Comments:
Hi everyone,I just read the message about the countdown pins. I don't have one of the special "holders" I suppose you would call them for the countdown pins, but will this new issue still fit the holder. What brought about the change? Also it is good to s e that other people are concerned about Sydney's apparrant strangle hold on the pin situation. I class myself as a "serious" collector of pins having caught the bug during Expo 88. My wife and daughter also collect pins but they are mainly collecting 2000 Olympic Pins. I am trying to collect the Days to go plus some of the mascot pins and to make things really interesting, there are the 2002 Winter Olympic Pins to drool over! But I digress, the point I am trying to make is that there does not appear to be air distribution of pins out of Sydney, so a swapmeet would be difficult to arrange as we are limited to the amount and variety of pins we would have to swap. However, if someone can arrange one, I am sure we could have an interesting meet. Thank you an f om the sound of it, the dinner was a success and I for one am sorry I couldn't travel from Brisbane to attend. Dell and I will be coming down in May and hope to either attend one of the swapmeets and/or meet Mike and other collectors as I have other pi s part from Olympic Pins that may be of interest to other collectors. But I'll keep you all posted. Les

Chris - 02/25/99 03:23:54
My Email:Pinworld@ozemail.com
Subject: Months to Go pins
Country: Australia

Comments:
Hi there all of you pin collectors. I just thought all of you "Months to Go" collectors out there might be interested to know that it has just been confirmed that the Olympic Store at Parramatta will be recieving the 18 Months to Go pins individually numb red from 0002 through to 0301. If you are looking for the lower numbers for your collection now you know where to go to get them.

Les Gaffney - 02/21/99 11:11:53
My Email:ubique@bit.net.au
Subject: Countdown Pins
Country: Australia

Comments:
Hi everyone,I just read the message about the countdown pins. I don't have one of the special "holders" I suppose you would call them for the countdown pins, but will this new issue still fit the holder. What brought about the change? Also it is good to s e that other people are concerned about Sydney's apparrant strangle hold on the pin situation. I class myself as a "serious" collector of pins having caught the bug during Expo 88. My wife and daughter also collect pins but they are mainly collecting 2000 Olympic Pins. I am trying to collect the Days to go plus some of the mascot pins and to make things really interesting, there are the 2002 Winter Olympic Pins to drool over! But I digress, the point I am trying to make is that there does not appear to be fair distribution of pins out of Sydney, so a swapmeet would be difficult to arrange as we are limited to the amount and variety of pins we would have to swap. However, if someone can arrange one, I am sure we could have an interesting meet. Thank you an from the sound of it, the dinner was a success and I for one am sorry I couldn't travel from Brisbane to attend. Dell and I will be coming down in May and hope to either attend one of the swapmeets and/or meet Mike and other collectors as I have other pi s apart from Olympic Pins that may be of interest to other collectors. But I'll keep you all posted. Les

Joseph Evans - 02/21/99 08:19:05
My Email:joseph_evans@canegrowers.com.au
Subject: Mintages, and the out of town experience
Country: Australia

Comments:
I agree with the view that high mintages are reducing the interest in the countdown pin series. Also, the fact that many early countdown pins can still be found seems to defeat the purpose of a limited edition - surely the days to go should be on sale fo the one day only, the weeks for one week, and the months to go for only that particular month. Perhaps there would be more sales if the manufacturers and retailers were serious in the approach to limited editions. On the subject of the Brisbane experience, it is good to be aware of pin releases, but many of the recent limited editions (eg Valentines Day, Benson House Australia Day, Torch relay) are for sale only in Sydney - certainly not in Brisbane. And it is dif icult to get through for a phone order to the Olympic Store. Admitidly there are many more people in Sydney than Brisbane, but it would be good to have a swapfests outside of Sydney - as a special ocassion. And making some of these special limited editi ns available would certainly add to the interest and anticipation of the Olympics, which certainly from the people I know in Brisbane is very low - in fact it is being viewed as just another sporting event - watch it on the TV - maybe buy a mug and t-shir - the same as a footy game. Maybe we need another Olympic Experience tour around Australia - just before the Torch relay next year. Country pins could be the next big interest, too. Anyway keep up the good work.

james - 02/20/99 21:39:49
My Email:james@chaosorb.syd.net.au
Subject: swapfest dinner
Country: OzLand

Comments:
I echo Anthony's congrats to Mike & Gazelle. They closed up shop after most of us had finished or close to finishing our dinner, and then had some themselves. What a way for the couple to spend Valentine's Day!

Mike - 02/18/99 22:28:47
My Email:austcoll@nectar.com.au
Subject: SIPS and Clocktower Dinner Swapmeet
Country: Australia

Comments:
Anthony, Thank you for the very nice comment, but it was not possible withoout all of you nice collectors and friends. Thank you for being there and making it possible. We had a great time as well.

