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Published: January 25th 2010
Vancouver 2010 Coca-Cola Pin Trading Centre
Located on the corner of Granville & West Georgia Street at the Olympic Superstore.
Photo taken at 30 Days-to-Go Celebrations when the 30 Days-to-Go Coca-Cola Vancouver 2010 pin was unveilled!Travelling Canucks Hooked on Olympic Pin Trading
Did you know that the Official Spectator Sport for the Olympic Games is Pin Trading? Or, that guys that are pin traders are called Pinheads and girls are called Pin-ups? Well, the Travelling Canucks had no idea until we toured the Coca-Cola Pin Trading Centre at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Superstore at the Hudson's Bay on Granville & Georgia Street in early January.
Mama Canuck has enjoyed chatting with pin traders about their collections and their passion for pin trading. While some pin traders have just started their collections, there are some pin traders with tens of thousands of pins collected over 40 years, and pin traders that have attended Olympic Games for over 20 years and travelled to collect and trade pins at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games.
To our astonishment, there are International Rules of Olympic Pin Trading for collectors, traders, and spectators to follow. Fortunately, Papa Canuck is a former hockey card, coin, and stamp trader, so he is well versed in the finer points of trading. Conversely, Mama Canuck is a pin trader-in-training! Having never traded a pin, she was surprised to learn that wearing a pin means
Coca-Cola Pin Wall
Papa Canuck hanging out at the Olympic Superstore! that you are a collector and wearing two or more pins means that you are a trader. Now, Mama Canuck will never wear a pin vest, scarf, or hat, but when her lanyard became too short to add more pins, she reluctantly bought a Vancouver 2010 pin bag! Needless to say, the Travelling Canucks plan on leaving their pin bag at home since we prefer to fly below the radar, while "Professional" pin traders wear their pins on vests, scarves, and hats and carry their pin bags everywhere so you can spot them in a crowd!
Olympic Pin Trading Rules:
• Get informed before buying, selling, and trading pins. With Internet access at your fingertips, it's easy to find out a pin’s origin, quantity produced, and date of issue.
• Only wear pins that are traders. If you choose to wear non-traders, be upfront!
• Pass on your knowledge and learn from other pin traders.
• Tell pin traders and friends what kind of pins you collect so they can help you in your search.
• Patience is key. If it is a fair trade, go for it! Otherwise, wait until the time is right!
• Begging for pins is frowned upon.
• Don't interrupt a
Vancouver 2010 Pin Wall
Picking and choosing from 100s of Vancouver 2010 pins! Decisions, decisions. decisions.... trade.
• Counterfeit pins are not only sold online, buy also traded. Discard counterfeit pins if they appear in your collection!
• Thank the trader at the end of your pin swap.
• Collect pins for fun, not for the market value of the pins.
History of Olympic Pin Trading
Trading at the Olympic Games dates back to 1896 when, at the first modern Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, Olympic Games athletes, officials, and media traded colourful identification badges. After the first official souvenir pin was retailed at the Stockholm Games in 1912, Olympic pin trading became an Olympic Games ritual. During the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Games, pin trading, once a sub-culture, became a mainstream phenomenon and the term "pinheads" was coined. The first Coca-Cola Official Pin Trading Center was established at the 1988 Calgary Olympic Winter Games where 17,000 visitors toured the center daily.
Laurie Artiss Ltd., pin supplier to the Canadian Olympic Committee for the past 23 years, was the pin maker for the 1988 Calgary Winter Games. For the 2010 Winter Games, Laurie Artiss partnered with US-based, Aminco, Olympic pin maker since the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games, to become VANOC's Official Pin Supplier.
Although Vancouver 2010
Vancouver 2010 Pins
Travelling Canucks' collection of pins for Olympic events we have tickets for - Men's and Women's Hockey, Speed Skating, and Figure Skating pins!
Favorite pin: Commemorating Canada's Olympic Games: Montreal 1976, Calgary 1988 and Vancouver 2010. pin trading officially kicked off on January 2, 2010 at the Coca-Cola Trading Centre at the Olympic Superstore, Vancouver 2010 pin collecting and trading has been going strong since Vancouver first launched the bid over 7 years ago. The 28th Annual Olympin Collectors Show, hosted by the Pacific Pin Club, was held at the Richmond Olympic Oval in August 2009. Check out the website of the
Pacific Pin Club for Olympic pin trading events and news before, during and after the Games.
Olympic Pins Galore!
With over 500 pin designs for retail sale and an estimated 500 different corporate sponsor pins, Artiss Aminco is expected to produce 15 million pins for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic pin market. Visitors, athletes, sports organizations, governments, and national and foreign media will bring pins from across Canada and from all over the world to trade. Here are the different types of pins that pin traders will have to choose from:
• Cultural commemorative pins honour the host city’s local flavour and its famous sites.
• Logo or emblem pins depict the official symbol or images chosen by an Organizing Committee for its Games.
• Historical commemorative pins celebrate past Olympic Games icons and events.
• Unofficial commemorative
Media Pins
NBC Vancouver 2010 and Opening Ceremony Pins - Some of Mama Canuck's favourite pins ! pins, issued by organizations in the host country, usually are unlicensed so they carry no Olympic symbols or words.
• Countdown pins, aka milestone pins, mark the number of days left before an Opening Ceremony.
• Venue pins depict the locations of competitions.
• Bridge pins combine logos or mascots of two consecutive Games.
• Mascot pins feature the Games mascot(s).
• Pictogram pins show the symbolic representations of the Games sports.
