Why/how did you start pin collecting?

Firstly, I apologise if such a thread already exists, I did try to find one using the search function. What I was wondering is, how and why did each of you start pin collecting/trading? Do you remember your first pin and do you still have it? How old were you/ how long ago did you start? etc.

My story is pretty uneventful but obviously special to me. I first went to Florida when I was 12, on a family Christmas vacation. One day, my parents were talking to a man who worked at a little stall, asking about tickets or something. Whilst they were talking, I was captivated by all the shiny badges of my favourite characters. I was very shy as a child, so I didn't say anything. The man saw me and explained to me all about Disney pins and trading with other people at the parks etc. My parents offered to buy me one which was kind but also tough because I've always had issues with anxiety, and in times of decisions I mentally break down. One which I had looked at was a cute purple dragon, the man told me it was Figment and explained a little bit about him to me. He said something along the lines of "he's the one I'd choose" or something like that. This helped to ease my anxiety and reluctance to choose so I chose Figment and put it straight on my Animal Kingdom safari hat (during that holiday, I always thought the people with the big hats and the badges were really cool, still do!) That employee really sold it all to me and he's probably the reason I got started. I still have that pin today, and its story and significance means that it's even more untradable than my grails!


So everybody, what is your story? I'd love to hear how it all began for you

Hi, fellow Brit!

I first discovered pin trading on my first trip to WDW when I must have been 14 years old or so. I didn't know pins existed until seeing them in the sorcerer hat at DHS (which is now sadly gone). I bought pins but didn't really trade them- my first real trading started in 2014 when I started buying UK limited editions and trading them for international pins. It's been great and I've made so many new friends because of it!

meggiebeth said:

Hi, fellow Brit!

I first discovered pin trading on my first trip to WDW when I must have been 14 years old or so. I didn't know pins existed until seeing them in the sorcerer hat at DHS (which is now sadly gone). I bought pins but didn't really trade them- my first real trading started in 2014 when I started buying UK limited editions and trading them for international pins. It's been great and I've made so many new friends because of it!

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Hello fellow Brit! Ah I loved that sorcerer hat! I was so upset to hear it has gone now (I bought my first limited edition there, the first pin I purchased with my own money actually!) I was so excited when the UK Disney stores started selling pins and employees had cast member exclusives, such a shame it all died down (alongside the closing of my local Disney store..) I'm glad to hear you've made new friends because of pin trading! That's one of the things I love about this hobby, the way it brings people together

I am one of the old timers around here. I have been on pinpics for over 12 years now and pin trading for about 15 years. Originally I started by collecting buttons but they are so big and hard to store I moved to pins. Then I found out I could trade pins in the park. I live in Seattle and we would go to Disneyland in California once or twice a year so I knew all of the attractions but by trading pins it gave me something else to do. My favorite story was early on in my pin trading. I just got my first pin bag and filled it up with traders. When we went to Disneyland I met another trader who had a pin book. We sat down and by the time we were done we had traded over 40 pins each way. That was back in the golden age when we didn't have to worry about fake pins. It was simply I like that pin and the other trader found a pin they liked. I was hooked.

On one of our trips before I became the grailslayer we met a really nice lady pin trading. She made sure to trade very nicely with my wife. It made a huge impression on us as she was so nice. One trip after I became the grailslayer I realized it was psycho pixie who used to be on this site a lot. I was so thrilled when I figured out who it was. That got us even more involved here.

One thing I have learned and it took me a while, is that the little pieces of metal are nice, but it is the people you meet along the way that are the true treasures!!! Please always remember to have fun, pin trading is supposed to be fun!!!!!!

I started pin trading when I went to WDW on the International College program in August 2013. My first role was Merchandise at the Emporium in Magic Kingdom and I swear the minute the handed me that lanyard I was hooked XD

Its been a little bit tough (and more expensive) to keep up with pins now I'm back home in New Zealand but I have some wonderful friends who still work and frequent the parks who help me. And it's wonderful that there are a lot of traders who don't mind shipping internationally!

docfish2u said:

I am one of the old timers around here. I have been on pinpics for over 12 years now and pin trading for about 15 years. Originally I started by collecting buttons but they are so big and hard to store I moved to pins. Then I found out I could trade pins in the park. I live in Seattle and we would go to Disneyland in California once or twice a year so I knew all of the attractions but by trading pins it gave me something else to do. My favorite story was early on in my pin trading. I just got my first pin bag and filled it up with traders. When we went to Disneyland I met another trader who had a pin book. We sat down and by the time we were done we had traded over 40 pins each way. That was back in the golden age when we didn't have to worry about fake pins. It was simply I like that pin and the other trader found a pin they liked. I was hooked.

