Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Pin trading ... Salt Lake Style

Pin trading ... what's all the fuss ??

Keith McCord, KSL-TV
February 16, 2002
Salt Lake City


Olympic pins first showed up at the Los Angeles Games in 1984. Since then, they've become an obsession for people all over the world.

Keith McCord decided to hit the streets, to see what all the fuss is about!

McCord says, "I've had these pins in my desk for several years. I don't know whether they're worth anything or very popular, so we thought we'd come over to the pin trading booth to see how it goes."

The pin booth is on South Temple across from the Delta Center, and any time of the day or night it's jammed with people and pins.

We wandered in with our meager selection.

A guy from California has been trading pins since the 1984 games. He actually liked one that I had! It was the America's Opening pin.

In exchange, we took an old Salt Lake bid pin and headed down the aisle where we ran into a guy from Toronto who calls himself "The Pin Man".

He has about 50-thousand of them -- really! And he brought bags and bags and bags of them here to trade with other pin enthusiasts.

Fair warning here, if the pin trading bug bites you, it will sometimes get overwhelming. It's like a kid in a candy store.

It's hard to decide which ones to trade for. The "Pin Man" is slick. He told me the pins I had were "terrible."

"This arrowhead is a big sculpture down at the end of the block. It's a terrible pin, sir, terrible. What do you want for it?" he asked.

One thing I learned in my first pin trading adventure, is that you'd better not get attached to your pins, because, well, sometimes, you won't keep them for very long.

I will say this... it's easy to get caught up in all this. With thousands of people clamoring for hundreds of thousands of pins, how can you NOT? And, as with all pin trades, the final part of the transaction is a handshake!

It doesn't matter whether you own one pin, or a thousand, just get in there and start trading!

If you have the patience to battle throngs of people, you can have a good time and make some pretty good trades, too. We did pretty well.

Click here to view the video

Monday, September 17, 2007

Biathlete Coin

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: 25-cent Olympic biathlete coin

Trade value: Depends on type of coin


History: For more than 240 years, men and women have been trying to prove they could ski and shoot better than their neighbours. The first recorded instance of a biathlon race was in 1767 between Sweden and Norway, and the game has not changed all that much.

The sport was introduced to the first Olympic Winter Games in 1924 in Chamonix, France, and remained on the program until the 1948 Games in St. Moritz. It was brought back 12 years later at Squaw Valley, and has remained on the Olympic program ever since.

On Sept. 12, the Royal Canadian Mint unveiled the fourth coin in its stable of 17 coins celebrating the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games. This one, on a 25-cent coin, depicts the sport of biathlon. Glenn Green of Vancouver designed the side depicting a biathlete. Susanna Blunt designed the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the other side.

Up to 22 million of the coins will go into circulation through RBC Royal Bank and Petro-Canada, which will sell biathlon sports cards. A sterling coin collector version designed by Bonnie Ross of Nova Scotia will sell for $69.95.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

8th Olympic Collectors’ Fair

The 8th Winter Olympic Collectors’ Fair in Hamar, Norway

If you are passionate about the Olympic Winter Games or if you are looking for a particular object, don’t miss the 8th International Winter Olympic Collectors’ Fair in the Norwegian city of Hamar on 26, 27 and 28 October 2007.

On the first day, the Fair will offer an internal market, especially for collectors, while on the following two days, the Fair will be open to the public.

This Fair will be held in the Hamar Olympic Hall, Vikingskipet (the viking ship), site of the speedskating events during the 1994 Lillehammer Olympic Winter Games. Limited pins, made especially for the Fair, will be sold.

Organised by the Oslo Pin Club, in conjunction with the annual Used and Antiques Fair for Collectors, and in close cooperation with the International Olympic Memorabilia Federation (FIMO), this Fair is a unique opportunity for collectors from across the world to exchange, buy, sell, compare and complete collections of pins, mascots, torches, stamps, coins, medals, posters, post cards and any other object bearing the Olympic Rings.

Learn more about the Fair on: www.oslopinclub.org/english

Friday, September 7, 2007

Olympic enthusiasm building

Here's a pin trading memory from the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games ... enjoy the read, and be sure to watch the video clip too.

Olympic enthusiasm building

November 4, 2001
KSL Television Coverage
Click here to view video


Park City now boasts a new Olympic attraction — a full-time pin trading center, set up in a park.

The center was dedicated during a party to mark the 100 day countdown on Thursday night. News Specialist Nadine Wimmer reports it's apparent that enthusiasm is starting to build.

"I'm getting really excited, because we have some tickets to some of the shows — the events — and I'm really excited to go see them," said Park City resident Mallory Doughtery.

"I think it's finally starting to hit home to everybody that there's a lot to deal with," David Dowie added.

"(I) get a little quiver every now and then and go, 'Oh, this is kind of cool,'" another resident said.

Park City opened a pin trading center where poeple can take part in an unofficial Olympic event. Getting the right pin can be tricky.

Then, Olympic athletes did a little cheerleading.

"It doesn't matter if you're a competitor, spectator, part of the media. There's no event like it. I don't even think the Superbowl can compare," said three-time Olympic athlete Heidi Volcker.

But as signs of the games become more obvious, anticipation is building on its own.

Talking to people in Park City, the one thing they still want is snow!

Monday, September 3, 2007

Berne Switzerland 2010 Bid Pins

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: Berne, Switzerland, bid pins

Trade value: $30 to $50


History: On Sept. 27, 2002, the Swiss Olympic Association withdrew from the race for the 2010 Winter Games. It was an end to a troubled candidacy, one that had started out almost a year before.

With a lukewarm endorsement from association members, they voted 145 to 121 to support the country's third consecutive bid for the Winter Olympics. Switzerland made it to a final four, including Vancouver, Pyeongchang in South Korea and Salzburg, Austria. But voters around Berne dealt a killing blow when they rejected the cost of funding the event.

In the short life of the bid, organizers produced at least five different pins. The first two were of a Swiss flag with Olympic colours. The other three were of a dancing bear wearing sunglasses.

Craig Perlow of Olympian Artifacts says about 5,000 pins were made of one of the flag varieties. It is unknown how many were made of the others. However, all are considered scarce because, when the bid was withdrawn, the remaining pins were destroyed.

Perlow estimates that flag pins run about $30 US, with bear pins closer to $50 US.