2/11: New London 2012 Shop in Paddington

The second official store opened at Paddington station yesterday. You can find it in 'The Lawn' shopping area on the second floor (above the Krispy Kreme shop!). Whilst it's not as big as the St Pancras store, it has a good range of stock (including models and clothing) and a comprehensive pin wall. If you're in the area, stop by and visit Lyris and her team.

Store front

Pin Wall

Clothing

Models and umbrellas

If you decide to go to the shop, please remember to tell them you heard about it on the blog/website - Thanks.

28/10: Christmas Pins

A set of Christmas pins will be released on 1 November.

There are 2 individual pins depicting a snowflake and a snowman and also a set containing 5 pins - a Christmas tree, snowflake, snowman, present and wreath.

The individual pins are priced at £4 and limited to 50,000 and the set is priced £30 and limited to 5,000. The designs in the set will not be sold individually.

Image to follow.

27/10: Lord Mayor's Show Pins

A new set of pins are to be released to celebrate the Lord Mayor of London and the Lord Mayor's show. There are 6 pins in the set which is limited to 5,000 and will retail at £45. The sets will be available online and in the official London 2012 shop and also from the Museum of London.

The 5 pins include images of the Lord Mayor's coach, the Lord Mayor himself and Gog & Magog, the giant protectors of London.

Image to follow soon.

25/10: London Boroughs Pin Set

When the London Borough pins were released back in the summer, 100 framed sets were created for VIPs and local councils. Honav have now announced that due to popular demand, 70 of the 100 sets will be made available to the public for £250 per set.

They will be available online and in the store.

21/10: Sainsbury's Pin - Potential Availability

Interesting development today - a reader contacted Sainsbury's and asked about their pins and received the following response

Dear Xxxxxxxxxx

Thanks for your email.  I’m grateful for your interest in our London Paralympics 2012 badge.  We will be selling these in our stores very soon to help raise funds for the Paralympic games and the athletes.

I hope that you can obtain one of the badges to add to your collection.  We’re grateful for you taking the time to get in touch and look forward to seeing you in store again soon.

Kind regards


Customer Manager


It looks like the Sainsbury's pins will be the first sponsor pins to be made generally available 'on the high street'. No word on whether the pins on sale will be the ones issued so far, but there were 160,000 of them!

Hopefully this move will promote the London 2012 pins generally to a wider audience. Time will tell.

20/10: Pin Meet - Ideas/Interest Wanted

A couple of readers have suggested that it would be good to meet up and trade some pins. This would be a completely unofficial get-together and allow us to put faces to names we have come across during the year. How do you feel about a meet somewhere in London at the back end of November? There's no budget so don't expect a lavish venue!! Suggestions have been the Museum of London or the View Tube at Stratford, but I'm open to ideas. It doesn't matter if it's 2 or 3 of us, or whether we can pack out Wembley, I'd be interested to know if anyone would like to join in.

You can add comments to this blog post or drop me an email at meet@londonpins.co.uk. I'll give it a week or so and then see what the consensus is.

Sorry to those of you who aren't based around London, but we have to start somewhere. Hopefully if we get enough interest to get a sponsor on board (and some of them read this blog), then maybe we can get more adventurous in the New Year. Maybe even something 'official' (whatever that means) for the 500 DTG in March.

So, let me know what you think and I'll see what can be arranged.

7/10: Royal Parks Pins - Update 12/10

News today that a set of 8 pins will be released imminently, possibly next week, to showcase the Royal Parks. The pins will be available individually and as a set. There are 3,000 of each pin being produced, with only 500 sets and the rest issued as single pins.

The pins will initially only be available via the Royal Parks, and I hope to have news soon of how they will be sold (maybe online or in their park locations or maybe both). No word yet on prices either. I believe that any remaining stocks will be on general release next year.

The pins are shown below. The design of each pin is such that the outline shape of the park forms the background and then each pin has an image representing the location along with a green 2012 logo. I like this idea which blends the angular shape motif of other 2012 pins with a geographical representation of the park - well done to the design department. The pins also shun the standard 2012 colours for a subtle forest green (based on the images anyway), which I think makes these an excellent set.

Pin 0111 - The Green Park

Pin 0112 - Hyde Park

Pin 0113 - Kensington Gardens

Pin 0114 - St James's Park

Pin 0115 - Bushy Park

Pin 0116 - Greenwich Park

Pin 0117 - Richmond Park

Pin 0118 - The Regent's Park

Once I have more news on the pricing and availability I'll post it here. I'd recommend not hassling the Royal Parks people at the moment as I understand they're working hard on getting these pins out as soon as they can, and hope to be able to promote them next week. Once they are available though, when you order, please be sure to tell them you heard about them on the London Pins website!

