Sunday, 15 April 2012

15/4: Pin Meet - April 2012

Last Tuesday, we held another pin meet. This one was held in the John Lewis store on Oxford Street in connection with their relaunch of the London 2012 shop in the store. They have expanded the shop to take in more floor space and provide a greater range of merchandise. They now have a pin wall like the ones in the other London 2012 shops across London.

Lord Coe opened the new store and then took time to wander around and talk to staff and shoppers. During this time he stopped by the table where we were trading and had a look at a couple of display panels that Honav had brought to the event.

Lord Coe discussing some London 2012 pins with a member of John Lewis staff

Given the timing of the pin meet on a Tuesday and the fact that it was announced with little notice, the turnout was not one of our greatest. Having said that, a few new collectors that knew about the pin trading scene dropped by as well as a few of the old faces. A couple of trades were completed and a member of the London 2012 team from EDF turned up to say hello and offer a pair of pins to all that had registered and attended. Thanks to EDF for supporting us once again.

As I mentioned, Honav brought a selection of their future retail pins with them. Here are some of the highlights...

There were a few location specific pins that will only be sold in the venues that they celebrate. In particular we saw the Media Centre pins that will only be on offer to those that have access to the media areas.

Media centre location pin

There were a sample of the Torch Really pins that celebrate each overnight location of the torch on it's journey around the country. I understand that these pins will be sold as a set against a background of a map of the country. It will be an impressive, if expensive, set. The collectors at the meet agreed these were a very nice set of pins. I'm not sure if pins will be available individually to allow people to collect the ones that are local to them.


A torch relay pin

There were a pair of pins to celebrate pin collectors and traders - one was a cap adorned with pins and the other a lanyard with lots of pins on it.

Celebrating London 2012 pin trading


As always, thank you to those that attended and we look forward to our next meet in May at the Railway Tavern.

10 comments:

Mikeyboy said...

I'm loving all these pins! Surely these aren't from same designer who gave us the pets series?!?! Any word on planned issue sizes? I'm gutted that the venue pins will only be available to those with access to the venues as I don't think I'll even make it in to the Olympic park during the games :(

Gutted too that JL & Honav didn't have the meet on the holiday Monday

Anonymous said...

Just when you thought it was safe to come out after dark !!!

I see that Honav have found a novel new way of distributing pins.

How are we supposed to get the Media Centre pins ?

Any chance we could walk in showing a copy of the Radio Times and say we were from the BBC.

Why not issue a set for the Ladies toilets in the Velodrome, or the 30 metre High Board in the Aquatics Centre, just try getting a ticket to get in either of those places, or do stakeholders get free tickets like they get free badges?.

When are we going to tell Honav what we think of their setup ?

Count Dracula

noel 9 said...

some of the NEW pins on display did look good....the over sized mascots had mixed views. Very Big and Very Pricey. Also The Torch Relay set will be VERY VERY EXPENSIVE... so I cannot see many being sold to many pin collectors. However I CAN see MANY being given away to some "deserving" and not so deserving people in the know.

Thanks to the nice Lady from EDF for her pins, and thanks to the other London Pin Members who turned up too to help promote our hobby

The NEW pin wall at oxford street is ok..... shame that it did not contain any of the "newly" issued pins.( or any pins issued since Xmas )

wookie said...

That Anonymous really is a miserable bu**er isn't he (or she) ?

London Pins said...

Count D, I realise what you mean about pins only being available in certain locations making them hard to get, but surely that's why we trade pins? I imagine that none of us are going to make it to all the venues whether they are restricted like the media centre or away from where we live. But hopefully between us, we will all be able to get enough to trade or sell on (hopefully not at a profit) to the rest of the group. I certainly will be asking those I know that have access or tickets to pick up some pins for me. It's the same with opening and closing ceremonies. I think there will be pins and I haven't got tickets. What I hope I have though is enough friends who I have met through this hobby to help me out. I will be happy to pick up some pins for those that ask me from the venues that I go to and I've already had offers from others to do the same for me.

London Pins said...

Count D, sorry something else I've just noticed in your post. I could be wrong, but I think those stakeholders buy the pins, they are not given. Doesn't make it any easier for the rest of us to get them like the 500 day of faith pin, but to be fair to them (remember some of them give us freebies), they do pay I believe - I stand to be corrected though if anyone knows differently.

Anonymous said...

Paul

Why not ask your contact at Honav about the pins that stakeholders receive. He should be able to tell you how they are distributed.

As regards getting people to help you get pins when they go to the Games, have many ticket pins surfaced from people who bought them when they bought their tickets? (apart from the ones on Ebay).

Count Dracula

Ps Renfield will be round to see Wookie when it gets dark.

London Pins said...

Count, I will certainly clarify the situation with stakeholder pins with Honav.

As for the ticketing pins, speaking for myself, I did get spares for trading. I've already traded a couple and have more in the bag for Games time. I appreciate I might be in the minority, but I still think that if we work as a group we can get a lot of the pins that at first glance appear to be kept from us. Anyway, if you want to trade for ticketing pins, drop me an email.

wookie said...

Wookie has fitted his bow and arrows with a night sight :)

noel 9 said...

Vampires and stake(holders) ! I can feel a joke coming on.

I may be wrong but as we are in April now I thought it was now illegal to hunt Wookies out of season. From April thru to September is Troll hunting season I do believe. But Pin hunting is allowed at any time of the year. Save the Wookie and slay the Troll