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Cast member pin trading pins- what I learned

Cast member pin trading pins- what I learned
Hey everyone! So I've done a lot of park trading (both on my days off and before my shifts) and it's gone pretty well. You can certainly find new or at least legitimate pins on Cast member lanyards. The catch? You have to pretty much devote your whole day to scouring the parks, revisiting locations several times in order to find the good pins. But I've also managed to meet a lot of fellow traders and really build up my collection! (park traders seem to LOVE stitch pins, I can't keep them when I find them)

My initial trading set now looks like this:


As you all can see I've been acquiring a lot of the new sets, from Stitch to Star Wars! I also have other fun pins as well, from munchkins to Simba.

I also have another set of pins to compare! I found another Oliver from the CATs pin set, and there's a lot of differences! At least in the front.



The poor lighting hides it a bit but you can see the differences in the colors, especially in the muzzle! The one on the left is the real one, and the one on the right is the fake one (from the souvenir shops) To be fair, I'm not sure the one on the left is 100% real, I'd love y'all's input on it.



Here's the backs, they don't look all that different.

I think most of these are real, but I'm not sure about these. I got some of these from traders so they're super hard to verify.


The Marie, Mickey, Goofy, and Kite pins I got from other guests, while the others were off of lanyards. The comic strip one is new, I hadn't seen that one before the day I got it. (though I found another one from that series that I later traded) The Mexico pin was from a guest with a lot of vintage pins, and said they had been collecting since the early 2000s. It also had a pin back I'd never seen before, and was very smooth and shiny. I have no idea where the Dalmatians pin is from, (got it from a lanyard) it's probably fake but it's still super cute! I think the Chip and Dale one is fake as well but guests seem to like Chip and Dale pins so I'm confident someone will really enjoy it!



Here's all of them flipped over, sorry for the terrible lighting but hopefully y'all can check to see if they're real or fake. I can also upload more pics if needed! I'm curious to see what y'all think or if you have feedback on any of the other pins as well.
 
Sithathoriunet said:
Kite Tails! Great grab. If you end up listing that in the next Pin & Pop trade arcade I'll definitely be sending you some offers.
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It is! Such a fun pin. (Not surprisingly I traded a new Stitch series pin for it, those have been super popular) Not sure if I'll put it in the trade arcade, it would have to be a really tempting offer to get me to part with it. Something like one of these Results for "lion king 30th anniversary" - Page 1 | Pin & Pop (the rare ones, or something similar)
 
momin.ator said:
I can’t see the back photo. But. The sulley and Mike safety pins are probably counterfeit. They are often on lanyards around the parks
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Here's some (hopefully) better quality photos! Here's the front of the pins (I need to upload a better quality pic of the Mexico one though)


Here are the backs (each pin is in the same place as the front) The pics are still blurry for some reason but the lighting is better at least.



These are the most suspect pins, the one's that I'm not sure are real or not. I looked up the Mickey pin on Pin and Pop, and this 34439 - Mickey Mexico Stamp - Epcot 15th Anniversary was the closest result. I hope that's not supposed to be the same pin, because the color differences on the two are pretty jarring. I'm not sure if fakes were being made that early (the people I traded with said they started collecting early 2000s) so maybe mine's a later iteration of it? It could very well be a fake though. I'd still really like to know where these are from though!



Here's the backs of those paperclip pins! I feel like they're not super common on lanyards though I found 3 of them on one day. (Weirdly enough none of the other days though) There was also a Pooh one but that felt like plastic so I wound up trading that pin for another one. These at least have a metallic feel to them. I'm really after the Figaro clip, so maybe I'll just bring these in next time I go lanyard hunting.

Speaking of which, I got 3 more pins after trading during my lunch! I got the Nightmare before Christmas one from a lanyard, and traded with guests for the other two (to get the Dante pin I traded a Pluto pin I found on a lanyard) The Simba S pin is one I threw in there since it avoided my other pictures lol. It's 90% a fake since I found it on a lanyard but it's cute so I'll keep it for now!

Ironically, I realized later that the Simba w/monkey mystery series pin was one I'd won in the trade arcade. I'm still waiting for it to be processed, but I might soon have 2 of them! I'll keep one and trade the other. (maybe list it on the next arcade lol)


 
Captain Fartbeard said:
Oh ok then. What about any of the others?
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I was suspicious of the Marie pin. I believe it is this pin

PP75034 DLRP - 'Cats and Dogs' - Marie​


The back looks really suspicious to me. It is hard to tell, your photos are hard to see. Also, these pins
(even though they are open edition) are highly sought after.

