HRC News Special Report

PIN March Copenhagen 1998

Whoever has been there will agree: The European Pin March 98 in Copenhagen, Danmark was a fantastic event.

Here is the report I wrote in 1998 the day after I came back from this second european PIN March:

FRIDAY MARCH 6th - THE ARRIVAL OF THE PIN COLLECTORS WORLD

They came from all over the world - well at least from Europe and the States. They came by plane, by car, by ferry or by bus. Copenhagen, Danmark was the heart of Europe for every HRC Pin Collector this weekend.

Karin and I had choosen to drive the 500 miles distance to Copenhagen with our own car. On Friday morning we started at 8 am - and had to return after just 15 minutes cause I had forgotten to take my camera with me. And without my camera I wouldn't be able to show you some pictures on my Website now.

It took us about 8 hours to arrive in Copenhagen, including the 1 hour ferry-trip from Germany to Danmark and a 1 1/2 hour stop in Lübeck, a very nice old german town on the way to Copenhagen.

We arrived at our hotel at about 4:30 pm and found out that it was a nice hotel (Big John, I bet after your Antwerp-experiences you would have loved this one) and very very close to HRC Copenhagen. At this point I want to say a special THANK YOU to our 'official Pin March 98 travel-agent' Klaus Hatzenbühler for arranging everything for us. Klaus, you are a fan of the wrong football-club - but anyway: You're a great guy and you did a great job with our reservations.

I asked the hotel-staff if some of my friends (Stefan, Ulli, Marie-Luise) had already checked in and found out that Stefan and Ulli with their bus were still on the road. Marie-Luise had the room just beside us (I really did my best not to snore, Marie-Luise ;-) She was not in her room so we assumed she would be at the HRC.

On our way to the HRC we ran into the first collector (Hello Gerhard). Guess, that happens each year as last year when we left the hotel to go to HRC Antwerp we ran into my good friends Fastfred Rebhun and his wife Michelle and Jerry Christman and his wife Pam.

When we arrived at HRC Copenhagen I was impressed (it was my first visit to HRC Copenhagen - this was the 27th HRC I have been to now). Great location - just at the corner of the world famous Tivoli. Looking around we already saw some swiss collectors arriving and so we all went into the HRC. Whow - I had not imagined anything like that at this early time. Tables all over were full of pin-bags and people were very much concentrating on their next trade.

Then I heard someone shouting 'JENS' and there we go: Familiar faces all over. Alan, Barbara, Carol, Nancy, Daver, Don, Peggy to name just a few - and of course Marie-Luise was here sitting in the middle of them. We were hugging and hand-shaking with all of our friends especially the ones who had to take the long way from America. It was so great and Karin and I felt so much welcomed. It was fantastic.

Uncle Dans booth - as always surrounded by a bunch of collectors...

I remember when we arrived at HRC Antwerp last year at about 6 pm it was totally different. We had not seen most of them before so it was not so much of a WELCOME but more of a 'Who are you - have we traded over the Internet before ?'. Now this year we already knew most of the faces and it was great to hug everybody and to feel like we were all a big family.

Well, Karin and I had dinner then and we did some first trades. Not much (in Antwerp I traded for ybout 75 pins on Friday) - but nice pins anyway. It was not so much the time of trading for us - more the time of talking, chatting, having a beer with our friends.

Of course I went to the Merchendise-Store to buy a few pins and there I saw it: An official HRC Pin to commemorate the European Pin March 98 in Copenhagen. Whow, I was impressed. This is really a great thing for all of us traders here in Europe.

The next day they also had a special T-Shirt available to remember this event.

At about 10 pm we left the HRC (guess driving 500 miles can make someone feel tired). We knew that on Saturday a lot more was to come. While leaving the HRC we ran into Terry Fuller and world famous Molly Arnold, which hasn't been to Antwerp last year so we were all very happy to see her in Copenhagen now. At about 11 pm I began to sleep and of course dreamt of tons and tons of pins...

