Here's a blog from Sarah White telling us all about pin badges. Enjoy.
Hello Bloggers!
This year I had the honour of donning the crown and cloak that accompanies LG’s most prestigious role... pin badge queen! It is my responsibility to source and keep stock of a frankly stupendous variety of RSPB pin badges. As I was counting out puffins the other day I started pondering the history of this branch of fundraising and having looked into it I can tell you there is a rather longwinded history to the mighty pin badge. So having waded through a 42 page document on the history of pin badges (complete with serial numbers) I have condensed a brief history for the lovely readers of this blog. So, settle down with a cuppa and a biscuit and prepare to be enlightened as we trek through the mystical land of pin badges...
Whilst the RSPB has a long and noble history, the humble pin badge was not developed until September 1996. We were fast approaching a landmark 1 million members and commemorative pin badges were going to form part of the celebration (who says the RSPB doesn’t know how to party!). 4 designs were initially commissioned: bittern, red kite, bullfinch and puffin. Although no-one can quite recall the reasoning behind the choice of these species, bittern and red kite were chosen due to recent, sudden declines (So it’s great that now, partly due to the work of the RSPB, these two species are increasing in number!).
New badges have been added gradually, with over 100 badges now available 20 years later. Designs are selected for charismatic and popular species as well as species of conservation concern. In 2005 insects and mammals were added to the collection for the first time. Popular culture has also influenced pin badge production, in 2002 the beautiful (but rare in the UK!) snowy owl was added, partly due to the recent rise in popularity of this species due to a certain wizard and his pet, Hedwig!
Most notable for us at Loch Garten is the development of the osprey pin badge in 2003. The original is a standing osprey (as modelled here by my beautiful assistant...).
The original "standing osprey" takes pride of place on CT's uniform
This standing osprey was replaced in 2006 by our flying osprey. Any hardcore and devoted visitors who may still have a standing osprey look after it... you may be sitting on a goldmine in 20 years time! We also have a wide variety of celebrities of the Caledonian pine forest including: capercaillie, crested tit, Scottish crossbill and black grouse. In 2014 we also had a limited edition (and only available from the Osprey Centre) silver osprey to celebrate 60 years of ospreys at Loch Garten (also likely to be worth a small fortune in another 20 years!).
With such a vast collection of badges available, it’s not surprising they are such a success. For a small donation visitors can take away a small, colourful token of support and donate to a fantastic cause. Furthermore the collectable element and wide variety adds a certain excitement to rummaging through the pin badge box for visitors and staff alike. There is a palpable excitement in the air on days when a new order of pin badges is delivered and even a small amount of competition as to who has the best collection. As Blair Johnston (21, from Perth) sums it up so well: “The more badges, the cooler you are!”. I think it’s safe to say we are all cool kids at LG.
Blair Johnston (21 from Perth) - a "badger" in the making but can he complete the 'sett'?!
Ultimately pin badges are a fantastic fundraising tool for us. Over the past 5 years we have raised over £20,000 from pin badges at the centre, all of which gets ploughed straight back into Abernethy itself. Pin badge money directly helps our wonderful projects here on the reserve.
Your pin badge money goes here...
So... get rummaging in your man-drawers and jewellery boxes for those long-buried but now possibly valuable pin badges... maybe they will be popping up on antiques roadshow sometime soon!