'hello' - thank you, I hope your enjoyed our brief meeting as much as I did.

As for the pins, it seemed that some companies really pushed the boat out with lots of great pins that their staff and guests were happy to trade. Dow is probably worthy of a mention with some great 'in-demand' pins such as the submarine pin, weather pin and the Hopiary pins. Visa had lots of new designs, however thier representatives were a little reluctant to trade. Lloyds and EDF kept up their excellent track record with new pins. There were new pins from Ticketmaster, Cadbury's, GlaxoSmithKline, UPS, Coca-Cola, Airwave and lots more.

There were a bunch of media pins as well as masses of NOC pins too.

I plan to reach out to collectors to gather information on as many pins as possible and update the website with the details. Please bear with me over the next weeks and months as I carry out this task and in the end we'll have a full catalogue of the London 2012 pins.

I plan to set up some more pin meets before Christmas to try and keep all those that want to continue their collecting in touch with each other and see if we can keep the momentum going.

It will all kick off again in a couple of weeks for the Paralympics so there's no chance to rest just yet.

11/8: Olympin Pin Meet - Monday 13th August

The Olympin group have asked me to mention a pin swap they are holding at the Railway Tavern at 6.30pm on Monday 13th August.

Everyone is welcome to come along and try some trading.

Food and drink will be at your own expense.

They will be offering to sign up new members to the Olympin Club and have the last 30 or so 2012 Olympic pins for those that do.

10/8: Closing Ceremony Pin

As the end of the Olympic Games draws near, the Closing Ceremony pin will be on sale from later this evening.

Like the Opening Ceremony pin, this one is limited to 10,000 pieces and will probably sell fast too.

31/7: Days of the Games Offer

Event Merchandising have asked me to mention an offer to readers of the blog. They are offering all 18 Days of the Games pins for £135 including free UK delivery PLUS a free London 2012 Union Flag logo T-Shirt.

Please email your orders and payment details to steve@eventmerch.com and specify which size T-Shirt (S/M/L/XL) you would prefer. All the pins are in stock so can be dispatched the next day.

30/7: Coca-Cola Pin of the Day 4

Today's Pin of the Day is the UK map and Union Flag. This pin celebrates the fact that London 2012 includes the whole country with venues across the UK and a torch relay that touched every part of the country.

29/7: Coca-Cola Pin of the Day - 2 and 3

Here are the next 2 pins in the series.

The day 2 pin highlight's Coke's 'Move to the Beat' programme showing a Coke bottle crowd surfing!

The day 3 pin recognises the sailing venue at Weymouth and Portland.

27/7: Coca-Cola Pin of the Day 1

Here is Coke's first Pin of the Day. Released at the Hyde Park Official Pin Trading Centre this morning...

The first pin is a slider which shows the London 2012 logo moving across the London Skyline with the words 'Opening Ceremony'.

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

24/7: Opening Ceremony Pin

By now, most of you will have seen the Opening Ceremony pin appear, disappear and then reappear at an online store.

Pin 1992

This pin is limited to 10,000 pieces.

24/7: Days of the Games

As well as the Coca-Cola pin of the day, there is also a set celebrating the Days of the Games. These pins will not be issued one per day, but instead will be available in one go. They are dated for each day of the Games and show a different sport.

However, the 'special' with this set is that they build into the 2012 logo.

Days of the Games pins

Each of the 18 pins is limited to 5,000 pieces. These were spotted yesterday by someone lucky enough to be working in the Olympic Park, but they will be available from Friday from the usual retailers.

23/7: Final Diversity Pin: Ethnicity

The sixth and final pin in the Diversity range has now been issued. The Ethnicity pin shows the continents in different colours joining together.

Pin 1806

The issue size for this pin is 2,012 pieces and it seems that this one will be available to retailers.

23/7: Games-Time Mode

As we move into the final days before the Olympics commence, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone that has supported the website, blog and message board since its inception back in 2009.

Those of you that know me and have communicated with me, know that I like to try and respond as fully and as quickly as I can. However as the activity has increased in the last two weeks and as it 'explodes' over the next three to four, I want to apologise now if it takes me a while to answer you.

During the Games, I hope to update the blog daily with new information that I have and will use Twitter where I can, but to be honest I have no idea how easy that will be! I plan to fit in pin trading, the website, events and family time during the Games so I am not sure what the balance looks like at the moment!

So, wherever you are, please keep emailing me with information when you have it, enjoy the Games and sometime in the autumn, we can all get some rest!

Paul.

21/7: Views from International Pin Traders

Here are a couple of links to pin traders blogs from visitors to London for the Games.

The first is from Carol and Krystal and entitled '2012JourneyToLondon'. This blog from a mother and daughter team tell their story of preparation for London and will follow them as they trade throughout the Games. I've followed their blog for a while and met them both at the pin meet today. They are a great couple who have a massive number of pins to trade - look out for their own pin design!

The other is from Steve Robie, an Olympin member - entitled 'An Olympiholic's Journal'. Again, this blog will follow his experiences as he trades in London.

It will be interesting to see how Canadian and American pin traders view our city, the London 2012 Games and pin trading.

Please note that I am not responsible for the content of or views expressed in these websites.

21/7: Final Pre-Games Pin Meet

Today we had our final pin meet (our 10th) before the opening of the Olympic Games. As usual, it was great to see so many friends for a trading session. Coca-Cola allowed us to take over most of the tables in the Hyde Park pin trading centre today and we rotated in shifts so that everyone who wanted a table had a chance.

Being in the Coke centre meant that there were lots more members of the public coming through and a number of trades were made with new faces who had pins to trade.

A number of international media were there with interest from Japan, China and New Zealand. A few collectors spoke to them and were filmed for news features.

20/7: Coke Store Update

Over the last couple of weeks, there have been a few issues with the online Coke store. A number of readers have commented on problems with delivery and communications. So that you are all aware, the team behind the online store have been reading the feedback and working hard to resolve the issues.

They would like to assure everyone that they have taken steps to improve the situation such as

• making sure that automated communications are working
• contacting customers who have placed orders that have not yet been fulfilled
• making effective use of warehouse dispatching to satisfy both online and venue shops

They are also on the case to add new products to the website as soon as possible.

So, hopefully many readers will have started receiving their orders and those that haven't should be sorted very soon.

Please be sure to post some positive experiences when the online Coke store is working for you just so everyone knows.

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.

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.

17/7: Pin Trading Centre - Day 1

Don't worry, there won't be a report on each day's activity! As it was the first official day of trading at the Hyde Park Centre, just a short summary for those that were not able to make it.

A successful day of trading took place from around 11am this morning until after 3pm. There were lots of Coke staff around to find out more about pin collecting and trading. They were a very friendly bunch and were putting themselves through their paces. These are the teams that will be managing the people through the centres and they were keen to get trading with us.

There were around 9 tables set up for traders and a steady flow of collectors - experienced and new. It was an excellent taste of things to come.

As the day warmed up and the sun came out, the room got a little hot, so make sure you have fluids with you if you are set for a sessions trading.

The designers of the Coke pins came to see the centre and the collections and it was very nice to meet them both.

There were a number of new Coca-Cola retail pins on sale today as well as the newly released 10 day to go pin (issue size 5,000).

Meanwhile in the London 2012 shop next door, there were a range of new pins on sale - 26 boxed sets of 2 venue pins. Each box contains a printed sports mascot pin (subtly different to the existing sports mascot pins) and an enamel 'venue' pin which may be an image of the venue or a 'sign' with the name of the venue and the dates of competition. More on these win another post, but there were 26 sets each at £15!

Venue and mascot pin sets

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.