ABOVE: This is the official HRC Copenhagen Pin (made by FC Parry / 1000 Pins made) It says: Copenhagen - Pin Traders Convention March 7th 1998

After a night of pin-dreaming we had breakfast at the hotel and we were surrounded by HRC Pin-Collectors. They were everywhere cause most of the European Collectors stayed at the same hotel (most of the US-folks stayed at a different location).

After breakfast Karin and I grabbed our big pin-bag and went to the HRC. We had some idea that HRC Copenhagen today might open a little bit earlier (usually it opens at 12 noon). Guess what: It was snowing now (and for the whole day) here in Danmarks capital (Daver, why the hell didn't you wear shorts ?). Looked good - but it wasn't too good to be on foot with the heavy pin-bag. Anyway: We made it to the HRC and a staff-member welcomed us with a smile although it was just a few minutes after 11. And when we came in we saw almost 50 traders sitting at the tables and preparing their pin-bags. Whow - we were happy that we came that early. So we got a nice booth and could put all our pin-bags on display.

HRC Copenhagen had given us a complete section for the event and this section was soon crowded with people, pins and bags. Trading began and people were coming around to have a look at each table to find the pins they were looking for. And whatever you were looking for: It was inside this room. If it was one of the newer pins or an older one - if it was ordinary stuff or an Opening Staff - it was all here. Especially when world-famous Uncle Dan arrived - one of the Four Traders. He, like always, had tons of pins with him - and as his prices are really 'traders-friendly' his booth was surrounded by traders all day.

ABOVE: Every PIN Member recieved a special member pin (left) plus an official HRC Pin exclusively made for the event - whow...

A big surprise came from PIN (Pin Collectors International Network) for all their members: Not only did they get a nice Membership-Pin with the PIN-Logo on it. They also got a very very beautiful special pin to commemorate the event. PIN even got permission to use the HRC Logo on this pin so it is really a special one - lucky members. 250 pins of this one were made and they were only given to the members of the club and to the staff of HRC Copenhagen. A great idea. A special THANK YOU at this point to Ulli Ratz who designed this beautiful pin.

For the next couple of hours trading was very high and hot. I didn't expect to get so many new pins for my collection. I was really impressed. I got pins from Bahrain, Dubai, Beirut as also older pins from locations like Singapore, Mexico or american locations. I can say I am very satisfied with the Trades I made at the Pin March. THANK YOU to everybody who traded with me.

THE RAFFLE, THE AUCTION AND THE DONATION

HRC Server Daniel was a great Auctioneer

While trading went on in high gear our lovely ladys went from table to table to sell raffle-tickets. Donations from all over the world had been made and everybody who bought raffle-tickets had the chance to win HRC-Pins, T-Shirts, Shot-Glasses and much much more. This year the raffle was well-organized. Whoever had a ticket with a number could go to the raffle-counter and get the stuff he/she won. People who have been to Antwerp in 97 will remember that we had some problems with the raffle and someone even had to ruin his voice to get every price away ;-)
Unfortunatly I must say I did not win much ;-( Actually only two pins (nothing special) with 40 raffle-tickets - but who cares if it is for a good purpose.

At some point PIN-President Stefan Winkler told everybody to stop trading cause it was time for the Auction. HRC Copenhagen-Staff-Member Daniel was the best auctioneer I have ever seen. A special THANK YOU to him - he did a great job. While in the beginning of the auction 'normal stuff' like the Bangkok Elvis Guitars, the Kuala Lumpur Motorcycle Set or the HR Online Cocktail Girls Set was available later the better stuff came up including some Opening Staff-Pins (high bid on OS Memhis was US-$ 265 / Key West OS: US-$ 240 / Copenhagen OS: US-$ 310), a great leather-jacket from HRC Antwerp (btw: former Manager Natalie came to Copenhagen with her collection), a HRC Copenhagen Panasonic Pin (US-$ 125) and much more. The hottest item was a prototype of the Memphis OS Pin (only 5 Pins made !) that got US-$ 600 for the good purpose. A very special item was the 'Name of the Pin'. The high bidder on this one got the Special-Pin from the Pincollectors International Network named after him/her. Carol won and from that point on this beautiful pin forever will be called Carol Feuerborn-Pin. This was a great idea, guys.

