Name: Susan Shyluk

From: Canada

How long have you been collecting? 34 years

How many pins do you own? A pin book full, but there's still more room!

When I was a young girl my brother's teacher gave me a Misha mascot pin from the Moscow Olympics. I don't think she knew what she was starting! Since then I have collected mascot pins from each of the Summer and Winter Games.

In 2010 I became a total pinhead when the Games came to Vancouver! I joined the local pin club and made so many friends, and I even wrote an article about Olympic mascots for their newsletter.

I was very fortunate to get my hands on a very special, rare pin and became very popular at the club! It helped me trade for a wonderful first, limited Mukmuk pin. I love Mukmuk, and it is absolutely my favourite pin.

Name: Dalene Hutchinsen

From: Canada

How long have you been collecting? 2 years

How many pins do you own? 150

This may seem odd but when I first started collecting pins of the 2012 Olympics the first pin I managed to get was one from BT and I can still recall how excited I was. I have since got many more great looking pins but there is nothing like the first one.

June 6 - Some readers may have noticed a few pins appearing on eBay recently.

June 1 - For those of you collecting the pins of the Royal Mail Olympic stamps - good news! The final pin in the series, table tennis, has been released. 

Name: Sarah Poirier

From: Canada

How long have you been collecting? 3 years

How many pins do you own? 250+

I fell in love with the Olympics in 1994, when the Winter Games were in Lillehammer and I was 10 years old. Thirteen years later, I found myself living and working in Oslo. I was searching for a link.

I bought a few old 1994 Olympic pins. I bought a few more. I went to a flea market one day and a man was selling pins off of an old felted hat. I bought three.

I spent the rest of the week tossing and turning and waking in cold sweats and wondering what I would do if I went back the next week and there were no more. I panicked, I worried, I craved more. The next week, I went back and the man remembered me and he asked if I was back for more pins. I bought the entire hat full of them. It was still the best material purchase that I made the entire time I was in Norway.

I cradled it as if it were a baby, and I was hooked on pins. I will always owe it to my time spent in Norway and the magic of Lillehammer - to see the city and to stand there knowing that it once held the eyes of the world, but that it managed to remain tiny, small, humble, rural... that was what captivated me. And to know that even if I wasn't there, that there were artefacts of it that I could hold onto, ones which could become a part of me, that was enough to feel like a part of history.

Pin collecting is our link into the past, in some way, the only legacy of the Games. Pins transcend borders, people come from all over and converge on a place and then return home. And my favourite pin story will always be the way that man at the flea market on a street corner in Oslo remembered me, and the way he smiled when I said that I would take them all.

Name: Joerg Gardey

From: Canada

How long have you been collecting? 10 years

How many pins do you own? 2000

In 2010, I took a bus up to Whistler, BC, with two friends to greet the torch relay. Whistler was packed that day. All three of us had a day we will never forget. We made many memories that day. However one little girl will remember that special day, she became a pin collector.

We first met this 5-year-old & her mother at 10 am. She loved all the pins we had on our scarves. The 3 of us gave her 3 pins of her choice. Her mother was very grateful. The little girl was thrilled.

We again ran into them a little later, her mom had bought her some retail pins & added them to the 3 we had given her. An hour later we saw them again and now the girl had even more pins, given to her by other people, including some media, & sponsor pins.

Each time we saw them, this little girl had more pins on her scarf. By 8:00 that night we again saw them. This time her and her mom were doing a TV interview with a Japanese TV crew, and yes they gave her one of their much coveted pins.

At this point it had been a very long, exciting, special day, & this little girl's scarf was so full of pins, she could hardly stand because of the weight of all the pins she had be given. This all started because we gave her 3 pins that morning. Her mother thanked us, for making this such a fun, memorable day and for turning her into a pin collector.

Name: Emma Rowan

From: London

How long have you been collecting? 2 years

How many pins do you own? 8

Myself and my colleagues love pug dogs. We always take photos of pugs and have often compared pictures of pugs in funny situations.

We were out for dinner and our colleague said she had an announcement. She then produced four 2012 Honav pug pins, which we all put on and wore while we ate our dinner. We are the honorary 2012 pug team.

Thanks Honav for your dedication to making fantastic 2012 pin badges.

