Interview with Jeffry about pin collecting

Today we are chatting with pin collector Jeffry about their Disney pin collection. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as we enjoyed interviewing Jeffry.

I'm a long time Disney fan. I visited Disneyworld for the first time in the summer of 1972 as a kid and have loved everything Disney ever since. My wife and I have been together for 41 years. We have two grown, married children. We currently have two grandchildren and cannot wait to take them to Disneyworld when they are a little bit older! 

I started collecting pins during a trip to Disneyworld in 1999 with our children, who were 9 and 11 at the time. 

I thought the pins were fascinating when I saw them. I always had the idea that if I were going to collect something, the collectable would have to meet a few criteria. 

1.) The items would have to be unique and interesting. 

2.) The items would have to be displayed rather than just accumulated in a box somewhere. 

3.) The items would have to be affordable but not so widely available as to be "common"...and finally 

4.) I always felt like the items should be resellable so that if I ever grew tired of collecting them, they could be appealing to other collectors who might be interested in purchasing the entire collection...not that I EVER would want to sell them! 

Ha! I can't fathom selling my collection either. I like the criteria you picked. What are your main collections, and why? 

My favorite types of pins have always been those that are full-body poses of the countless Disney movie characters. 

I prefer them without seasonal designs, costumes, word bubbles or other accoutrements that take away from the beauty of the Disney character artistry. 

That being said, I have collected the various pin series issued by the Disney stores; holiday-themed pins; mystery pin collections; and pins with clever phrases and quotes basically, I found myself collecting almost any pin that I found appealing. 

Which usually meant whatever pin I was looking at that I thought I already didn't have! 

My favorite pins are certainly those that are from Limited Editions. I appreciate the frequent availability and relative affordability of those types of pins while knowing that they are still unique and rare.  

I started making the displays when I wanted to find an interesting way to show my collection. For many years, I had them in my work office. They were an amazing conversation starter anytime someone new came to meet me in my office at work. 

I was the CEO of a large, multispecialty medical group for nearly 22 years, and my pin collection was widely known by our employees and physicians. 

Many times, staff would stop by just to say hello and see what new displays I had created. 

My favorite custom display is an arrangement of pins in multiple frames which spells out Walt Disney in the classic Disney font.

My joke for years was that that pin display should be insured for more than my wife's engagement ring! That display alone contains 245 pins, including limited edition pins that I did not separate into my LE display boxes. 

My limited edition pin displays are another of my favorite collections. My wife makes labels for me with her Cricket cutting machine so that we can label the glass with the number of pins in that series. 

I have also been a D23 member for a few years. I have been incorporating those pin collections available to D23 members into the limited edition displays since they have some added uniqueness as well.

 

I now have my pin collection in my home office. The Walt Disney font display is usually my backdrop for the numerous Teams meetings that I now have, and it is once again a source of many expressions of interest from the people I meet on those meetings.  

 

My best guestimate would put my total pin collection at approximately 1600 pins. Not all of them are in display boxes yet, so I have to come up with some new creative ideas!    

My favorite is really hard to choose. I previously described my favorite genre of pins, so I would have to say that the classic Mickey from the Sorcerer's apprentice is it. 

I'm probably more of a collector than a trader! I usually don't end up with many duplicates, so I'm pretty unlikely to have any that I want to trade. 

That being said, I have enjoyed having our kids (when they were young and now as adults and their spouses) take small collections of pins when we've visited Disney resorts and find pins from cast members that aren't part of my collection. 

Everyone enjoys looking at the cast members' pin displays and then figuring out if it is a pin Dad doesn't have in his collection yet!

I'd probably want more officially sponsored trading events at the various Disney resorts. Even just the opportunity to see other people's collections in a virtual pin trading event could be fun! 

I think I would have to say (JOKINGLY!) you might want to reconsider starting a pin collection! It is extremely habit-forming, and when your collection gets so large, you have to contemplate creating an archive so that you know all of the pins you have and don't end up buying/trading for something you already own perhaps it has gone overboard! LOL!

Haha, overboard? Never! Thank you so much, Jeffry, for sharing your pin story with us!