The bargain of the evening in my opinion was a set of 1 Year, 2 Year and 3 Year-Staff-Pins from HRC Johannesburg which someone got for just US-$ 90.

Another good idea to get some money for the good purpose was this: Everybody had the chance to buy the HRC Copenhagen 2nd Anniversary STAFF-Pin for just US-$ 60 !

So at the end of raffle, auction and selling of the Staff-Pin the Organization Crew and HRC Copenhagen (who had choosen the local charity) could give away a check of almost 10.000 US-$ to the Borns Voksvenner, an organization which astablishes contacts between children and young kids if they need and adult. Target group are children, who do not have a father to talk to, play with or support, when they have problems or need advice. Borns Voksvenner is a non-profit-organization.

ABOVE: Natalie, former GM of HRC Antwerp was present in Copenhagen with her traders bag.

Carol Feuerborn' Auction performance: During a 'bidding war' with Udo Gödden she stood up and asked 'Who is this Mr. Udo ?'

THE EVENING: TRADING, TRADING AND TRADING

After the official part was over trading again started in high gear. It's unbelievable to see that people you have traded with at 1 pm get back to you at 6 pm and got tons of new pins <g>. It was just great and again I got some very nice pins.

Some celebration took place as brithday-presents for Carol Feuerborn and Don Fitzgerald were presented... and Nancy Warman was named 'Non-European, Non-Pin-Collector of the Year'. You can imagine how much fun we all had.

In the afternoon we all had to get out of the cafe as two real Nimbus were presented outside of the HRC (you know the Nimbus-Pin but who of you has seen the real ones ?).

Me and Uncle Dan between two real Nimbus - not just between the Nimbus-Pins.

At this point I want to say a very special THANK YOU to everybody who came to Copenhagen for this event. I am not really sure how many people were there but it must be anywhere between 120 and 150 people from all over Europe and the USA. Thank you so much for coming - and I'm sure you all had a lot of fun and got great pins for your collection.

My biggest THANK YOU is for the Staff of HRC Copenhagen. You were great hosts. And I was impressed to see the staff always having a smile on their faces even though it was a busy day for them and traders with their bags always stood in their way. Thank you so much for making us feel so welcome. Especially I would like to thank Daniel, who made this great auctioneer, Becky who was our waitress and did a fantastic job and really always had a smile on her face - thank you so much - and of course to Aase for letting us have this great event at HRC Copenhagen and for doing this special Pin for the event (btw: I also want to thank HRC Headquarters cause they allowed this pin and they allowed Pincollectors International Network to use the HRC Logo on their special pin too.

Happy Birthday Carol Feuerborn from everybody at the Pin March 98.

At about 10 pm I really got tired. After 11 hours of trading this can happen ;-) Anyway: When we got back to the hotel I was very happy with this event and the trades I did. And again I dreamt of tons of pins...

SUNDAY: GOOD BYE'S AND SEE YOU'S WHEN COLLECTORS LEFT HRC COPENHAGEN

Well, when Karin and I came down for breakfast on Sunday it was great to see so many Pin Collectors again. And guess what: Some of them even had their trading-bags with them...

At this point I must say that I really missed something. First I couldn't figure what it was - then after the third coffee I found out... I missed my European Pin March breakfast partner Sara Wetgrove. Whoever has had breakfast with her will know what I mean. It was a special breakfast last year in Antwerp... hope to see you in Europe again next year, Sara. Say Fahrvergnügen for me ;-)

Well, after breakfast the first traders left - with big hugs and most of them said 'See you next year at Pin March 99'. So I guess everybody was satisfied and will return.

Crowded HRC Copenhagen during European Pin March 98.

Karin and I left Copenhagen at about 11 am and gave Marc Buchholz a ride back home to Hamburg (Marc, I'm really happy that finally you also have PINS and not just shot-glasses). With some stops we made it back home at about 6 pm and to be honest I was just too tired to write anything yesterday. I went to bed early and did not even dream about pins.