Pin Trading, the Unofficial Sport of the Olympics – NBC 7 San Diego

Many people attach pins to their lanyards or accreditation badges. “It’s kind of a sign that you’re open to exchanging pins,” Waller said.

He was able to do business with dignitaries, but also with athletes from the Turkish and Romanian delegations. They each took a pin from each other’s lanyard.

Waller has been collecting pins since he was 8, when he attended the 2012 London Torch Relay. What appeals to him and many other collectors, he says, is the excitement that comes with finding a pin.

“It’s the buzz that you get when you get the pin that you’re looking for, and it’s always the search for the next pin,” Waller said. “Pin trading takes you to another world.”

The trade is facilitated by the International Association of Olympic Collectors, born from the joint efforts of the IOC and the Olympic trade community. This year the association helped host an Official Olympic Collectors Area where traders could come together.

The Journey of the Olympic Pin

The tradition of wearing pins dates back to Athens in 1896, the very first modern Games.

According to the International Association of Olympic Collectors, the Greek Olympic Organizing Committee created round cloth pins with the national emblem: a white cross on a blue background. The handmade pins, less than an inch in diameter, were awarded to selected Greek athletes who finished first in the preliminary rounds.

Each subsequent Olympic Games brought more pins and innovation.

During the 1908 Olympic Games in London, eight countries designed personalized pins, including the US, Norway and Hungary, according to the pin catalogue of the International Association of Olympic Collectors (NOC).

NOC Olympic Games London 1908 pins

To finance the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, commercial souvenir pins were sold for the first time, according to the pin collectors’ club Olympin. The silver pin showed naked flag bearers.

In 1936, Nazi Germany sold commemorative pins to help cover the costs of the Winter and Summer Olympics. These pins featured an eagle with a swastika on its chest.

According to Olympin, the public first became involved in pin trading during the 1976 Montreal Games. The activity continued to grow through 1980, before taking off in 1984 when sponsors used pins as an opportunity to promote their brands.

The next edition of the Games in Canada featured the first official pin trading centre, established by long-time Olympic sponsor Coca-Cola. A similar centre has appeared at every Olympic Games since.

Olympic pin trade through the years

How much is a pin worth?

While some pins have little value and are only useful as a means of trading, others are worth between $15 and $50. Rare designs can sell for more.

“You can find (rare) pins that go for thousands of dollars, in the five to six figures (on eBay),” Waller said. “There are pins from the 1908 games that regularly go for thousands of dollars, just because of how old they are and how limited they were when they were produced.”

Smaller delegations to the Olympics might only bring a few hundred pins, making them more valuable, he added. Pins that are enameled or have special features, such as a spinning Moulin Rouge-inspired windmill that Waller collected from a Tuvalu representative, can also be more valuable.

Although he was only in Paris for four days, Waller estimates he collected several hundred pins in the city, adding to his collection of thousands.

“It’s only when you’re there that you realize you’ve got these huge buildings in Paris, across from the Arc de Triomphe, across from (Place de la Concorde),” Waller said. “These buildings are just for pins and pin distribution. And then you realize the scale of it and how much the pin trade is embedded in the culture and heritage of the Olympic Games.”

Pins Josh Waller collected during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games