Trading Imagineering Pins?

[LoriABil]

I am going through our "Disney box" for an upcoming trip and found DS's pins he never put up from our last trip (2012). He has one that is the Space Mountain logo, and says "Walt Disney Imagineering Limited Edition 1500 Cast Exclusive © Disney…" on the back. I found it on pinpics, and it's not earmarked as a known scrapper.

He doesn't remember where he got it, but thinks it was a CM. Are CMs allowed to trade pins like these, or are they considered costume pins? The pin itself is bent a little, so I can't help but wonder if it's a scrapper. I don't want to let him trade it if it is! Then again, I might not let him trade it if it's authentic!

Thanks for any info!

 

[figment_jii]

I am going through our "Disney box" for an upcoming trip and found DS's pins he never put up from our last trip (2012). He has one that is the Space Mountain logo, and says "Walt Disney Imagineering Limited Edition 1500 Cast Exclusive © Disney…" on the back. I found it on pinpics, and it's not earmarked as a known scrapper.

He doesn't remember where he got it, but thinks it was a CM. Are CMs allowed to trade pins like these, or are they considered costume pins? The pin itself is bent a little, so I can't help but wonder if it's a scrapper. I don't want to let him trade it if it is! Then again, I might not let him trade it if it's authentic!

Thanks for any info!

Cast Members are not allowed to trade service pins, but anything on their lanyard is trade-able. More likely, someone traded the pin to them and then they traded it to your son. I don't think CMs have to supply the pins for the lanyards (at least from what I've always been told there are central "refresh" locations backstage where they can re-stock their lanyards). A "Cast Exclusive" pin means it was only sold to CMs, but it can be traded without any limitations (if someone wanted to).

My guess is that your son got lucky in a trade. It's probably not a scrapper, but rather it's probably slightly damaged and that might be why someone wanted to trade it away. It's also possible that someone is cleaning out a collection, etc. I would keep it and count it as a lucky trade.