Anthony Goodridge - 02/18/99 13:58:24
My Email:antgo@accsoft.com.au
Subject: Pin Swap dinner
Country: Australia

Comments:
What? It's been almost a week and noone has posted a public thank-you to Mike and Gazzelle for the fantastic dinner swap meet last Saturday. Well I for one am very gratefull for the night and hope that everyone else enjoyed the brilliant atmosphere arou d the tables. For those who weren't there, you missed a real pin fanatics event, no sooner had we filled ourselves on pasta, pizza, wine, desserts and coffees then the pins were out and we got back to our favourite pastime. It was great to see Charlie B ooke back in Sydney with his mega kilo (2.2 pounds) suitcases, and a pleasure to meet Bill Papa. I hope they'll spread the word to those overseas traders who couldn't get to Sydney for the swap weekend, there will be another international swap meet in Se tember (just around the one year to go mark) Look forward to seeing you then. Anthony. P.S I'm still looking for swimming pins, no, I'm always looking for swimming pins. Please note my new email address if you want to trade. antgo@accsoft.com.au

Greg - 02/17/99 13:18:03
My Email:GPohl11970@aol.com
Subject: Sydney Pins
Country: USA

Comments:
I am wanting to trade for Sydney Softball Items (Pins, apparel, balls, coins, stamps, etc) and Sydney Olympic Pins. I have some pins to trade. Visit my Web Page At: http://hometown.aol.com/gpohl11970/registry/index.htm Then Email me if interested in trading. Thanks!

Timm Jamieson - 02/12/99 03:15:21
My Email:hrctimm@aol.com
Subject: John Hancock pins
Country: USA

Comments:
I have a couple of sets of the 4 John Hancock Sydney pins for trade...PLMK if there is any interest out there. Thanks Timm

Jackson - 02/09/99 00:18:26
My Email:pins@i.am
Subject: Limited Edition?
Country: Sydney

Comments:
Mike,
I think the main reason for Torfe and Benson House to reduce their production of Months and Weeks to go are - too many sitting around!
You can easily find 23, 22, 21.. months, 100 and 90 weeks in most retail outlets (selling at RRP). Have you ever seen a full box (more than 200) of 90 weeks in K-Marts???
I don't think the Sydney market is large enough to take so many pins, serious collectors are limited. So Torfe/Benson has no choice but produce less pins, esp the weeks to go series.
Happy Pin collecting!

Mike - 02/08/99 22:29:10
My Email:austcoll@nectar.com.au
Subject: Limited Edition Pins
Country: Australia

Comments:
Mark, we have two different kind of pins, first kind is the generic pins with usually a higher mintage and it is for those people who don't care about the rarity of the pins and they just want to buy them for their look or theme of the pins, and the secon kind is LIMITED EDITION pins, those pins are aimed for collectors of RARE pins, majority of collectors like rare pins, they want to have some thing which is not common, that is the fun part of it. Look what happened to the AMINCO's Days to Go pins, they estroyed the pin by increasing the quantity of 600 Days to Go from 5000 to 13500. Not many collectors are interested in the Days to Go pins as they say they are common and found every where.

I really believe that we need limited edition pins with low mintage, specially at this time that we have a lot less than 5000 serious pin collectors. I have been collecting pins for a few years now and I meet pin collectors on almost every day base, almos no one is interested in a pin with 100,000 mintage, the sooner they find out it is limited mintage pin they like to get at least one for their collection and possibly some more for trade.

By the way it is not only Benson House who reduced the quantity of Months to Go pins from 6500 to 5700, Trofe also reduced their Weeks to Go series to 7500 from 10000, they have realized what collectors really want.

Mark - 02/08/99 12:57:09
My Email:Mark_David_C@bigpond.com
Subject: Limited editions
Country: Australia

Comments:
Trofe have reduced the number of pins being made available for the next months to go pin from 6700 to 5700 at the so called request of collectors. Being the cynical person I am, I beleive it's more at the request of pin opportunists who like to buy 20-30 ins at a go and then then sell them for 2 or 3 or 4 times that to other pin collectors. I know everyone likes to have a rare pin but I think it's against the spirit of pin collecting to ask pin manufacturers to release less pins so that less people can e joy the pin. There are enough rare pins out there that it seems a little selfish for people to want to limit the pins. I'm sure that those who want less pins are those who are either able to go get time off work/live close to Olympic shop and able to go t shop on day of release and queue for that amount of time or are the hoarders/profiteers. Give every one a fair go and increase the number of pins, increase the amount of people who collect and increase the fun !! Well thats what I think :-)

Cathy - 02/07/99 12:44:28
My Email:cpfraser@bigpond.com.au
Subject: 899 Sleeps
Country: Australia

Comments:
I am interested in obtaining an 899 sleeps to go pin and have an Olympic Journey 1 June-30 Nov. 1997 for trade

Mike - 02/06/99 23:27:16
My Email:austcoll@nectar.com.au
Subject: Torch Relay pins
Country: Australia

Comments:
There will be two different but very similar Torch pins released 8th March, first one is a limited edition of 7500 pin, it is dated and individaully numbered, and second one is the same but is not dated and will be onsold

Syd - 02/05/99 23:31:05
My Email:sydpinman@hotmail.com
Subject: Torch Relay Pin(s)?
Country: Australia

Comments:
Does anyone know when these are being released? Will there be two different pins.Any info would be appreciated. Syd.

Les Gaffney - 02/04/99 02:02:22
My Email:ubique@bit.net.au
Subject: Swimming PinsSteve
Country: Australia

Comments:
Steve,I have some swimming pins if youare still interested. Please give me a call.

somebuggar - 02/04/99 01:09:57
My Email:somebuggar@hotmail.com
Subject: pins
Country: australia

Comments:


Steve Ruiter - 02/02/99 03:06:55
My Email:sruiter@juno.com
Subject: Swimming
Country: USA

Comments:
I am interested in collecting Olympic Swimming Pins from Sydney. If you are interested in selling any of these, please contact me via email. I do not have items to trade at this time. Thanks

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