Tuesday, April 22, 2014

2014 Roger the Alien / Grateful Dead USA Hockey Pin

 
Here is an unofficial 2014 pin that you may not have seen before.  This pin depicts a Grateful Dead / Roger the Alien character from the television show American Dad adorned in hockey gear (wearing a "USA" hockey helmet no less) in front of the Sochi Winter Olympic symbol--it is quite the piece!  Most certainly not an "official" Olympic pin, but it sure is a conversation piece.  Oh, yes, the back does say "Minter Olympics XXII", not "Winter".  The value on this pin is $12.00 USD, but with only 100 made it might be difficult to track one down.  Good luck.

Friday, April 4, 2014

2014 Team USA Hockey Silhouette Pin


Here's another nicely made Honav pin for the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.  This pin was produced for Team USA and depicts the silhouette of a hockey player.  The pin has a value of $9.00 USD, and was available for direct purchase off of the Team USA website.
http://www.teamusashop.com/Olympics_USA_Accessories_Pins_And_Buttons

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

2014 PricewaterhouseCoopers Hockey Pin

This hockey sponsor pin also comes from the 2014 Sochi Games, and was made for PWC (or PricewaterhouseCoopers), which is a multinational professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom.  This pin has a value of $7.00 USD (but during the 2014 Games I did see it sell for over twice that amount).

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

2014 NOC German Olympic Hockey Team

This is a unique NOC team pin from the 2014 Winter Games held in Sochi, Russia.  The pin states "Deutscher Eishockey Bund" which translates to German Ice Hockey Team, and includes a pictogram of a hockey player in the center of the pin.  What makes this team pin unique among the dozens of different NOC hockey team pins that I have seen over the years is that it also includes pictograms of several other sport disciplines (ski jumping, speed skating, biathalon, downhill skiing, bobsled and figure skating).  The pin has a value of $20.00 USD, but during the Sochi Games it often sold for nearly twice that amount.

Monday, March 31, 2014

2002 Salt Lake Ice Hockey Pin

Here is a nice large pin from the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.  This pin is one of a series of pins depicting Winter Olympic sport disciplines with a mountain range in the background representing Utah's Wasatch Mountains.  There were 5000 of each of these sport discipline pins made, and each one is individually numbered.  This pin has a value of $10.00 USD.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

2014 General Electric Hockey Pin

This hockey "slider" pin was produced for Worldwide Olympic Partner, General Electric, for the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.  The pin includes the official Sochi hockey pictogram, which slides left and right across the bottom of the pin.  The pin has a value of $10.00 USD, though sold for nearly $20.00 USD early during the Sochi Games.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

2002 Men's Olympic Hockey Participating Nations

Like yesterday's Women's Hockey participating nations pin, this one from the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah depicts the flags of the fourteen nations that participated in the Men's Hockey tournament.  This pin can be a little more difficult to obtain than the Women's Hockey version, so I would probably increase the value to $12.00 USD.

Monday, March 24, 2014

2002 Women's Olympic Hockey Participating Nations

This large pin from the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah depicts a hockey player amidst the flags of the eight nations that participated in the Women's Hockey tournament.  The pin has a value of $10.00 USD.

Friday, March 21, 2014

2014 Coca-Cola Flame Hockey Pictogram Pin

From the photos I had seen of this pin I was not too impressed, but that was before I saw it in person.  This is a nicely made pin from Coca-Cola, which is just one of several hockey-themed pins that Coke produced for the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.  The value on this pin is around $9.00 USD, but during the height of the pin rush during the 2014 Olympics it sold for as much as $35.00 USD.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

1992 Russian Hockey Nations Pin

This is an "unofficial" pin, but those that have followed this blog for a while know that I like all Olympic hockey pins, official or not.  The pin depicts a hockey skater and bears the flags of some of the teams that participated in the 1992 Albertville Olympic hockey tournament: United States, Finland, Russia, Canada and Sweden.  The additional countries that competed, but whose flags are not shown, are Czechoslovakia, Germany, France, Norway, Switzerland, Poland and Italy.  I like the pin because the Russians, or actually the Unified Team, actually won the hockey gold medal in 1992.  The value of this pin is probably $5.00 USD, but because so many collectors do not bother with the non-cloisonné Russian pins you just might be able to get it for less.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

