1/6: New pins discovered

Updated: 8/6 - correction and supplementary details to Indian language pins.

Even 2 years after the Olympic and Paralympic Games, there are still some pins only now coming to light.

New BA Pin Version
An alternate version of the BA Language pin for India has been discovered.

BA0005 (India) - Hindi (Top) and Punjabi (Bottom) versions

The original issued in 2012 was in Hindi (the text reads 'Namstey' - a Hindu greeting) and the new version is in Punjabi (the text reads 'Sat Sri Akal' - a Sikh greeting). At the time of its release, I was told that there were 100 of the original pins. The new pin has turned up on eBay and the seller states that there were only 20 of the later version made.

The new version has been added to the BA page on the catalogue

Two Prototypes

At the pin meet in April, collectors shared two pins we believe to be prototypes that never went into production.

A pin from Cisco stamped on the back as CIS0001. The actual CIS001 used a similar white design but on a shard shape background. This is a Honav pin.

CIS0001

A panasonic logo pin from Aminco

31/5: Pin Swapping - QEOP - 8 June 2014

As part of the Commonwealth Games baton relay, the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is hosting a Festival of Sport on Sunday 8th June. Click here for details. The day runs from 9.30am until 5pm and one of our number has managed to arrange a pin swapping area. A few collectors will be there throughout the day hosting a small 'show & tell' of London 2012 Olympic pins as well as swapping pins with visitors.

If you fancy catching up with some collectors, seeing some London 2012 pins or trying your hand at swapping pins then come along.

I'm not sure where we will be based, but I'm told it should be in the south of the park in the vicinity of the stadium. Keep an eye on Twitter (@londonpins and @markkasspins) and Facebook (London Pins) on the day for news and location.

As usual when we get together, there is no selling of pins and there is no obligation on either party to swap pins.

Hope to see as many as possible there.

6/4: Pin Meet - Opening Day on the Olympic Park

Yesterday's pin meet was off with a shaky start thanks to QEOP security staff. I'm not going to say anymore about them or their actions here.

Thankfully, a couple in our group knew members of the QEOP management team and the latter were more than accommodating and were extremely supportive - thank you.

Once we had found a space on the main walkway to the stadium, about a dozen traders turned up.

The footfall at the pitch was quote good with many members of the public coming to take a look. All the trading was between the good unsurprisingly but overall a good day. As always it was great to catch up with collectors.

The Olympic Park looked fantastic - a very good transformation.

1/4: Pin Meet - Saturday 5th April - Olympic Park

It looks like we have more than a handful of people that are interested in meeting up in the newly  opened south section of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park this Saturday.

The weather looks ok-ish. Should stay dry if a little cool.

I suggest that we meet up at 'The Podium' near the Orbit. From what I can tell, this is the venue that houses the shop for the Orbit and where you can buy food and drink. I don't think we'll be able to take up tables/seats at the Podium itself, but hopefully we'll find a patch of grass nearby. It looks like it's in the same area that the Coca-Cola pin trading centre occupied - it's a sign!

My original suggestion was a picnic and pin trade - I'll let you decide if you feel like the picnic!

I suggest we meet at 12pm, to give people time to get there. The park opens at 10am, so it'll give a chance for any queues to disperse.

Click here to take a look at the QEOP news page describing the opening on Saturday.

Click here to view the latest park map - you can see 'The Podium' marked at the bottom of the map near the Orbit.

Please remember that we're only there to trade and swap pins - no selling!

Hope to see lots of you there on Saturday.

25/2: Potential Pin Meet - Olympic Park 5th April 2014

Who's up for an open air pin meet on the day that the south part of the Queen Elizabeth Park opens to the public - Saturday 5th April 2014. Read more about QEOP here.

Rather than go to a specific venue, I was thinking that we could meet up at an agreed location (for example at the Orbit) and then find some benches or a patch of the park, and set out a few bags of pins.

I think we'd mainly trade between each other, but you never know, if there's some interest, we could think about going back a month later or so. As the park opens that day, there should be some good footfall and maybe some press interest.

