Top this trade day!!

Soo its been a while since I went to the parks to trade, for me a while<about 2 weeks> Soo I went to do some shopping for some folks<your welcome Earthbound!!> and then the LORDS of pin Justice descended!!

Studios, traded for about 10 Les and a few racks, nothing fantabulous and yet some good ones, no new HM anywhere.
Then I head over to Epcot, I walk around and trade for about an hour, start the loop around world showcase and notice alot of new CMs, trade for a few more pins, including a DSF 300 mickey! <things looking way up, also find a HM LE 500, ok not bad!!
Then I get to the far side of the lake, I start to think, hey you know Ferret and Walrus are here, maybe I will see them in the parks<they like me wear big funny hats so its easy to spot us!!> Sure enough i look up about ten minutes later and there they are, we are trading with some CMS , only thing is ALL of them have earning their ears tags on, hmmm new group? I trade with one CM and we swap places<they go to the one I just traded with , I go to the one they just traded with,> I trade and notice something on the back, an AP stamp!!!!!
OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH BOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!
Then I check the ones I already traded, they too have the Holy STamp o Originality!!
Yumpin Yimminy!!!!! I tell them<ferret and Walrus,> hey check your pins!! Sure enough each CM had several AP on their lanyard !!!!!
I wound up with 8 APS and 6 Cast exlusives including a Jiminy 10 chaser!!
WoWWWWWW
So the upshot was I bought 4 new pins , I traded for another 30 keepers to trade mostly LE but some retired racks too, and I got 8 APs , now having finished listing the New APs on pinpics i have just updated my lists!!!
Wow what a day!!!!!!!!

Now I am scrambling to find a trade book empty enough in the house to put them in!!!!
<ahh the delemas of a wonderfull day of trading!!!!>

no PTN in Jan? There may not be one in Jan becuase of the Pin show in early Feb but I just had an awesome one and it was 77 degrees too,
Wonderous sunshine , too incredible pins, way cool friends,
yup pin gods smiled on me!!!!
Thank you to all of you whom helped me earn such incredible pin Karma!!!!

Wow! That, I would say, is a good day. :bigthumb: Congrats on a very rewarding outing.

Sounds like a good day

Darryl, if you get a chance, take some pics of the big haul and post them. I would love to see them!

Very nice haul!

pics ?
the les and racks,



the purchases<for me or to trade>

THE APS!!!

Wow!! glad you had such a fantastic day!!!!!

VVN! Question about APs...when/where can you find them? Who typically wears them on their lanyards? Is there a better time of year to find them? Which types of pins are made as APs? Is it possible that I have some in my collection and don't know it?

Thanks and great job! Leave some for me and my boys; we're coming up next month!

I actually traded for one from a cast member because it looked like it was a REAL pin and not a scrapper. I turned it around and it was an AP. Really cool surprise.

sounds like an ace day for trading

Very exciting day, indeed! Congrats!

Wow, sounds like a nice find! Unfortunately, your picture links are broken for me, and I can't see them. I have in the past also had good luck with the "Earning Your Ears" CM's with their brand new lanyards, while collecting HM's, but have not run into them for awhile, and certainly did not find AP pins!

Now that is a quality Trading day!!! Just think if you had gone when you originally said (Tuesday) you may have missed your haul!! Thanks for picking the pin up & hope daughter's over the illness!!

I owe you!

hey jj,
the where is anywhere , the when is whenever,

An AP pin is --

An artist proof, When a pin is designed the initial manufacture will have a "test " set, these pins will have variations in color , line thickness , etc all the little things you can do to a picture after someone says yes make it a pin!! To both enchance and make the picture different so while all are the same , each is unique!!
When the test set is completed the variations are sent to QA or the ARtist to aprrove or chose color<ie ten versions of A, Version A7 is the one that is used to produce the LE 1000- pin, Version A1- A10 are solid stamped on the back of the pin with a Capital AP.By Stamping we mean the letters are literally cut into the metal. This marking can be very large as in older pin and visible with the naked eye easily or , can be seen pretty much with a mag lens, as in moderns pins.
Usually the modern pin has the AP stamp either in the PTL <Pin Trading Logo> box or the MIC<Made in China box>. On some older to mid age pins it is just to the left or right of the PTL depending on the room of the pin. I have seen them on dangle portions of pins as well so check the pin carefully.

As for time to find, well I have found holidays or special occasions<xmas party, halloween, moms day, Star wArs weekends, and such, events per se> they tend to be alittle easier to find, however I have traded with steady castmembers who have hinted to me that perhaps this or that pin, which turns out to be an AP , is the best that they have. Ultimately it depends on whom is loading the lanyard for the CM, Each park has a designated person to do just that, while the CMs can refresh their lanyards twice a day for up to 4pins at a time, The initial pin lanyard loader<one who sets them up in the am for the CM> has access to the vault of pins for that park<while smaller in size it is rumored that each Resort also has said "pin room"> so only they would be able to put high value pins on lanyards<dont kid yourself MM knows how much we love the pins, ask a suit why they dont have a lanyard full of cuties ?

Brilliant!!!

Sounds like a great day!

Sounds like you had a wonderful time! Thank you for doing some shopping for me as well!

Thanks for the valuable info. Also, I can't view the pics either. Nothing is coming up.

Sounds like a FABULOUS day!!! Congrats on the fabulous new pins!!! I too cannot see the pictures Would LOVE to see the haul that you had today!!!

A-MA-ZING!!!!!! Congrats on all the great new pins. Pics, pretty please !!!! I'd LOVE to see 'em!

sounds like I'm going on a pin hunt during Star Wars Weekends.

YEah, do not know why the pin gods smiled so brightly.
but it was a great high point to our WDW trip!!

we ended with 8 AP and 6 Cast pins.

and I am hearing more stories of similar finds suddenly !

Score a few for the good guys!!