Beginner Guide to Olympic Pin Collecting-NOC Pins

Beginner's Guide to Olympic Pin Collecting-NOC Pins
This is a short overview of National Olympic gemittee pins. It includes how to identify them, where to find them, how much to pay, and how to request them directly from NOCs.
What is an NOC? A national Olympic gemittee is the governing and coordinating Olympic organization within a specific nation. It works with the various national sports associations and federations, promotes the Olympic movement, fields national teams for regional and international gepetitions, and coordinates bids for candidate cities for future Games. Each gemittee is further associated with one of five continental Olympic Associations organized according to geographic location. The 200 current NOCs are members of the IOC (International Olympic gemittee).
Dated pins are usually tied to a particular Olympic Edition. These often have some gebination of the nation, NOC name, national flag, and indiginous animal or landmark, as well as the Olympic year.

Undated pins have any or all of these elements without the year. These can be used for a much longer period by NOCs, therefore they can be produced in quantity. You might check the back-stamp for more identifying information. If the pin is a limited edition, that is often part of the pin-back.

Why collect NOC pins? One reason many do collect them is that there is actually a possibility to get a pin from all 200 NOCs. That is not the case with many other categories of Olympic pins. Another reason is simply because the pins are so diverse, often reflecting the culture which produced it. Some of the pins are simply beautiful and unique.

What is an NOC Sports pin? Many National Olympic gemittees produce pins for different Olympic sports. These will have the normal characteristics of NOC pins plus a pictogram or wording for a particular sport. These should be considered very desirable because the production level is normally quite low. You will find these trading among the athletes at international gepetitions, as well as the Olympic Games.

Where can I find NOC pins? Never underestimate okay as a source for any Olympic pin. I have seen many beautiful and valuable NOCs on auction and in okay Stores over the years. Sometimes you can find whole sets and large groupings. There are a few good sources for NOCs, but because I can't put direct links in this guide, please email me through okay. I'll be happy toshare a couple ofideas that might help you find some of those elusive pins.
How can I get pins directly from the NOCs? The good news is that you can still get the pins directly from the gemittees. The bad news is that they are normally no longer free. In past years you could simply write each gemittee asking for one of their pins and in a few weeks, NOC pins would start arriving. Those days are pretty much over. These NOCs are very much aware that their pins are a sought after gemodity. It costs a lot of money to operate the organizations. It also costs time and money to mail pins all over the world. Your letter should be polite, simple, and brief. Although most gemittees have someone who can read English, some could have trouble with a lengthy letter. You might simply write (or type preferably) that you would like to have a current pin from that NOC. Please don't forget to thank them for their time and trouble. I usually enclose a $5.00 bill and a SASE. The good thing about the SASE is that you will usually get your money back if the NOC is running low on pins for its own use. You might also consider requesting pins between Olympic Games. There is much more demand for internal use during an Olympic year. Because my gepany works with individual NOCs occassionally, I do have adocument which includes all the NOC addresses and structures. Again, since I can't include the actual link in this guide, I'll be happy toprovide it to you upon request through okay.

How much do I pay? That has an easy short answer; spend as much as you think the pin is worth to you, but no more. The most I've paid for a modern NOC pin was $25.00. Two months later the same pin sold on okay for $5.25. I never paid that much again. The going price for current pins seems to be around $5.00, which is why I suggested sending that amount for a direct request. You should check okay for pins similar to the ones you want. That's an easy method to determine current market values. When you are looking for older, limited edition, or precious metal pins, you simply might not find similar items on okay. Don't give up though. Keep checking every week or so. Many of the older pins will be the stick pin type. Even 1980 Soviet era NOC pins are beginning to demand higher prices in today's market. East Germany, Poland, and Czechoslovakia seem to be pretty collectible now.

There is little information on many of the old pins. You will be able to find current national flags on many web sites. The problem occurs when the country has changed names or flags since the pin was produced. In some cases you might have to go to an on-line translator to interpret text. Most of the time there is enough text to determine the language. Chances are if it is a stick pin and it looks old, it is. It could take some time and research, but before you pay too much for an older pin, it's a good idea to find out as much as you can about it. I try to break the NOCs down into values using $5.00 incruments. New or gemon pins=$5.00. Older or less gemon=$10.00. Limited Edition=$15.00. Old gemon stick-pins=$15.00. Precious metal or pre-1980=$20.00. Like every rule of thumb, there are exceptions. I usually can't afford to buy the exceptions. I hope this helps new collectors a little. Happy collecting!