So, who fancies coming along with their pins, a rug, some sandwiches and an umbrella (essential British travelling items).

I suggest we meet at 12pm at a location to be agreed and then take it from there.

Please 'sign-up' by way of a comment below and leave any suggestions as to where would be a good meeting point - easy to find but fairly specific please.

If we get enough people, then I'll post something here nearer the date with specifics.

12/2: Team GB Sochi Pin - Official Team Pin

Thanks to a reader 'in the know', I can now share details of the official team pin given to Sochi athletes. Visually, it's almost identical to the retail one mentioned in the previous blog post.

Internal Team GB Pin

Retail Team GB Pin

The main difference between them is the internal pin does not have the excess metal around the rings and 'Sochi 2014'. The rear of the internal pin is marked 'Better Never Stops' just like the London 2012 internal pins issued to the athletes. The internal pin is also a gold colour. I have no information on the manufacturer of either version or issue sizes of each pin.

Many thanks to the reader who got in touch with the details and the image.

UPDATE: The retail pins available from the Team GB shop have the back stamp 'Better Never Stops' and not GBPINS14 as first thought.

9/2: Team GB Pin for Sochi 2014

For those of you London 2012 collectors who, like me, also collect Team GB pins, you may be interested to know that a new retail pin to support our team in Sochi has just been released.

Image reproduced from Team GB shop website

The pin is available from the Team GB shop (click here for the link) for £5. Whilst it is a retail pin, the style looks identical to the internal pin TGB0004 issued for London 2012. Presumably, the athletes in Sochi have a different design as their 'team pin'.

As far as I know this pin is only available in the gold colour with no silver variety as we saw in London 2012.

The back of this pin is marked GBBPINS14 I believe - the same as the product code shown on the shop website.

26/1: National Flag Pins

I'm pleased to say that, thanks to the hard work of one of the London Pins readers - Mike, all the 204 national flag pins issued to mark all competing countries at London 2012 are now on the catalogue. Mike has taken and edited photos of every pin and sent them to me.

You can view the entire set by clicking on this link for the Flags page.

Some of the pins were available individually, but the vast majority were only available as a framed set.

24/1: Prototype BBC Gold Pin?

A reader has contacted me about a prototype gold pin made by Aminco for the BBC. He was given them during the Games by a BBC employee. He was told they were made for approval but that the eventual pins were made by another manufacturer.

Photo (c) 007bond.jamesbond

The photograph shows the gold prototype alongside a standard white BBC pin for comparison.

Does anyone have any more information about this pin or any confirmation of its authenticity?

1/12: Documentary Request

I had and email from a television company asking if I knew of any collectors who would be interested in the chance of appearing in a documentary on Channel 4.

Here is the email...

I’m working on the next series of The Hoarder Next Door for Channel 4. This series looks at both hoarders and collectors, drawing a clear distinction between the two, and examines how people’s lives and homes can be affected by their habits or hobbies.

With hoarders, we take a psychological approach, working with individuals both on screen and off screen with a therapist to address the compulsion to hoard.

However, the reason I am contacting you is that we also look at the homes of avid and passionate collectors; people whose prized and carefully cultivated collections are competing for living space within their homes. We offer them the services of our de-clutter experts to help re-organise the collection, freeing up further living space, or perhaps room to display their collection in a more attractive way. The purpose is to take a positive look at collections and collectors; and through the process of providing practical help, celebrate the individual collections as something wonderful to have.

I was wondering if you knew of any UK based collectors or if you had a collection yourself?

My direct line is 0207 424 7710 should you have anyone in mind. Or alternatively it would be fantastic if you would forward my email onto anyone who you feel might be interested in hearing more about the series.

Thank you again for your time & best wishes.

Click to enlarge image

In anyone is interested, get in touch with them directly (please mention that you heard about them through London Pins) and take it from there. Just be sure to let us know if you make an appearance on TV!