Update 12/10 : The Royal Parks website now has the pins available for sale . Take a look at http://www.royalparksstore.org.uk/prints-42687/2012-pin-badges-gallery.html. Prices are £6 for the individual pins and £60 for the boxed set. Remember, there are only 500 of the sets available. as mentioned previously, please mention my website if you place an order, it helps me if the retailers know my website is promoting the pins. Thanks!

1/10: Premiums Workshop Pin

On 27th September LOCOG ran a 'Premiums Workshop' for their Licensees and Sponsors. I understand that at this workshop, the audience got to see some of the upcoming merchandise. The attendees were given a pin to mark the workshop which is shown below. It's a huge pin - 53x65mm and has 2 pins on the back and is numbered LOC0011. There were only 250 of these made which makes it the rarest pin to date.

27/9: Christmas Pins

News tonight of possible London 2012 Christmas pins. I'm not sure if these are going to be retail, but it seems that a set of 5 or 6 pins in a long presentation box with a snowflake overlay have been spotted. More details if I get them.

22/9: Springy Pins

I got my 'Moving Mascot' pins today from Pins and Things. This looks to be the first (and at the time of writing, the only) stockist to have these pins at the moment.

The springy pins are better than I expected and the attachment of the mascot to the backing through the spring feels solid. The spring is 'tight' and the mascot stands firm rather than pulling on the spring. I think this has been achieved by keeping the weight of the mascot as light as possible, this in turn has been achieved by printing the mascot rather than using soft enamel. The distance between the backing and the mascot is 5mm.

We've seen sliding pins from Honav before, so I haven't discussed them here - they're still nice pins though!

Here are a couple of images which attempt to show the structure of the pin.

Partial side view

Top view

As an aside, this was the first order I had placed with Pins and Things and can definitely recommend them. Ordering was easy and delivery was next day 'signed for' - all for £1.99. I understand they have some 2 YTG pins left if you're looking for one or two. Check out their website from my links page (along with the other retailers, many of whom I have used).

19/9: London at Night Set - New Packaging

So, after almost 10 months, the London at Night Set has reappeared with new packaging.

The overall impression is that this one is so much better than before. Whereas before we had a cardboard frame in a cardboard box, this time the pins are presented pined to a black card backboard embossed with 'London at Night'. The board is recessed behind a thin white border into a black wood frame. The back of the frame has mounts for hanging and standing (using two metal posts supplied in the box). The backs of the pins are hidden behind a  black velvet backing card which can be easily removed to gain access to the pin backs. The whole frame is presented in a cardboard display box in black and pink, lined with a centimetre of grey foam for protection. Finally the display box is sold within a white cardboard sleeve to avoid the display box being marked. The display box measures 42 x 17 x 4.5 cm and has gold logos and pin images on the front and back. The frame measures 38.5 x 12.5 x 2 cm (approx).

Pins in Display Box

Front of Display Box

Rear of Display Box

Pins in Frame

2/9: London at Night Set - It's back!!

It's been a while, but the London at Night set is back. The Museum of London will be selling it from 15th September with pre-orders now available.

It's a little difficult to tell from the picture what the frame and backing are made from, so we'll have to wait and see.

2/9: Tour Bus Pin

Some of you may be aware that the ODA run a bus tour around the Olympic Park. The tour lasts about an hour and takes in the major park sites - the Olympic Stadium, Velodrome, Aquatics Centre, Basketball Arena, and the IBC/MPC.

It seems Honav are introducing a pin to recognise the tour, or more accurately the tour bus.

Tour Bus Pin

One of these pins appeared a week ago or so from China and sold for around £20, but now it seems the pin is available from an authorised source. Hux777 is now selling the pin via it's eBay store.

Anyone who's been on the tour, is going as part of the upcoming Open House Weekend or plans to go soon may want to get their hands on one of these pins. If you missed the Open House opportunity and are interested in taking a tour, contact the ODA on 0300 2012 001. It comes highly recommended.

27/8: Wenlock and Mandeville on the move

News today of some mascot pins with movement!!

Both Wenlock and Mandeville are appearing on sliding and spring pins. The spring pins move gently when you press them and the sliding ones, well, slide! All 4 pins are issued on 6th September and each is limited to 10,000 and have a recommended retail price of £6

No word yet on who will be selling them on launch.