On one of our trips before I became the grailslayer we met a really nice lady pin trading. She made sure to trade very nicely with my wife. It made a huge impression on us as she was so nice. One trip after I became the grailslayer I realized it was psycho pixie who used to be on this site a lot. I was so thrilled when I figured out who it was. That got us even more involved here.

One thing I have learned and it took me a while, is that the little pieces of metal are nice, but it is the people you meet along the way that are the true treasures!!! Please always remember to have fun, pin trading is supposed to be fun!!!!!!

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That's amazing that you met that very same person here, what a lovely story! I sure wish we still didn't have to worry about fake pins! I couldn't agree more about your final sentiment, I just wish I had more opportunities to experience the fun of in-person trading more! Guess I'll go and buy a lottery ticket tomorrow!

katelouise said:

Its been a little bit tough (and more expensive) to keep up with pins now I'm back home in New Zealand but I have some wonderful friends who still work and frequent the parks who help me. And it's wonderful that there are a lot of traders who don't mind shipping internationally!

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That's an amazing way to start, I envy you! I certainly know the feeling, it is tougher and more expensive but in a way it makes it even more rewarding for both traders! I also agree, it's fantastic that there are so many out there willing to post internationally!

Old timer here too. In 1988-89ish, I decided that I would collect lapel pins as my "vacation" souvenir. Shortly, after that my Dad went to a Microsoft conference being held at the Disneyland Hotel, and so he brought back these two pins for me. These were my first two Disney pins.



After that, I would buy a pin or two whenever we visited the parks, which wasn't very frequently. I collected Mini Bean Bag Plush Disney Characters, and one of the main websites for information was run by a lady named Dusty. One Day in August/Septish 1999 there was a post on her website about pin trading coming to Walt Disney World for the Millennium Celebration. And then on the back of the catalogs there were images of a new pin series starting at the Disney Store. A 101 pin countdown to the new millennium. I knew I was in trouble. I really didn't think it would last as long as it has, nor my collection would become as large as it has.

Great stories! Mine is also pretty basic.

I lived in Alabama for 16 years, and the month before my birthday my family had to move to California for my Dad's job promotion. After we moved my parents bought us all Anual passes to Disneyland...after some convincing. My Dad researched pin trading and told me about it. Shortly after I purchased a lot of 50 pins from eBay with my birthday money, looking back that was the single worst purchase of my life lol.
I decided to collect pins that were sentimental to such as Lion King, and Disney Villians (they had the best songs and reminded me of team rocket). I've been trading for 8 months now, and met wonderful people from all different backgrounds. While I do enjoy crossing pins off my want list, I enjoy completing others grails more! I've been a member of this form for two weeks (I think) and have already made wonderful friends.

Thanks for starting this thread I can't wait to read others stories.



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Wow, it is great to read others stories! I went to Disney for my cousin's wedding in Dec of 2003, and found the pins! They were so neat, and I could get lot's of my favorite charters to take home! That was it for about 10 years until my brother and his wife went with family and brought me back a new lanyard full of pins and some neat LE pins. He told me that they had fun trading for some while there. My parents also got me a pin while in Florida. I just recently started looking and found this website and all the awesome people! And of course have started adding to my collection!

Mine started way back in early 2000 when I bought a safari hat at WDW and it had 4 small pins on it of Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy (pins: 1126, 4416, 4417 & 4419). I bought a few other small pins and added them to the hat. After that I was hooked and found myself standing in line at my local Disney store waiting for the new 100 years of dreams pins to come out. It's been a fun and awesome ride ever since!

docfish2u said:

I am one of the old timers around here. I have been on pinpics for over 12 years now and pin trading for about 15 years. Originally I started by collecting buttons but they are so big and hard to store I moved to pins. Then I found out I could trade pins in the park.

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Another old-timer here! Husband and I started collecting in the 1980s, cooled during the 1990s, and restarted (not so eagerly) after 2000--so that makes over 25 years. We also have buttons. If you’re interested, let me know what you like.

Started slowly 9 years ago at Disneyland, and slowly got more serious over time.
I figured I had to have an outlet for all that extra money I have lying around.:wavey:

My first two and only times at Disneyland was senior year of high school. I went during Halloween and they had a lot of Davy Jones pins for sale. I bought a few, then later went back because I had an urge to buy all the pins with him. Back then I didn't know about pin collecting or trading, I just got Davy Jones pins because he was my favorite character then and I thought he was cool.

