Jaca 2010 bid 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: Jaca 2010 Bid Pin

Value: $25

In the history of Winter Olympic bids, tiny Jaca, Spain, is almost in a category of its own. Four times it has bid for the Olympics, and four times it has failed. Like the little engine that could, the small city on the edge of the Pyrenees Mountains has always thought it could host the Games.

The International Olympic Committee has always thought otherwise, to the point that Jaca, which is on a triangle between Pamplona and Zaragoza, has never made it to a short list. It bid for the 1998, 2002, 2010, and most recently 2014 Games.

In 2010, it was knocked out early in the bid. Vancouver, as we know, went on to the finals with two others, Salzburg and Pyongyang, both of whom also re-bid in 2014.

Jaca isn't without ability to host major events; it hosted the 1981 and 1995 Winter Universiades, and in February the European Youth Olympic Festival.

For the 2010 bid, Jaca organizers produced one ski-shaped pin in three different shades of blue. They are scarce but can be found on auction sites or at pin trading clubs from time to time.