'Celebration of Canada' Pin

The Vancouver Sun runs a sidebar in its Road to 2010 weekly feature called Collectors' Corner ... and it seems tailor-made for this blog. Enjoy.

What: "Celebration of Canada" government 2010 pin.

Trade value: $50 for the gold one, $50 for the misprint, $30 for the regular.

History: In March 2003, the International Olympic Committee's 2010 Evaluation Commission was in town to test-drive Vancouver's bid, and was invited to a gala to showcase Canada's culture.

For the event the federal government contracted with Laurie Artiss Ltd. of Regina to produce a limited number of pins encompassing the 2010 bid logo with the famous government logo of a flag flying off the D in the word Canada.

Only 1,000 gold-coloured pins were made for guests and officials. A larger distribution of enamel-coloured pins was produced. There is also a rare misprinted colour pin, with one red leaf instead of two. About 20 copies of this pin are known to exist.