Fast forward to just last week when I went to Disney World for my first time and learned about pin trading and collecting. One of my first pin trades was at Magic Kingdom and I saw pins with this strange purple dragon I never seen before, I was informed by the cast member his name was Figment and he is sort of the mascot of Epcot. So I traded for two Figment pins and the next day went to Epcot and fell in love with the character when I went on the ride. I also started collecting and buying Hades pins every chance I got.

So, I guess you can say either as early as 2008 when I started my Davy Jones collection, or just last week when I came to Disney World with the intention to collect all the Hades and Figment pins.

I purchased my very first Disney pin many years ago at Disneyland Paris, just for fun. It was a White Rabbit pin. I then bought another pin last year at a local comic convention, with a seller/collector who had many beautiful Disney pins on display. It's my Jiminy Cricket name tag pin - still one of my very favourite pins!

Then we went to Walt Disney World last May, a holiday we have been planning for a long time and were looking forward to SO much! We researched a lot and found some info about pin trading and the advice that it was a nice extra thing to do while at the parks. We discussed whether we wanted to do this - decided yes - and we traded in every park we went to throughout our whole trip. It was so much fun!!! In Epcot we met a bunch of pin traders that had books full of pins - I didn't know about pin trading between fellow Disney visitors, so we traded a few pins with them. I discovered so many beautiful pins in their books! I traded my White Rabbit pin with a super friendly pin trader who said he had a Japan pin friend who'd love it, and traded two other pins we just bought with two other pin traders.

When we got back I looked up pin trading online, found this forum and immediately joined! Shortly after we also created an Instagram account to connect with more pin traders around the world. Now we've been pin trading for nearly 5 months and we've already acquired quite a collection! It's nowhere near as spectacular as other collections, but we're slowly building ours.. I love the community feeling and love continuing the Disney magic when we're not in WDW or DLP. It's been magical meeting friendly people and helping each other with our collections. We now have pin friends in Japan, Hong Kong, the US, France, .. how amazing is that!

The first couple of times we went to WDW my mom and I would laugh and laugh at the pins, thinking how silly it was that people spend money on these things lol! Then one time my dad wanted to get us a little thing each so he got us each a pin, mine was the pink mickey icon with the tiara (it's in my special collection as my first pin aha). I liked it and wore it but didn't too much with pins for a bit.

Then I watched Tangled, so on the next trip in 2011 I was DETERMINED to get everything Punzie, it all would be mine. However, WDW had literally nothing Punzie but a pin and my one pin turned into 2, then 3, then I shared my treasures with my friends at school who were big into Disney and they brought me more back, and eventually my one punzie has turned into 75 (with at least 6 on the way right now as well) along with many other pins.

Trading wise I was scared to trade but my mom wanted to buy me this mystery box and one of the pins inside was not something I liked so I felt terrible for getting her to buy me a mystery box, so she suggested we trade him (before I knew values etc, it was the animation ones of jafar LOL) so we went into the shop attached to the art class and I traded it for an Aurora scrapper, but it was so much fun! I didn't start trading online until maybe a year ago, as I was worried I'd mess up the values and insult someone, or that I hadn't learned enough about scrappers (I had the phrase "new to pin trading" in my siggy from 2012-2015 LOL). But a Canadian trading FB group was started and I went crazy LOL Now I can't stop trading!

With the Canadian group I've also made a bunch of really good friends! We even had an unbirthday party last month to meet for the first time the day before an Ontario Disney meet It's been cool to connect with others around the world as well, I tape every note thats sent with pins to a little notebook so its full of messages from people around the world

Last week! At Euro Disney. My first pins I won in a competition but the first one I bought for myself was the grape soda bottle cap. My first trade was daunting so I screwed up a bit and got a very low value pin for what I offered but my first good trade was for a little Minnie with a green dress. I later found out she was a hidden mickey!

Coby said:

My parents offered to buy me one which was kind but also tough because I've always had issues with anxiety, and in times of decisions I mentally break down. One which I had looked at was a cute purple dragon, the man told me it was Figment and explained a little bit about him to me. He said something along the lines of "he's the one I'd choose" or something like that. This helped to ease my anxiety and reluctance to choose so I chose Figment and put it straight on my Animal Kingdom safari hat

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I'm probably biased but you've certainly got great taste in pins!