Pin 0240 - Spring Wenlock

Pin 0241 - Spring Mandeville

Pin 0242 - Sliding Wenlock

Pin 0243 - Sliding Mandeville

25/8: Museum of London Stock Update and 'Sold Out' Pins

Museum of London
An update from MoL today. They now have the 6 Countryside pins in-store along with the 4 Winter Flowers and the Paralympic Pride pin. Don't forget there are only 2,012 of the latter, so they are one of the

All of these pins are only available in store and not on the website.
At the time of writing, this is the first retailer to have the Countryside pins.

Sold Out Pins
As collectors, we like to know when a limited edition has sold out, so with Honav's help, I have updated the inventory to show when a pin has been sold out. My definition of this is that Honav have no more stock to supply the retailers. It doesn't mean that one or more retailers may not have the pin on their shelves or in their stockroom, but it does indicate that a pin MAY be harder to find. I'm sure that as we get nearer to the Games some of the limited editions will start to become rarer in the shops.
At the moment, the pins that are sold out are the 3 YTG, 2YTG and the 2 Mascot pins in the boxed set - no surprises really.

23/8: Mandeville Pins Announced

Honav announced 2 more Mandeville pins which will be released on Sunday as part of the 2 Year To Go milestone for the Paralympic Game. The 2 pins announced today are a 'buckle' or drop pin version and a printed version which both compliment their Wenlock counterparts.

Pin 0239 - Buckle Pin

Pin 0245 - Printed Pin

Both pins are limited to 20,000 and recommended retail is £5 and £4 respectively. They'll both be available from Sunday and should be available from the online shop, the St Pancras shop and the Museum of London.

I think we should also see pin 233 available on Sunday too. This pin is limited to 5,000 and was originally available to LOCOG staff only. The Wenlock version of this pin went on sale to the public at the Olympic 2YTG mark, so there's every reason to expect to see the Mandeville pin available this weekend.

18/8: More Flowers

The final set of flower pins have been announced today. The Spring flowers are Bluebell, Cowslip, Daffodil and Violet. They are all limited to 5,000 and the recommended price is £6. No word yet when they'll be in the shops.

0076 - Bluebell

0077 - Cowslip

0078 - Daffodil

0079 - Violet

17/8: Catalogue Updates

There have been a few updates to the catalogue this evening...

• New partner pins from Airwave, Cisco and Panasonic
• New internal pins from LOCOG and the ODA plus some updated images
• All the regional pins are now shown - some have not been issued but there are images of the samples
• Updated issue sizes for some of the recent internal and partner issues (e.g. Adidas, BT, BMW etc.)

Thanks to the team at Honav for providing access to the new pins and also for the technical information.

17/8: Panasonic Pin Competition

Towards the end of 2009, Panasonic ran a competition amongst its employees (and families I guess) to design a corporate pin for London 2012. The competition was won by Edward Yeo, son of Stephen Yeo, a Panasonic employee. Click here for a news article about the competition.

Here is the pin Edward designed. 750 of these have been produced and issued to all UK staff in July.

As well as producing the pin, Panasonic and Honav also produced a pin containing Edward's drawing. Congratulations to Edward for winning the competition and having what is surely the rarest London 2012 pin!

17/8: Museum of London Update

I was at the Museum of London yesterday and had a chat with them regarding their pin plans for the rest of the year. It looks like they'll be stocking most of the pins as they become available and hope to have more on their website in the coming months. This is especially true where there's a London theme or tie-in. They had the 10 new London Landmark pins for sale, and by now you will have probably received an email from them advising they're available online. For those of you not in or around London, this is the first chance you will have had to get the set.

For those of you who aren't already on the Museum's mailing list, I'd advise signing up atshop@museumoflondon.org.uk.

Remember also, that just because a pin is not on their website or on display in the shop, it doesn't mean they can't supply it. For example, they have the London Borough pins available for sale even though they're not advertised.

And finally, for those of you who haven't got your 2 Year to Go pins yet, even though they're sold out in both the London 2012 online and St Pancras shops, the Museum still have a limited number for sale.

Click here for the Museum's pin shop

6/8: Countryside Pins

News of a range of 6 pins that were announced today. The Countryside pins are a set of 6 limited to 3,000 of each. No word on dates or prices at the moment. The six pins show elements of the British countryside such as brambles, a butterfly, daffodils, a sheep, a squirrel and a stile.

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.