18/11: Christmas Deal from Tragars Collectables

Gary from Tragars Collectables is offering a Christmas deal of a set of 12 Coca-Cola Paralympics pin badges for only £25.00 with free UK postage.

Plus any purchases over £35.00 will receive a Free Sailing Venue collection pin set of 3 pins.

Please contact Gary at tragar@blueyonder.co.uk

15/11: Christmas Offers from Pins and Things

John at Pins and Things has some Christmas offers for readers of the London Pins blog...

When customers spend £30 or over on the website they will receive a free Olympic Coca cola polar bear pin badge (worth £8.00).

All Honav single pins have been reduced to half price

P&T are authorised stockists of pin badges for Glasgow 2014. As new pins are issued, they will be available on the website

Finally they offer free UK postage.

12/11: Updated Offers from Tragars Collectables

Gary from Tragars Collectables wanted me to pass on some updated offers...

• The 50 Coke pins for £50 continues with no end date

• Free UK postage on any pin badge order

• A free pin badge on any direct order (not eBay)

• New product - 6 Coke badges (safety pin back) - £5 including UK postage

Please contact Gary at tragar@blueyonder.co.uk for more details.

10/11: November Meet Report

We held another pin meet yesterday at the Railway Tavern in Stratford. Despite the bad weather, the turn out was good if not quite as large as port-Games last year. A few key faces could not be there, but there was a steady flow of trades though out the day.

Thanks to Tragars Collectables, everyone there received 2 free Coca-Cola retail pins from a choice of 5 designs and those with children each took again set of Coke bracelets too.

It seems that collectors had been busy since the last meet as we saw a number of new designs which hadn't appeared before from sponsors, media and internal pins.

A few of us discussed a schedule of meets for next year, and the plan is to get together in late March, late July (to coincide with the 2nd Anniversary of London 2012) and then mid-November - an approximate 4-month schedule. Watch this space for new of the next pin meet.

Our thanks to Jan and the team at the Railway Tavern for hosting us free of charge once again.

10/11: Small Catalogue Update

I've updated the catalogue again to day with a couple of changes...

The Samsung Collectors Board pin images have been added. I'm missing 7 pins, so if you have photos of these, please get in touch.

A great new addition to the IOC/IPC page - a Paralympic Reunion pin

A couple of additions to the Media (Press) page - Titan 24 Media, European Pressphoto and Sports Journalist Assoc. One addition to the Media (Broadcast) - JOQR (Japanese Radio)

The press section still has more updates to come, but they will be early in the New Year.

Thank you to those who got in touch with updates.

8/11: Catalogue Update - Media Pins and More

For those of you that thought you'd never see an update to the the media section of the catalogue, I'm pleased to announce that I've finally made all the updates.

I can't claim much credit for the details - I'm indebted to Tom for almost all the information and images - thank you Tom.

It's taken me a while to get it finished, for which I apologise, but I've taken a day off work to get it sorted. The updates were all broadcast pins with one press pin added too. I'm happy that every pin I know about is on the site now. So, as usual, if you have anything I've missed, please let me know.

Click here to take a look at the broadcast section.

In addition to the media update, there are some other additions too...

Commemorative - the rare logo pin 0442 has been added

IOC/IPC - Mandeville pin

Partner  - Coca-Cola/Innocent smoothie pins and 3 P&G pins

Other - Anton Bauer pins

And finally, I've added the Samsung Collectors Board pins that were everywhere during the Games.
Like some of the other pins on the site - they weren't official London 2012 pins, but played a major part in pin trading, so it's only right to add them. The details are there now and the images will be added on Sunday - I ran out of daylight today!

These Samsung pins are on their own page - Click here to take a look.

So, for now, the online catalogue is pretty much up to date. If you think I'm missing something them please get in touch.

The pin trading lists have been updated with these changes too.

8/10: Offer from Tragars Collectables

Tragars Collectables is again offering readers a new deal - this time on Coc-Cola retail pins.

