My Favourite Pin Story

Name: Trevor Moss

From: Hartley, Longfield

How long have you been collecting? 10 years

How many pins do you own? 200

I was travelling on the London Underground during the Paralympic Games on my way to the London Coca-Cola Pin Trading centre in Hyde Park.

The tube was very crowded and I spotted three US Paralympians in their country tracksuits further down the carriage. I searched in my bag and found a 2012 USA flag logo pin and nudged the guy next to me, who in turn nudged his neighbour, who then brought the athletes attention to me.

Once I had their attention I held up the pin and gestured "do you want to trade?" passing them the pin. They gave the thumbs up and passed back a beautiful USA Team Hartford Foundation pin. They asked across the crowd where was I getting off? And they too were alighting at Green Park station.

We then traded 3 pins on the platform of Green Park. Very special pins to me that are to keep and not to trade.

Name: Alexander Townsend

From: St Albans

How long have you been collecting? Since London 2012 Olympics

How many pins do you own? 11


My favourite time was when I asked John Register, a Paralympian if he had any pins to trade. Instead of that, he placed the medal he won at the Sydney Games round my neck and I had my photo taken with him.

He made me feel very special and it was nice how he took the time to talk to me.

Name: Claire Thorn

From: Sutton Coldfield

How long have you been collecting? 2 years

How many pins do you own? 20

I was a Games Maker on the modern pentathlon team. On the day before the men's competition they were training over at Greenwich Park. The Ukrainian athlete wanted to return to the Athletes Village prior to the shuttle bus and so as I was going that way I escorted him and his coach via tube to the Village.

It was great to chat during the journey and they were very grateful. When we got back to the Village I was handed a Ukrainian Olympic modern pentathlon pin badge. One which I will treasure forever.

Name: Charlotte Elton

From: London

How long have you been collecting? 1 year

How many pins do you own? 45

Besides the Mo-bot that has driven the country bananas, pin trading has to be the non-athletic highlight of my Olympic experience. Working at the Olympic Tennis Event at Wimbledon, I had supplies of tennis pins to make the continent of Africa happy. Seeing pin collections of Laura Robson and Serena Williams grow by the minute I, too, became slightly obsessed to commence a collection of my own, to put it mildly.

Being in daily contact with players of all participating tennis countries, the number grew steadily starting with a Croatia pin, followed by Israel, Serbia, and Brazil. Initially I was the laughing stock of my team but before you could say Andy's your uncle, my manager was competing alongside us to be the proud owner of the most exotic and unique country pins shining from her lanyard. It became a serious business, the fun had long gone.

We no longer made eye-contact; our eyes were cast purely on the lanyard and the golden treasures dangling of it.

My two pin-exchanging highlights were:
1) A 20-minute hard bargaining session with Venus Williams which boiled down to trading my Moscow 1980's pin for her Moldova pin and my stunning colourful Slovakia pin for her exotic unique Puerto Rico pin. It was tough but we both managed to let go.

2) The most glorious and exclusive pin in tennis would be Roger Federer's own pin (RF) of which only about 60 exist. Whoever had one of those pinned to their lanyard was considered as holy. 'How on earth...' would not be an unusual reaction after spotting an RF pin on a mere mortal's lanyard. After a week of sweat, blood and tears, Roger's agent magically agreed to swap an RF for my Angola pin. Thank you dearly Mr Angola-man that I passed (and stopped) in the hallway of the Royal Box at Wimbledon, your pin may have just giving me the ultimate golden pin status.

Name: Anthony Townsend

From: St Albans

How long have you been collected? Since London Olympics

How many pins do you own? Approx 400

I never realised that this craze existed before the London 2012 Olympics. It has been starring me in the face every time I have visited St Albans market. John and Dan from Pins and Things have been selling me toys for my kids for years from Star Wars figures to football cards. I saw their pin badges but thought no more of it.

Then it all changed with our first visit to the Olympics to see the basketball. We came across the Coca-Cola Pin Trading Centre. We talked to a couple of guys inside and they opened our eyes. Imagine, one had even traded a pin with a US president! What sealed my fate was a tap on the shoulder outside. "Didn't we go to the same school?" I bumped into someone who went to the same school as me who turned out to be an Official Pin trader.