Name: Bill Onwusah

From: Leyton, London

How long have you been collecting? 3 1/2 years

How many pins do you own? 800

I suppose that it's a bit of a cliche, but my favourite relates to the very first pin that I collected because it wasn't really even mine at all. It actually belonged to my son who, when he was in year 6, he won a debate at school about whether we should host the Olympics.

His prize was to join something called the Construction Crew. Along with pupils from the host boroughs they were to witness the development of the Olympic site from its very early days.

Along the way, they met various famous people from Prime Ministers and London Mayors to Olympic gold medal holders like Jonathan Edwards and gold medal winners that were running the bid, and Lord Coe.

After one of the initial meetings they were given pins and what was that pin? It was the Builder's Hat, pin number ODA0001 that after much negotiation became my very first pin London Olympic pin.

Incidentally, he said that we should host the Olympics. 

Name: Kerstin Fletcher

From: Ipswich 

How long have you been collecting? Since the mid-1970's

How many pins do you own? Thousands... not counted!

I have many cherished pins that I have hotly traded for, long chased after, or that were given to me by dear friends. But oddly enough, the pin in my collection with the greatest amount of sentimental meaning attached to it is actually a shop-bought pin I only acquired a few weeks ago.

It is the London 2012 souvenir pin of the Upper Case Alphabet series, letter "K". That happens to be my own initial; however it is also the initial of Ken, my partner's brother, who very suddenly and heartbreakingly passed away last year.

Ken was one of the most special people I ever knew: a surgeon at Newcastle Hospital, who saved and improved the lives of countless people; a cheerful and thoughtful friend who'd go out of his way to help; and a much loved family man. He was much into sport, especially football, and one of my final memories of him is of us enjoying a game of football together at St. James's Park in Newcastle (which is of course one of the Olympic venues).

Now when we go to see some Olympic football later this year, no doubt something he too would have liked, I shall be wearing my "K" badge on the day in memory of Ken.

Name: Colin Wills

From: Nottingham

How long have you been collecting? 30 years

How many pins do you own? Very few - given them away!

Many years ago, I was a Head of Delegation with the British Handball Association Women's squad in Portugal. In those days we were very naive about swapping gifts etc and at the Civic Reception, we had no gifts to give.

The coach took me to one side and covertly removed my BHA pin badge from my jacket and we gave this as our 'gift' to the hosting mayor - VERY embarrassing.

Today, as I travel as a European official and receive many pins as I visit clubs and nations, I will always look to give them to others when I return.

Name: Trudi Harmon

From: Bournemouth

How long have you been collecting? approx 6 months

How many pins do you own? approx 300

Dare I admit that I have become a bit of a pin head - well I think the answer to that is going to have to be a big fat yes.

It started harmlessly just visiting the London 2012 shop to buy a few pins for my son for Christmas to go with some of his other pins that he has collected over the years as a gift from Santa Mum.

To my surprise I thought they looked rather nice and took a bit of a shine to them. The decorations came down and the stocking put away and some opened presents were left under the tree. So I picked up the two box sets (mascot, guards and police) and told my son I would look after them and keep them safe for him.

I must admit these were my favourite when trawling through the website hence why I purchased them. I forgot about them for a time and I received an email from London 2012 about some new products on their website and that's when that little button got switched on.

The more I ordered the more I wanted. The more I wanted the more research I did. The more research I did I realised there was more to this pin collecting than just buying the odd pins that took my fancy. The wealth of information was huge and I was like a sponge wanting to find out more and more. I did not just have to buy official pins from London 2012 there were actually other places to buy them from and they were not fake.

But there were so many I thought this was mad, where do I begin? Was I about to enter the pinhead world and read all the latest news about new pins and where to get those sought after ones from? The answer I find myself saying is yes!

I knew I would not be able to get to the Games as my disability wouldn't allow me to so swapping wasn't an option and so retail pin sets were for me. I love choosing the next set I want to buy and the buzz of trying to find a complete set especially as I am rather slow on the uptake of pin buying, most have already sold out by the time I got the bug, so the search is much harder but so much more fun.