Can you get a photo in the sun.

I think the stamp pin is good. It looks like all of the stamp pins I have seen. @hopemax
 
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Try this (my phone seems to be incapable of taking good photos lol). I did get the Marie pin from a trader, can't remember what I gave up for her though.


Here's another shot of the stamp pin as well. This one's a bit clearer! (also, I did look it up on Pinpics and I think it's this one (not sure how rare or valuable it is though)

PP12672 WDW - Mickey Mouse - Mexico - Stock Epcot Stamp Series​


 
Sithathoriunet said:
Kite Tails! Great grab. If you end up listing that in the next Pin & Pop trade arcade I'll definitely be sending you some offers.
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Hey! I stopped by Cast Connections on my way to work today and they just happened to have the Kite Tails pin in stock. Now I have one to keep and one to trade! You can definitely expect to see it on the trade arcade come May :3
 
Went pin trading during work lunch today and found perhaps my most interesting study subject yet! On a guest services lanyard (freshly turned in according to the CM) was this Mickey holiday skate pin from 2010. Looking it up on P&P and Pinpics didn't turn any results, but it looks awfully intricate for a fake. Didn't see any glaringly obvious issues either with the waffle pattern or the text. They'd also have to fake the bow and chain which I haven't seen yet for a fake pin. (Of course I always could be wrong)




Here's the back view:





The only reason I have to believe it's fake is the fact that I found it on a lanyard, and I doubt people are dropping their LE 1600 pins on lanyards (unless they're a CM and a bunch of them for cheap) I gave up a really good pin for it, one of the sleeping animals series that I had been collecting (sleeping Dinah). I'd found her earlier and was super excited. Still, this was too intriguing an option to pass up, if not only as an object of discussion. I'd love to hear y'all's thoughts on where this came from, what it could be, and whether it's real or not.






On another note, my first employee center pin has arrived! It's Mei from Turning Red cause red pandas are adorable (of course)! I'm deciding on whether it's worth taking out of the packaging or not. I want to preserve it but also display it loud and proud in my pin book!

 
PP 81577 - Ice Skate Ornament - Micky Mouse.
 
Bought some more traders from Cast connections and hit the parks again! Family came down for the week so it was more rides than trades but still got some decent pins! Got some that are questionable as well. (The pins on the left I got from guests, the pins on the right are from lanyards/pin boards) I inserted pics of the ones I thought are fake, or just want to double check.


The Timon pin and the Pooh one I think are fake, even though I got the Pooh from a guest. Both are pretty LE pins, and not ones easily parted with. (Though maybe someone bought the TSUM TSUM set the Timon is a part of as a trader set and didn't realize they were LE) I notice that guests tend to buy the 4 packs of starter Disney pins from the shops and drop them on lanyards. There's also a lot of mystery pack pins that I assume guests got double of. It's been easy to find pins from those sets, and it's even been fun collecting all the pins from certain series. Still, Timon is probably too good to be true and it's likely fake. Still can't confirm though since I'm not familiar with the pin.

Pooh I'm nearly 100% sure is fake, I think there's a teeny weeny border at the end (though maybe it's the lighting) and it just doesn't have the right weight to it. The guest also wasn't particularly protective of the pin and was happy to give it up. I could be wrong but it's likely fake.

The Dale pin is the one I'm most curious about. I got it from a kid who said they had no idea where they got it from (I think it was from a grandparent or relative but they didn't know where the relative got it from) A quick search on P&P and Pinpics didn't turn anything up. Would y'all know where it's from and if it's legit?

 
Sithathoriunet said:
Pretty sure Pooh is supposed to have a chain hanging from the back, so that one is a fake.
I'm intrigued by the smaller Dale pin. Is that a tiki god he's with? I'm going to see if I can find it on one of the databases.
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Fair enough, it's what I expected. Back into the trading pile it goes, he's cute enough for people to want! I'm tempted to keep it but he might get buried in my never ending quest for Figaro pins lol.

I'm impressed you found the Dale pin! (and in like 5 minutes judging from your comment timestamps) That indeed looks to be it. I've been hunting for a genuine Aulani pin for a bit now and it's nice to finally have one! I'm starting to really build up the Chip and Dale collection as well.
 
Please try to avoid trading scrappers onto the lanyards.
 
Many of us follow a rule that if you get a fake on a CM lanyard, and you traded a real pin for it, don’t feel bad about putting it back on. Guests should not have to suffer the financial consequences of Disney’s inaction on counterfeit pins. The better rule is don’t add to the volume of fakes by adding pins that you might have gotten elsewhere that aren’t authentic.
 
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