'50 Different pin badges for only £50.00, free UK postage. Random surprise bundles'

You will receive 50 different pins on there original backing cards from list below. Please note these will be random selections, if you wish to purchase select pins, the prices will be higher.

SKU      Description
305315 Coca-Cola 2012 Type Pin
304547 Coca-Cola Battersea Power Station Pin
305391 Coca-Cola Been There Done That T-Shirt Pin
304561 Coca-Cola Big Ben Pin
306053 Coca-Cola Bottle Red Sparkle Pin
304554 Coca-Cola Buckingham Palace Pin
305834 Coca-Cola Beat Box Pin
305810 Coca-Cola CC Rings Bottle Pin
306084 Coca-Cola Coke Zero Bottle Pin
304455 Coca-Cola Countdown Pin - 1 Day
304462 Coca-Cola Countdown Pin - 2 Days
304479 Coca-Cola Countdown Pin - 3 Days
304486 Coca-Cola Countdown Pin - 4 Days
304493 Coca-Cola Countdown Pin - 5 Days
304509 Coca-Cola Countdown Pin - 10 Days
304660 Coca-Cola Country Flag Pin - Australia
304646 Coca-Cola Country Flag Pin - Brazil
304622 Coca-Cola Country Flag Pin - China
304691 Coca-Cola Country Flag Pin - France
304684 Coca-Cola Country Flag Pin - Germany
304653 Coca-Cola Country Flag Pin - Great Britain
304707 Coca-Cola Country Flag Pin - Italy
304639 Coca-Cola Country Flag Pin - Russia
304615 Coca-Cola Country Flag Pin - Spain
304677 Coca-Cola Country Flag Pin - USA
304523 Coca-Cola Downing Street Pin
306077 Coca-Cola Filled Coke Bottle Pin
304578 Coca-Cola Gold Bottle Cap Pin
306060 Coca-Cola Gold Bottle Pin
305070 Coca-Cola Let's Trade Pin
305179 Coca-Cola London Skyline Pin
305049 Coca-Cola Love London Bottle Pin
305032 Coca-Cola Love London Graffiti Pin
305865 Coca-Cola Mini Routemaster Pin
305841 Coca-Cola Minibeats Pin
305735 Coca-Cola Music Jigsaw Drums Pin
305759 Coca-Cola Music Jigsaw Guitar Pin
305377 Coca-Cola Olympic Park Venues Pin - Aquatics
305360 Coca-Cola Olympic Park Venues Pin - Basketball
305353 Coca-Cola Olympic Park Venues Pin - Stadium
305322 Coca-Cola Olympic Park Venues Pin - Velodrome
305339 Coca-Cola Olympic Park Venues Pin - Wembley
305469 Coca-Cola Olympic Pin of the Day, Day 1
305476 Coca-Cola Olympic Pin of the Day, Day 2
305483 Coca-Cola Olympic Pin of the Day, Day 3
305490 Coca-Cola Olympic Pin of the Day, Day 4
305506 Coca-Cola Olympic Pin of the Day, Day 5
305513 Coca-Cola Olympic Pin of the Day, Day 6
305520 Coca-Cola Olympic Pin of the Day, Day 7
305537 Coca-Cola Olympic Pin of the Day, Day 8
305544 Coca-Cola Olympic Pin of the Day, Day 9
305551 Coca-Cola Olympic Pin of the Day, Day 10
305568 Coca-Cola Olympic Pin of the Day, Day 11
305575 Coca-Cola Olympic Pin of the Day, Day 12
305582 Coca-Cola Olympic Pin of the Day, Day 13
305599 Coca-Cola Olympic Pin of the Day, Day 14
305605 Coca-Cola Olympic Pin of the Day, Day 15
305612 Coca-Cola Olympic Pin of the Day, Day 16
305629 Coca-Cola Olympic Pin of the Day, Day 17
306138 Coca-Cola OTR Cardiff Pin
304745 Coca-Cola OTR Classic Pin
305278 Coca-Cola OTR Mascot Pin
304721 Coca-Cola OTR Slider Pin
305858 Coca-Cola OTR Vehicle Mini Beat Pin
306220 Coca-Cola Paralympic Pin of the Day, Day 1
306237 Coca-Cola Paralympic Pin of the Day, Day 2
306244 Coca-Cola Paralympic Pin of the Day, Day 3
306251 Coca-Cola Paralympic Pin of the Day, Day 4
306268 Coca-Cola Paralympic Pin of the Day, Day 5
306275 Coca-Cola Paralympic Pin of the Day, Day 6