My favourite pin keeps changing with each set I have purchased...mascot guards to full English breakfast and Union Jack mascots,, Christmas set and then the nature pins. But my all time favourite has to be Wenlock Torch Relay, it is so cute. No doubt this will change with all the new pins that seem to come out daily at the moment. Too many to choose from and too many to buy... and a bank balance dwindling fast! I have just seen at the start of this page that fab pin trading hat I want one please. But shhshh got to go back to mum world again now.

Name: Bernie Straus

From: New York, USA
 
How long have you been collecting? 10 years

How many pins do you own? over 500

I had been sent a ABC TV 1980 Lake Placid pin along with other Olympic pins from a 3rd party broadcaster vendor in 2003. Enclosed was a letter which mentioned the pins by name, except the ABC TV pin.

I had seen earlier a newsletter which had priced the ABC TV pin at $90.00 US dollars. I remember this & thought that maybe the person (admin asst) had sent the pin by mistake.

As the letter didn't mention the ABC TV pin, I wrote back & placed the ABC pin inside the envelope & mentioned about the price as I had seen in the newsletter. (Also ABC did stop broadcasting the Games as they had been doing for many Olympics. It didn't look as though ABC would try to bid again). Maybe this pin was sent by error.

I then received a letter from the admin asst where she "thanked" me for being honest. The ABC TV pin was not enclosed in the envelope only the "thank you" letter was. I'm still very glad I did mail back this pin.

If you remember I did receive from the first letter several other Olympic pins.

Name: Noel Nineham

From: Purley, Surrey 

How long have you been collecting? All my life (40 plus years)

How many pins do you own? must run into around 1000 maybe more

My favourite 2012 pin must be the first time that the 2012 Logo was produced in the Union Jack Form. Before hand like a lot of people I found the colours and the design hard to understand. The Logo was confusing and the pink orange blue and green said little about London or the Olympics...but when I saw the first poster showing the Logo in its Union Jack colours I remember thinking THAT WORKS !

Although it was some months later that the first Union Jack pin went on sale to the public I knew I had to have it. This is one of the pins I used to wear at work and over the years as the Olympics came nearer and nearer it started to mean more and more to people.

There are lots of nice pins issued by Honav in the run up to the Games, but I think that the 2012 in the red white and blue of the Union Jack is a classic. Further versions have been produced as I believe the First Run Issue has since run out, but in any form this is the pin that will always be remembered by me and by others as the iconic Version of the 2012 LOGO.

Name: Andree Bollin

From: Germany

How long have you been collecting? 20 years

How many pins do you own? 1000

I collect Olympic bid pins and years ago I saw a special Chicago 2016 pin on eBay but I missed the end of the auction as I was in hospital.

As I had never seen this pin before I was very frustrated, because the auction price was very cheap.

Three weeks later a pin collector friend of mine phoned me up, and we were talking for a while and I told him about the pin. He laughed and said "I bought the pin!" As he knew that I collect 2016 pins, he told him, "I sent you the pin as a present for free!" - What a joy!

So now to end of the story of why this pin is a special pin for me, the collector friend died in China at the Expo 2010. So this pin is always a little reminder at my collector friend – 'the Pin doctor'.

Name: Mark Blissett

From: Coventry

How long have you been collecting? 4 years

How many pins do you own? 471

One Friday morning I was sat at home and happened to have a Friday off work - not very often I might add. I checked my email at approx 10.30am and I had an email from a guy called Richard at Lloyds bank in Westfield Stratford City, London, stating that on a first come first served basis they would be offering a limited edition set of pins limited to 250 sets.

I immediately booked a train online to London - I might add I live in Coventry. I managed to get a train within the hour to London and thought, great I will get to London in plenty of time before the bank shuts at 5pm.

I was sat on the train and about 2 miles in to my journey at Hemel Hempstead station I found out that the train had come to a standstill and I was sat there for over two hours. It turns out there had been a fatality on the tracks ahead, I thought I was never going to make it to London!

The Gods were on my side as I eventually made it into Euston at 4.10pm it was now a mad dash from Euston to Stratford but I made it with 10 minutes to spare, I was so happy and when I was given the pins in an envelope I was totally overjoyed! I didn't get home till 9.40pm that evening because I had an off-peak ticket but it was an adventure I will remember long after the Olympics and Paralympics.