Our Club Pins

Olympin has issued two types of pins over the past 35 years:

Annual Member Badges

The Olympin Collectors Club was founded in June 1982 in Herkimer, New York. For the past 35 years, each member has received a dated, Annual Member Badges as one of the benefits of membership. Contrary to opinion, there was no pin issued in 1982. The first pin produced by the club was the 1983 member pin which was inscribed "est. 1982" (the year the club was established). A member pin has been produced every year since 1983.

Here are some interesting facts about some of the pins:

  • 1983 – 200 were made, with 100 numbered “1” to “100” on the back. The club's growth was so fast that another 100 were ordered, but these were not numbered.

  • 1984 – Each member received one of the 200 badges reading “Los Angeles 1984” on the front. These were so popular that Olympin made 100 pins with a similar design marked “Sarajevo 1984”. These were sold on a first-come-first-served basis to members.

  • 1985, 1986, & 1987 – During this period, one of the most desired pins was ABC’s Guest Pin. It was 2 –layered, thus inspiring the club to issue 2-layered member badges of a similar nature.

  • 1988 – 1997 – For these 10 years, a professional pin designer made and produced our member badge. They are all similar, yet each different.

  • 1998 – Finally, after 15 years Olympin received permission from the USOC to use an Olympic Games logo, in this case Nagano 1998, on our badge. Martha Stewart talked about it on the “CBS This Morning” TV Show during the Games.

  • 1999 & 2000 – These were master designs made by ACOM and FIMO under IOC auspices for the clubs that were members of these 2 organizations.

  • 2001 – 2012 – Necessary approval was obtained to use upcoming Games logos on Olympin’s badges (except for 2005). These were enormously popular with members, especially those with the flags of the 32 nations represented in the club.

  • 2013 & 2014 – Sadly, we were not successful in obtaining permission to use the Sochi 2014 logo.

  • 2015 & 2016 – Thanks to the Rio 2016 organizers, the Olympic logo is back on our badge!

  • 2017 & 2018 – Even with the approval and assistance of the USOC, we were unable to get approval from PyeongChang 2018 to use their logo.

  • 2019 & 2020 – Once again, we have been able to obtain permission to use the official Olympic logo, this time from the Tokyo 2020 organizers.

Special Event Pins

In the 35 years of Olympin, 18 Special Event Pins have been produced to commemorate pin shows, Olympin Club National Conventions, IOC Olympic Fair hosting, etc. In most cases, these pins were given to Olympin members who attended the event, with any excess made available for purchase by members who were unable to attend.

  • 1990 - A total of 100 pins were issued for the 2nd National Olympin Convention at Lake Placid. Seven colored ribbons were attached, roughly following the color scheme used for IOC Session badges:

    • Lt. Blue - Vendors & Exhibitors (55)
    • Dk. Blue - Vendor's Workers (20)
    • Red - Organizing Committee (3)
    • Green - Financial Contributers (7)
    • Brown - Volunteers (7)
    • White - Honored Guests (4)
    • Yellow - Press (4)