One of the keys to Olympic pin collecting is knowing your collection. And I mean
really knowing your collection . . . down to the finest detail (the gnat's lashes, as one might say). At first glance, quite often two completely different pins may appear to be similar--especially if one of those pins is at home in your collection, and you are staring at the other pin at a collector's show wondering why it seems a little different to you. Consider the following four examples. First up, the USA Hockey pin from the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary, Canada. At first glance, other than perhaps some photo quality differences, these two pins appear similar. But pay particular attention to the registered "(R)" symbol in the lower left corner, below the skater's stick, in the photo on the right. Which pin do you have in your collection? Can you remember with looking?
Or how about the Series V Hockey Nations pin set, also produced for the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary? This was the first set of its kind--each pin depicts a hockey player and flag for each of the 12 nations participating in the 1998 Olympic Hockey Tournament. Since 1988, each Winter Olympics (except Torino in 2006) has produced a variation of the 1988 Hockey Nations set. So, if I want to collect the complete 1988 set, I should look for one pin from each of the 12 participating nations, right?
Wrong! Again, there are little differences like the home versus away jersey versions of the USA hockey pin. You are more than likely to have the blue away jersey pin in your set, as I have found the white home jersey is a little harder to come by.
As was the case with its 1988 version, the USA Hockey pin for the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France also has multiple variations. In the two pins depicted below, one contains the "Hockey Team" text below the famous USA Hockey logo while the other shows just the logo.
As a final example, consider the following Canadian NOC pins from the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. The pin on the left appears to show details of the hockey player's face, while the pin on the right depicts a hockey player with a mask-covered face. Also, the pin on the right includes the word "Canada" below the player, and the "Lillehammer '94" text is on a raised section of pewter at the bottom of the pin. Meanwhile, the "Lillehammer '94" text at the bottom of the left side pin is on the flat surface of the pin.
Pin variations can make collecting a bit more challenging . . . and expensive. If you are like me, you must have all of the pin variations in your collection. When you become a serious (okay, obsessive) collector, you may also begin to notice differences found not only the front side of your pins, but on the back side as well. For instance, there may be variations in the clasp type (screw back, stick pin or clutch & post) or the language quite often printed or engraved on the back side of the pin. Details, details, details. They make pin collecting fun.
Or how about the Series V Hockey Nations pin set, also produced for the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary? This was the first set of its kind--each pin depicts a hockey player and flag for each of the 12 nations participating in the 1998 Olympic Hockey Tournament. Since 1988, each Winter Olympics (except Torino in 2006) has produced a variation of the 1988 Hockey Nations set. So, if I want to collect the complete 1988 set, I should look for one pin from each of the 12 participating nations, right? Wrong! Again, there are little differences like the home versus away jersey versions of the USA hockey pin. You are more than likely to have the blue away jersey pin in your set, as I have found the white home jersey is a little harder to come by.
As was the case with its 1988 version, the USA Hockey pin for the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France also has multiple variations. In the two pins depicted below, one contains the "Hockey Team" text below the famous USA Hockey logo while the other shows just the logo.
As a final example, consider the following Canadian NOC pins from the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. The pin on the left appears to show details of the hockey player's face, while the pin on the right depicts a hockey player with a mask-covered face. Also, the pin on the right includes the word "Canada" below the player, and the "Lillehammer '94" text is on a raised section of pewter at the bottom of the pin. Meanwhile, the "Lillehammer '94" text at the bottom of the left side pin is on the flat surface of the pin.
Pin variations can make collecting a bit more challenging . . . and expensive. If you are like me, you must have all of the pin variations in your collection. When you become a serious (okay, obsessive) collector, you may also begin to notice differences found not only the front side of your pins, but on the back side as well. For instance, there may be variations in the clasp type (screw back, stick pin or clutch & post) or the language quite often printed or engraved on the back side of the pin. Details, details, details. They make pin collecting fun.
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