Advantages Are Easy to Pin Down

The joy of pin-trading is in the collecting, not the collection.

“Trading a pin is like breaking bread with the world,” said Marlee Baker of Springfield, Mo. “I can, within an hour, meet people from France, Mexico, China. There’s nothing like it.”

The true connoisseur tries to amass the most pins while spending the least money.

To start the collection, just ask. Even if you don’t have anything to offer in return. This is especially true at the start of the Games, when reporters, sponsors and Olympic representatives are loaded with pins.

A good place to start is outside the Main Media Center, where journalists pass back and forth.

“First of all, be nice,” said Baker, who has traded pins at every Olympics since Calgary in 1988. “These people are busy. If they want to stop, they’ll stop. But all of them have a pocket full of pins. Don’t let them kid you.”

Reporters carry pins with the logo of their newspapers or broadcast companies.

Almost all of them lack official Olympic affiliation, so you won’t find the famous rings or that year’s logo.

The sponsor pins have the official design in addition to the company logo, and representatives are more than happy to hand them out. Some of them are quite functional, such as the Xerox pin with a working thermometer. But wear too many of them and you’ll start to look like a NASCAR driver.

Pins from foreign countries can be obtained firsthand if you should happen upon an athlete or other members of the “Olympic family” (as they’re called).

Kids do well in attracting freebies. So do people who work in high-traffic areas, such as a restaurant hostess or security-checkpoint volunteer.

So those are some of the first people to seek for trading after acquiring a little cache of pins. In addition to official pin-trading areas, people set up little swap shops at corners all over towns that host Olympics.

Shop around; avoid the pins you see frequently, then try not to look too excited when you see a new pin that you absolutely must have.

Be prepared to surrender multiple pins to get one of the hot pins. (Law enforcement pins are big at these Games). That’s why it’s worth keeping any free pin that comes your way.

If you want to buy, the Salt Lake Olympic Committee has put out pins to commemorate everything, including the introduction of the mascots, St. Patrick’s Day and the countdown until the opening ceremony. But you don’t have to stick to the official, authentic pins. There’s a popular set of renegade pins here that make fun of the Olympic scandal by counting down “200 Bribes to Go,” “100 Bribes to Go,” etc. One of the most sought-after pins in Atlanta in 1996 depicted a wacky NBA power forward’s head, with the word “Rodman.” It was heat-sensitive; rub it, and Dennis’ hair changed colors.

What makes a good pin?

“The artwork has a lot to do with it,” said Dan Baker, who has attended all but two Olympics since Lake Placid in 1980. “Of course, rarity. And something that’s fun.”

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J.A. Adande