• Bid pins are issued by the organizing committee of a prospective host city. Bid pins usually do not have Olympic rings and often logo designs change after a city has been awarded the Games.
• National Olympic Committee (NOC) pins, such as the Canadian Olympic Committee, are either dated with identifiable logos, mascots, host-city names, or Roman numerals specific to an Olympic Games, or generic, undated, and often the same design at consecutive Games.
• The International Olympic Committee(IOC) pins are issued during its sessions and special events.
• Sponsor pins, also called corporate or supplier pins, are distributed by Worldwide Olympic Partners, National Partners, Official Supporters and Official Suppliers. Series of sponsor pins from a single company, such as The Coca-Cola Company, can form the basis of an entire collection. VIP/Guest pins, given by sponsors
Check out the pin collectors' collections!
Learn from the experts! Pin Traders at the Coca-Cola Pin Trading Centre are only permitted to trade their pins. to top executives, guests and clients, admit wearers to special functions and confer other perks. Nice to have, hard to get!
• Sport/Team pins are issued by International Sports Federations, National Governing Bodies, and National Olympic Committees. Some of these pins have sponsor logos. Some pins don’t bear the Olympic rings since they are produced for non-Olympic competitions. Collectors may only collect by sport or by country.
• Media pins, issued by newspapers, magazines, TV networks, radio networks, and wire services covering the Games, feature their name or logo. Collectors may only collect print pins, broadcast pins, national media or foreign media.
Vancouver 2010 Pin Trading
Pin trading is as fun to watch, as it is to participate in; however, pin trading can be much more expensive! Mama Canuck warns potential pin traders not to start! For pinheads and pin-ups that will be attending the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games, there are three Coca-Cola Pin Trading Centres located at:
• The Olympic Superstore (Opening Day: January 2, 2010)
• The Vancouver International Airport (Opening Day: February 8th)
• The atrium of CTV Network Studios at Burrard and Robson Street (Opening Day: TBA).
The atrium of CTV Network Studios has been a pinhead and pin-up
Papa Canuck Waiting it Out!
CTV Pin Catch-Up Event on Thursday, January 21st! magnet over the past year. Vancouver 2010 Commemorative Collectable Pins from CTV, Canada's Olympic Network, consists of a set of eight pins: One year to go pin, Snowboard, Bobsleigh, Speed Skating, Curling, and Hockey, with the Figure Skating and the Vancouver 2010 Games pins yet to be released! Although the first pin was released one year before the opening ceremony of the Vancouver 2010 Games, it was not until the catch up event on Thursday, January 21st when hundreds of people waited hours in line to collect two pins per person out of the six pins that have already been distributed over the past year, did the Travelling Canucks line up for pins! And, it probably won't be the last!
These pin trading centres only permit trades, no sales are allowed. Unofficial pin trading and sales will take place in the athletes' villages (Vancouver and Whistler), around Olympic venues, at celebration and pavilion sites, near international media centres, on transit, in retail stores, bars and restaurants, and on the streets of downtown Vancouver and the Whistler town centre. Although it's easier and more fun to collect and trade pins in person, you can buy, trade and learn about Olympic
pin trading on the Internet with the stroke of a key and the click of a mouse.
Update: Pin trading active at bottom of Burrard Street at the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre and at Robson Square on Hornby Street. Line-ups for the Olympic Superstore are lengthy with over 10,000 shoppers per day.
Travelling Canucks Pin Trading Tips: • Trade your pin for a Coca-Cola pin at the Pin Trading Centre located at the Olympic Superstore.
• Put your name in the Coca-Cola pin draws at the Coca-Cola Pin Trading Centres. Mama Canuck has already won five Coca-Cola pins:Three 2006 Torino Winter Games pins, one 2008 Beijing Summer Games pin, and a 75th Anniversary Coca-Cola pin.
• Find out from pin traders which corporate sponsors and government entities are distributing pins.
• Ask family, friends, and co-workers to tap into their networks. Governments, organizations, and businesses have distributed pins to business partners, contacts, and employees. Remember, a non-pinhead would be happy to give his pin away for a cup of coffee!
• Tour pavilions and hospitality houses during the Winter Games where pins will be distributed or traded.
• Buy cheap traders and use when any pin will do!
• Whenever possible, always request two
Mama Canuck Gets Pinned!
She ain't no Pin-Up!
Check out the art installations on Granville Street, between West Georgia and Robson Street, called Lunarfest. pins - one as a keeper and one as a trader!
• Consider picking a category of pins to collect, instead of collecting everything!
• Collect pins featuring multiple elements: Countdown, sponsor and mascot pin traders will all be interested in trading for a countdown sponsor pin featuring a mascot.
• Beware of buying and trading online since the condition and authenticity can be difficult to ascertain.
• Beware: prices are high when demand is high during the Games. After the Games, interest in most pins drop and so do the prices!
• Collect pins for the fun of it and keep within your budget!
So, consider jumping on the pin trading bandwagon with us as we are looking forward to meeting visitors, media, and athletes from across Canada and around the world! It is no wonder that pin trading is so popular - it is not only an icebreaker, it helps to overcome language and cultural barriers!
Finally, Pin Trading is Highly Addictive,
so the Travelling Canucks will be searching for a support group, but not until the Vancouver 2010 Olympics are over! After all, a 12-Step Program is not the answer to a pin trading addiction since pins are given to mark milestones.
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Cynthia Brann
non-member comment
Wonderful article!
Wish I could join you all in Vancouver. As you are the "Traveling Canucks", please come join us here in Atlanta, Georgia USA after the Games! Best wishes for a Wonderful and Successful Games. :)