The history of Olympic pins originated in Athens at the 1896 Summer Olympic Games. There were three different pins-badges produced at the first modern games. More specifically they were badges made only for Judges, athletes and officials. They were a little more than small circular card board badge with a ribbon. The badges were not traded because their primary function was that of an identity badge. Only one of each was given per recipient and was specific to the bearer. The first real metal badge was first created at the 1900 Olympiad in Paris.
The first National Olympic Committee Team pin (NOC Pin) is up for debate. Some experts say that France produced the first NOC pin in 1900 for the Paris games of that same year. Others say that it was Sweden who produced them for their athletes to wear and trade in the Intercalated games of Athens in 1906. Canada’s first Olympic NOC pin was produced for the 1908 Games in London. There were three pins produced. The same pin was struck in gold, sliver and bronze.
The first Olympic souvenir pin produced for spectators was a beautiful pure silver stick pin for the 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games.
After the first world with economies strengthening the renaissance of pins, if you will, emerged. During the 1924 Olympics in Paris most if not all NOC in attendance had produced pins in one form or another. They were produced in the finest and elaborate detail. Some were produced in precious metal.
The depression years saw the momentum and evolution of pin production, design and diminish but that would change rather rapidly with the advent of the 1936 Olympics and the Nazi propaganda machine in full swing. Millions of souvenir pins were produced for the Garmisch-Partenkirchen and subsequent Berlin Olympiads.
During the forty’s through to the early to mid sixty’s everything remained pretty much status quo for the most part with the exception of one major new player, the corporate pin. The first corporate pin that I ever heard of was produced by IBM for the 1964 Olympiad in Tokyo.
The first games that had any substantial trading going on between the general public and pin enthusiast was the games in 1976 Montreal were people were congregating around the main stadium (The Big “O”) and trading well into the night. I was one of them at the age of 14.
Many collectors would say that the Golden age of pin collecting as we know it know started in 1980 Lake Placid but is was rather the 1984 Games in Los Angeles were pin trading took off. The Budweiser Tent just outside of the main coliseum in LA was where the craze got its momentum and hasn’t looked back.
Probably the most significant boost to the hobby occurred in Calgary when Coca Cola opened and managed the first ever Coca Cola Pin trading area. It was designed specifically with pin trading and hobbyists in mind. The tent/area opened its doors at 9:00 AM and didn’t shut its doors until 11:00 PM if memory serves. There was nothing like it. People were lining up outside every day waiting for the doors to open so they could meet like-minded individuals with pins on the brain. It was the first time I heard the term “pin head” used that did not have a derogatory connotation.
I strongly believe that Vancouver could prove to be the antithesis of a great new tradition. What that pin trading tradition will be? We will all have to collectively hold our breath and see. To quote H A L the super computer from 2001 the Space Odyssey “something beautiful is going to happen.
Thanks for reading and I hope you found it enlightening. Best of luck in your collecting endeavors and please visit our site often. If you think of it, tell a friend and direct them to our site.
Pinhunter |