306282 Coca-Cola Paralympic Pin of the Day, Day 7
306299 Coca-Cola Paralympic Pin of the Day, Day 8
306305 Coca-Cola Paralympic Pin of the Day, Day 9
306312 Coca-Cola Paralympic Pin of the Day, Day 10
306329 Coca-Cola Paralympic Pin of the Day, Day 11
306336 Coca-Cola Paralympic Pin of the Day, Day 12
304738 Coca-Cola Piccadilly Circus Pin
305162 Coca-Cola Polar Bear Pin
304882 Coca-Cola PTC Hyde Park Pin
304875 Coca-Cola PTC Olympic Park Pin
305384 Coca-Cola PTC Olympic Village Pin
305247 Coca-Cola Retro Bottle Carrier Pin
305230 Coca-Cola Retro Bottles Pin
305209 Coca-Cola Retro Drink Pin
305223 Coca-Cola Retro Go Refreshed Pin
304585 Coca-Cola Silver Bottle Cap Pin
305889 Coca-Cola Sport of the Day Pin, Day 1
305896 Coca-Cola Sport of the Day Pin, Day 2
305902 Coca-Cola Sport of the Day Pin, Day 3
305919 Coca-Cola Sport of the Day Pin, Day 4
305926 Coca-Cola Sport of the Day Pin, Day 5
305933 Coca-Cola Sport of the Day Pin, Day 6
305940 Coca-Cola Sport of the Day Pin, Day 7
305957 Coca-Cola Sport of the Day Pin, Day 8
305964 Coca-Cola Sport of the Day Pin, Day 9
305971 Coca-Cola Sport of the Day Pin, Day 10
305988 Coca-Cola Sport of the Day Pin, Day 11
305995 Coca-Cola Sport of the Day Pin, Day 12
306008 Coca-Cola Sport of the Day Pin, Day 13
306015 Coca-Cola Sport of the Day Pin, Day 14
306022 Coca-Cola Sport of the Day Pin, Day 15
306039 Coca-Cola Sport of the Day Pin, Day 16
306046 Coca-Cola Sport of the Day Pin, Day 17
304967 Coca-Cola Sports Equipment Pin - Badminton
304974 Coca-Cola Sports Equipment Pin - Basketball
304943 Coca-Cola Sports Equipment Pin - Diving
304998 Coca-Cola Sports Equipment Pin - Equestrian
304981 Coca-Cola Sports Equipment Pin - Fencing
304950 Coca-Cola Sports Equipment Pin - Football
304936 Coca-Cola Sports Equipment Pin - Gymnastics
305018 Coca-Cola Sports Equipment Pin - Swimming
305001 Coca-Cola Sports Equipment Pin - Tennis
304929 Coca-Cola Sports Equipment Pin - Weightlifting
305025 Coca-Cola Sports Graffiti Pin
304516 Coca-Cola Tower Bridge Pin
305261 Coca-Cola Tower of London Pin
305704 Coca-Cola Typically British Pin - Bulldog
305698 Coca-Cola Typically British Pin - Country House
305674 Coca-Cola Typically British Pin - Double Decker Bus
305667 Coca-Cola Typically British Pin - Gnomes
305728 Coca-Cola Typically British Pin - Letterbox
305650 Coca-Cola Typically British Pin - Queuing
305643 Coca-Cola Typically British Pin - Rain
305681 Coca-Cola Typically British Pin - Royal
305711 Coca-Cola Typically British Pin - Tea
305421 Coca-Cola UK Nations England Pin
305438 Coca-Cola UK Nations Northern Ireland Pin
305445 Coca-Cola UK Nations Wales Pin
304905 Coca-Cola Union Jack Big Ben Pin
304837 Coca-Cola Welcome to the Games Pin - Australia
304813 Coca-Cola Welcome to the Games Pin - Brazil
304806 Coca-Cola Welcome to the Games Pin - China
304752 Coca-Cola Welcome to the Games Pin - France
304769 Coca-Cola Welcome to the Games Pin - GB
304783 Coca-Cola Welcome to the Games Pin - Germany
304790 Coca-Cola Welcome to the Games Pin - Italy
304851 Coca-Cola Welcome to the Games Pin - Japan
304868 Coca-Cola Welcome to the Games Pin - Netherlands
304844 Coca-Cola Welcome to the Games Pin - Russia
304776 Coca-Cola Welcome to the Games Pin - Spain
304820 Coca-Cola Welcome to the Games Pin - USA
304530 Coca-Cola Westminster Abbey Pin

