My obsession with pin collecting began in the mid-1980's. We were living in England at the time and decided to take an exotic vacation. Our family of 5, which included three 3 teenage daughters, went to Moscow in what was then the USSR. On one of our sightseeing excursions, we found ourselves in the depths of the Moscow underground subway system. Our girls knew that they could trade pocket candy and packs of gum with the locals for small souvenirs. In one of the subway terminals they met some young boys and traded for some Russian trinkets, among which were Olympic pins from the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Well, for me, that was the beginning of a pin hobby that has lasted to this day. I really got hooked on collecting Olympic pins! To help pay for all those pins I couldn’t resist, I started an Olympic pin mail order business in 1994. And that mail order venture soon led to internet selling.

Today, my wife Barbara and I are retired and live south of Atlanta next to a creek that flows through the Georgia woods. We named our house Arborshoals, a house-naming tradition we picked up when we lived in England. We find living out here much more rewarding than in the city or suburbs. I like to draw the comparison of growing my pin business from eBay to Etsy in the same way. We are looking for a rewarding experience with Etsy above and beyond what we’ve had over the last 19 years on eBay.

We want to do more for our Etsy clientele. Every order will ship in a box. A small pin placed in a bubble wrap bag is subject to damage.

Our collecting and sales experience goes back over 20 years. Most of our listings are acquired from individual collections or part of a left over assortment of uncirculated pins originally sold back in the 1980's and 90's. Because we are new to Etsy, there are many, many, more pins to list. If there is something in particular you are looking for, or have any pin related questions, please feel free to contact us.

Happy Pin Collecting! John