2014 Hartford Sochi Paralympic Sled Hockey Pin

Here's a good looking, large Paralympic sled hockey pin produced for The Hartford in support of the United States Paralympic sled hockey team.  In Sochi the U.S. team became the first ever Paralympic hockey team to win back-to-back gold medals, defeating the host nation Russia 1-0 in the championship match.  This pin as a value of $10.00 USD.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

2014 United States Olympic Team Ice Hockey Pin

This NOC pin represents the United States Olympic Ice Hockey teams that competed in the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games.  It is a nice quality pin from HONAV, and there were similar pins made for each of the sport disciplines that competed in the Sochi Games on behalf of the USA.  The value of this pin is $20.00 to $25.00 USD, however during the 2014 Games I saw it sell more than once for over $100.00 USD.

Monday, March 17, 2014

2014 Sberbank Official Partner Pin

This is quite a large pin from Sberbank, which was an Official Partner of the 2014 Sochi Games.  The material of the pin is quite unique, as it is a pliable soft plastic material.  Because this is not a classic cloisonné pin with a post and butterfly clutch, which tend to be the most popular Olympic pins, I'd say the value of this pin is $5.00 USD, though during the early pin frenzy days of the Sochi Games this pin did sell for $31.00 USD.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

2014 Jet Set Russian Goalie Mask & Stick

This 2014 pin was made by HONAV for Jet Set Sports and depicts a Russian goaltender's mask and stick, along with the Russian Olympic NOC symbol.  During the 2014 Games, Jet Set was and official supplier of the Russian Olympic Team.  Value on this pin is around $10.00 USD, but during the Sochi Games it was sold for over $30.00 USD.

Saturday, March 15, 2014

2014 Samsung Hockey Pin

This nice sized pin, from Olympic sponsor Samsung, is in the shape of a Russian nesting doll and bears a couple of hockey players.  The pin is one of a fifteen pin set from Samsung.  I'd say the value of this pin is about $8.00 USD, but during the games I saw it sell for over $30.00 USD.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

2014 Ukrainian NOC Hockey Pin

This NOC pin is unique because the Ukraine did not actually have a team that competed in either the Men's or the Women's Olympic ice hockey tournament in 2014.  Nonetheless, this nicely made Ukrainian ice hockey pin, bearing the official Sochi ice hockey pictogram, was available during the Games.  I would put the value on this pin in the $20.00 to $25.00 range.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

2014 Kellogg's Elf Hockey Pin

Here's a cool dual-layered sponsor pin from the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.  This pin is one of a twelve-pin puzzle type set made by Honav for the Kellogg's company.  I would put the actual value on this pin at $12.00 USD, however, during the pin frenzy of the 2014 Games while there was a shortage of pins I saw this one sell for over $105.00 USD.  It is getting more and more difficult to find this pin as a single item apart from the other 11 pins in the Kellogg's set.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

2014 Sochi Women's Hockey

 
Here's a pin made for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.  The pin supports the women's hockey tournament and bears the flags of each of the countries participating in the 2014 Games--Russian Federation, Canada, United States, Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Germany and Japan.  The value of this pin is around $9.00 USD, however, I have already seen it sell for over $45.00.  Based on pin activity leading up to prior Olympic Games, it would appear that there may be fewer hockey pins released for the Sochi Games, but only time will tell.  I did read yesterday that the Sochi Games are expected to cost nearly $50 billion dollars, which is more than all other Winter Olympic Games combined (for example, the Salt Lake Games in 2002 cost around $2.5 billion).  Originally it was thought the 2014 Games would cost around $12 billion.  Anyway, there's just sixteen more days until the 2014 Winter Olympics get underway.