very excited & very new

[cristen]

I am so excited! I mentioned to my DH that I was interested in collecting pins. So, for X-mas I got a nice pin book & 7 pins to start my collection! Problem is I have no idea where to start, what the pins mean. I read on here a while ago that a good way to start is to pick a group you want to collect. I would LOVE anything that had to do with DL. I went to ebay to see if I could find a HH pin, there were 132!!! I thought there would only be one! So now my questions are, is there a book or something that tells me the basics of collecting? How do I know if they are fake or real? How do I know the rare ones? What are the holy grails? They sound special. If there are more than one, how do I know which ones are better to get, or is it personal preference? I know, toooo many questions. I am a little confused, but really want to start. Thanks for any help. Cristen

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

Welcome to the madness, Cristen.

Unfortunately, there is no "Disney Pin Trading for Dummies" book available, but you can find a wealth if information on the internet.

Of course, the Collectors Board here on the DIS is a great place. We have a wonderful and helpful community of pin collectors here. Just like Radio Shack, if you've got questions we've got answers. The FAQ I've created (link is in my signature) covers some ground and makes for a good beginning.

Pinpics.com is an unofficial online directory of Disney pins created and maintained by collectors. It also includes Disney buttons, Olympic pins, and Disney pin accessories. I just checked and they have over (are you sitting down?) 18,000 entries, most of which are Disney pins.

Holy grails is really a personal preference. It's what people call that very very special pin -- usually rare and elusive -- that someone is looking for.

I hope this helps get you started. I would type more but I've got to get ready for work.

Have fun!

 

[Buzz2001]

Hi Cristen,

One thing I learned quickly was to choose a theme for pin collecting otherwise you can go broke fast. I chose Walt Disney pins, patriotic pins and my daughter chose Lilo & Stitch pins. Makes it a lot easier since new pins come out everyday.

 

[Parkhopper]

Tomarts also makes a guide to pins and rates them somewhat as to desireability. I purchased mine from Dizneypins.com, but be aware that because of the nature of pins, the book can never be complete. It is an excellent starting point and a great reference material.

 

[NHMickey]

Ahh welcome to the world of Disney pins... Just about everyday a new pin is being added t the lgrowing list... There are a lot of sites to view on what is new but the top 3 (besides here) for finding out what is new and when it will be released are...

www.pinpics.com as Matt said a great resource for most all the pins out there. And a great place to see who is trading what.

As for news these two sites do a fantastic job of making sure we know what is new everyday...

www.dizneypins.com
www.dizpins.com

If you ever have any questions about anything to do with pins.. Just ask here and I am sure someone here can help.

 

[cristen]

Thank you very much for your help. It is a little overwhelming. & a little frustrating knowing there are so many of them out there. I think I might look into a second job to support this!