That day and our next six visits included some fantastic conversations with people from all over the world including athletes, Games Makers, staff and visitors about all sorts of things. What brought us together was a mutual liking of the Olympics and pin badges. It gave my kids the confidence to approach others to exchange pins and showed us all the generosity and excitement of people at the Games and of the Olympic Movement. The universal language of pins shows no boundaries.

I think my favourite moment was when we bumped in to a group of Spanish Paralympians who showered the kids with Starfish Pins. Their delight when we insisted that they take pins off our lanyards in exchange beamed over their faces. I will remember every single exchange for the rest of my life.

Name: Alan Perry

From: Eden Prairie, MN

How long have you been collecting? 18 years

How many pins do you own? 2000+

My wife and I were attending the men's single's gold medal tennis match on Centre Court at Wimbledon. During a break, I hurried down to the men's restroom so not to miss any of the tennis action. To my dismay, there was a long line extending out from the men's restroom entrance. Mumbling to myself, I got into the line and waited. As we slowly marched forward, I casually noticed the man behind me was wearing a shirt and badge with the NBC-TV (US) logo on it. Being a pin enthusiast and knowing NBC was the US broadcaster, I asked him if, by any chance, he had any pins to trade.

"Sorry, I don't have any to trade," he said, as I noticed he wasn't wearing any pins. As I was about to politely thank him anyway, he said, "But I do have one that I'll give you."

Expecting to see a generic NBC pin, he surprised me when he pulled a large, colourful pin out of his pocket. It was a beautiful pin of the London Bridge with a double-decker bus that moved from one end of the bridge to the other along a slide, and, of course, the NBC logo and Olympic rings. I told him it was a fantastic pin! He beamed with pride and in the midst of a large smile said, "Thank you...I designed it!"

So, here I was... at Wimbledon... near Centre Court... during the London Olympics... watching the men's single's gold medal game..., receiving a free NBC Olympic pin... from the very person who had designed it... What could be better!

Name: Becky Edwards

From: Surrey

How long have you been collecting? 6 months

How many pins do you own? 35

On route to the Olympic Park to watch the men's 200m final and proudly wearing my entire pin collection, I was lucky enough to run into one of the official Torchbearer and his Olympic Torch!

He being very interested in acquiring one of my pins but not having any to trade, offered me an alternative - to swap a pin in return for a picture with the Torch! As you'll see from the picture, I was over the moon! Clearly my most savvy pin trade to date.

Name: Albert Summers

From: Weston super Mare

How long have you been collecting? Since July 2012

How many pins do you own? About 30

I was a volunteer meeting and greeting at Heathrow. A Swedish diver and his coach came through arrivals and needed some help. I stepped in and helped the best I could, well I guess I must have done something right as the coach said I must give you something for your help. I said to him that it was a pleasure and there was no need to do anything like that. He said that he had some team pins in his bag and that he would like me to have one. I said thank you and that would be great to have a pin from him. That is when the fun really started.

First of all he opened his rucksack and started looking through everything in there, but was unable to find the pins. He then got the diver to go through his things and still they could not find them. I wanted to make sure they got off to the Olympic Village stress free, so I said not to worry, but thank you for the gesture. The coach was insistent and said he really wanted me to have a pin and I did not want to argue so let him continue. Then all of a sudden he opened up his holdall and started to take everything out, it was full of Team Sweden Male diving trunks and other equipment, before I knew it they were all over the floor in the arrivals hall. I was very embarrassed by this time and tried again to say, look everything was ok they needed to get to the village and I did not really need to be given anything for helping them.

Then the coach suddenly pulled out this small plastic bag that had been right in the corner of his holdall. In it were lots of Team Sweden London 2012 pins. With a big smile he pulled a pin out of the bag and gave it to me. I was of course delighted, but still said to him that I needed to get him to his transport to the Olympic Village. He just threw everything back into his holdall and we rushed over to the waiting coach. I said a big thank you and wished both of them good luck.

The pin was given to me with such meaning and feeling, that it is something I will remember and treasure forever. It also kicked off an interest in pin collecting, but I doubt any pin will ever mean as much to me.