It's a cool coincidence that you put Figment on your Animal Kingdom safari hat, because I began seriously collecting pins when I saw Figment on a safari hat in Animal Kingdom! I'll never know if it was an off-duty cast member or just a regular guest, but a man walked by wearing a selection of Figment pins in his hat that I'd never seen before. In particular I distinctly remember the WDI Figment with Pencil pin (#66325). At the time I had no idea there were pins sold only to cast members, annual pass holders and other select groups, so for the rest of the day I checked all the pin shops for that pencil pin. But of course, I never found it.

When I got home though, I looked it up, then started doing research, and well... NO REGRETS :rofl: :rofl:

Thanks for sharing your story!

caebv said:

I tape every note thats sent with pins to a little notebook so its full of messages from people around the world

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That is such a good idea!!! I will start doing this too now. I have most notes saved in a little bag but I will tape them in a Disney notebook from now on. Thank you for the inspiration!

It all started for me when I found a pin on the the bus floor that takes you to DLR from mickey and friends parking lot.Now I have over 500 pins and counting.

No real heartwarming story for me... I've picked up pins as souvenirs of my travels from all sorts of places, including Disney. For example, I picked up a Disneyland 50th Anniversary pin when I went in 2005, and the pins for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Journey to the Center of the Earth when I went to Tokyo Disneysea in 2009 because those were just about the only souvenirs they had for those attractions (and I LOVE them). But during our trip back to Disneyland in 2012, I really took notice of how many people were sporting lanyards and trading pins. I was taken with the idea of how they build community between Disney fans while still showing off your own unique interests, so I decided to start my own collection. My particular interest is pins from the films and attractions based on Jules Verne's books (like 20,000 Leagues), because he is my favourite author. I don't actually get a whole lot of trading done when I wear my own lanyards to the parks (mine is such an obscure interest and I have very few trader pins that anyone would want), but I have enjoyed chatting with people who recognize what my collection is about or are curious about it.

My family would go to Disney World every other year and we would always pick up pins when we went, but it was more of souvenir purposes than collecting. When I left for college I got the itch for Disney World and started looking at a auction site that we all know and love now, and picked up a few pins to collect. In the Spring of 2002 I applied at WDW for their college program and when I started at the parks is when the addiction, I mean collection started really taking off! HAHA My trainer at WDW was into pin collecting and really started to teach me about what she knew about pins and my interest in collecting pins grew as I learned more. Also I would go over to Scoops pin presentation next to Tony's restaurant and learn even more about the pins and the process of how pins were made etc. Scoop was a great source for pin knowledge and I really enjoyed visiting him, even if I had seen his presentation 180000000000000000000000 times.

Aww what a nice idea!! I first learnt about pin trading in October 2015 while in Florida. I was immediately hooked.


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I've known about pins for a while, but actually just got my first one (the snow globe-y looking one with little Elsa and Anna with Olaf, 107140 on PinPics) when I went to Disney Springs with my mom and sister back in August. Then I found a Minnie as Tinker Bell one at a local thrift store a few weeks ago. Yes, it's taken me since 2014 to ACTUALLY BUY A PIN because I originally joined here for the Disney dolls and the like, even though I wanted pins! I'm intending to look for more on eBay soon, and ask for some for Christmas, because I am broke almost all of the time.

If anyone has any tips to keep a collection from getting out of control/hard to manage while still actually adding to it, I'd love to hear it. Knowing myself I'll probably end up letting Disney virtually eat all of my money (at least what isn't going to another collection, lol!)

We started collecting Disney pins at WDW in 2002. American Express used to give away a lanyard and a couple of trading pins as part of their white glove treatment promotion (http://www.disboards.com/threads/american-express-white-glove-treatment.239940/) so we ended up doing a little trading and decided to collect some pins as souvenirs from our trips starting with a Wilderness Lodge pin and then some LE Fourth of July pins. After 16 trips to WDW and hundreds of trips to DLR we've collected over 1100 pins.

I've been collecting since 2006 with my first pin set given to me by my Dad. Now 14 years later I have a pretty neat and vast collection of pins I've collected since then. I'm more of a collector than a trader, but I do trade. I've been in and out of the pin game for a while now, but I do try to keep up with the forum and updates on pins as time goes by. As for the future, I'd like to make more frequent trip to Mickey's of Glendale to build up my traders and my collection as Trading is what I want to improve on.