My kids are diehard collectors. They went through the baseball card phase, but those tended to get bent up and there just wasn’t the variety to keep them occupied. Then everything was all Star Wars action figures, but those got expensive and because they had to keep them in the blister packs to retain their collector value, they took up a lot of space. I wasn’t so happy with that collection. Then inspiration struck and I showed them some lapel pins my dad had given me. Over the years he’d attended a number of events where commemorative pins were released: he had Disney themed ones, several American flags, a handful that had been issued by various cities as part of a special celebration and even a Bicentennial lapel pin.
I don’t know if it was the bright colors, the feeling that they were holding something solid or the fact that the pins each told a story, but my kids were all over them. That was a few years ago and they’ve been avid collectors ever since, hanging out at collector’s meets and even watching for batches on sale through eBay. I pointed them to a site called pinpros.com which had a lot of information about how lapel pins are made and what the differences are between the most common methods (for example, the difference between soft enamel versus hard enamel). They found it was extremely helpful in understanding the workmanship that had gone into their collectibles. I was browsing through the Pin Pros site and came across the custom lapel pins that they offer.
This was intriguing. I could log on to pinpros.com and order customized lapel pins for much less than I ever would have thought. I was thinking Christmas gifts. What would a serious lapel pin collector appreciate more than a series of pins that has been custom designed and made for them? The ultimate limited edition! Order quantities start at 100, but they could trade them with their friends and even 100 pins start at less than I paid for the Xbox 360 I got them for Christmas last year. Once I’d made the decision, the next step was to review my options.
The primary choices that I was looking at were soft enamel, hard enamel, die cast and photodome. I eliminated photodome because cool as it is to have your photo mounted in vinyl on pins, this style is typically less favored by serious collectors. Die cast offers the advantages of accommodating much bigger sizes (up to 4”), Pin Pros die cast lapel pins are made in the USA and delivery can be as fast as 5 days. They can take up to four different colors of enamel and there was no charge for setting up the mold or for UPS ground shipping. Pin Pros e-mailed me the proof the day after I ordered and I received a box with 100 lapel pins, each 1” in size and guaranteed to make my kids’ day.







