In the next several blogs, I’m going to discuss the different kinds of unauthorized NOC pins. Today, I’d like to start with the type of pin that most people probably associate with all kinds of fake memorabilia – the counterfeit. This is a deliberate attempt to copy a popular item be it a pin, handbag or watch. Here is one of the more blatant examples from the London 2012 Olympics:

As you can probably tell, the legitimate pin in on the left (unless you believe that Olympic is spelled with a T!). But there are a number of other things that can be used to identify the counterfeit. The size of the pin, the overall color of the metal, the detail in the coat-of-arms and the font are also different. Experienced collectors may even use the color of the Olympic rings as a clue. It also helps to look at the backside of a pin:

Again, the legitimate pin is on the left. The fastener is different as is the overall color and the consistency of that color across the pin.

In this case, the quality of the counterfeit was bad enough that you could easily identify it on eBay. In fact, when I notified the seller of this pin that after being an Olympic NOC for 113 years, there was absolutely no way that the Czech Republic NOC would misspell the word Olympic, he removed the pin and has not sold another one since. But if this pin was offered to you as a trade, would you look closely enough to spot it? It might pass a casual inspection, but if you are really paying attention, you should catch this phony every time.

While the Czech delegation badge was quite a poor counterfeit, there have been some good ones as well. Here are two North Korean flag pins from the London Olympics:

There are differences, but not as large as in this case of the Czech delegation badges. Would you be able to spot the counterfeit? Here is the backside of the two pins:

Again, slight differences, but which one is legitimate? In this case, the legitimate one is on the right and the counterfeit is on the left. The authentic pin produced by Kingdom Pins typically sells for $30-40 while the counterfeit, which we believe is produced in China, typically sells for $5. While you might be able to identify the counterfeit when compared to the legitimate one, would you be able to identify it if offered in trade? Now that I have seen both versions, I would say that I could identify the counterfeit. However, if the counterfeit had been offered to me in trade before I knew that there was a counterfeit, I would have happily traded a good pin for it. Even worse, I would have happily purchased it on eBay and thought that I was getting a great deal.

It is worth pointing out that the dealer who we believe produced this counterfeit currently has a (2495) 99.3% rating on eBay and has been selling at least one of these counterfeits every week since the start of the London Olympics. Why is his rating so high? Because people who do not know that his pin is a counterfeit have no reason to complain about his merchandise. But the effect of these scammers goes deeper. After collecting for more than 30 years, I would have continued to collect NOC pins if I found that this pin was a counterfeit (although I would have been ticked off for a while!). But if I were a new collector, would I have continued in this hobby?  I am not so sure. Helping these new collectors avoid being taken advantage of so they will stay in the hobby is why our committee will be working hard before, during and after the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi to identify both legitimate and unauthorized NOC pins.

Stay tuned!

Steve