In addition, Gary from Tragars has also offered a free pin for those that attend the next pin meet in November. If you come to the next meet at the Railway Tavern, be sure to ask me for your freebie from Tragars

If you'd like to purchase a bundle of 50 or any individual pins, please contact Tragars at tragar@blueyonder.co.uk

8/9: Next Pin Meet - 9th November

Following on from the two trading events in the summer, I'm pleased to say that a number of people contacted me about arranging another pin meet before the year was out.

So, I've arranged for us to have another meet in November, here are the details...

Date: Saturday 9th November 2013
Time: 2.00pm - 6.00pm
Venue: The Railway Tavern, 131 Angel Lane, Stratford, E15 1DB
Cost: Free

Once again, Jan has let us use the pub free of charge, so please buy some food and drink while you're there.

As always, the invite goes out to regular pin traders as well as anyone who is just starting out collecting or swapping pins having caught the bug at the Games or perhaps the Anniversary Games in July.

There's no need to register to attend, just pop by and see if you can fill any gaps in your collections. If you haven't been to a meet before, then we'd love to meet you. Many of the 'first-timers' say how friendly the events are and most people come again.

If you want to email me - info@londonpins.co.uk to say your coming it will help me gauge numbers - but there's no obligation or register for freebies this time.

Look forward to seeing lots of you there.

12/8: National Paralympic Day at QEOP - 7th Sept

Thanks to a reader for pointing out that the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park (QEOP) and the Copper Box will be hosting 3 separate Paralympic sports events on Saturday 7th September.

Free tickets for the events are available  - click here.

I'm not sure what the potential for pin trading will be, but if anyone plans to go along and take their pins, feel free to leave a comment on this post to let others know.

You can read more about the event at insidethegames.

24/7: Pin Trading at the Anniversary Games

UPDATE 26/7: a busy day at the Olympic Park today. Lots of interest in the pin trading, but once again not many had brought their pins with them. 

Many of the visitors had a chat about pin collecting, and many plan to come again over the weekend. 

So, if you're coming tomorrow, come along and see us in the Spectators Village. 

This week sees athletics return to the Olympic Stadium and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Sainsbury's are hosting the Anniversary Games from Friday 26th until Sunday 28th July.

The organisers have provided a pin trading section in the Spectators' Village, and each day up to 6 pin traders will be there to swap pins with ticket holders.

The pin traders will be in the British Athletics Village marquee within the Spectators' Village. They will be adjacent to the British Athletics merchandise stand.

According to the British Athletics website, the doors open as follows...

4pm on Friday
11am on Saturday
12pm on Sunday

...each day, approximately 3 hours before the sport starts - plenty of time to try some pin trading!

So, if you have tickets to the event this weekend, bring your spare pins with you.

Unfortunately, if you don't have event tickets, then you will not be able to access the pin trading area.

Note, the British Athletics website and the OEQP website links above show different door times!