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HELP !! Inherited 1000's of Disney pins going back decades

HELP !! Inherited 1000's of Disney pins going back decades
C

Ckindt

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Hello DIsney Pin enthusiasts,

I need your HELP. My father and step-mother recently passed away, and left me their entire Disney pin and watch collections going back decades. There are thousands of pins that are still in their jewel boxes or securely stored in 3-ring binders. They are all in immaculate shape and well cared for. There are so many pins I have no idea how to even start evaluating or understanding the scope of the collection. My step-mother worked in the park since 1960. How do I even start to comprehend what I have or value what I have? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
First off, my sincere condolences on your loss.

On the pins, it certainly can be a challenge if you are not familiar with them. If you just want a very rough idea of what you have, you could post a few pictures of a bunch of them here and we can probably quickly tell you the sort of range we see. As a park employee and a pin collector, they could have a lot of valuable pins that other collectors would love to have. Or you might find you want to keep the collection and become a collector yourself, which is even better!

For more detailed analysis of all the pins, eBay is a great resource. You can do searches by typing in information from the pin (who is on it, unusual aspects such as sliders, etc) including information from the back (year it was made, if it is a limited edition ("LE") and if so the size, if it was from an event (which might be on the back or on the card it is on), etc. I suggest you set up a selling account on ebay to get more precise details such as the actual price sold for if it was a best offer, as well as longer (3 years) history in case there are no recent sales.

With the number of pins you are talking about, it can take quite a bit of time to go through them all so you have a nice project on your hands. If you don't have (or want to spend) the time, there are also people (myself included - DM me if you like) that would be glad to assist and do the research for you, usually in exchange for some of the pins.

Regardless of how you proceed, I look forward to hearing more about your pins and your progress.

And welcome to the forum!
 
Completely agree with the good advice being given already but also wanted to express condolences

Pin collecting is for sure a fun hobby and you may have a great jump start already. But also understandable if you need to just find a way to clear them out and move forward. Hope you get the help you need either way
 
My Sincere Condolences on the passing of both your father and step mother.

I too agree, you've been given some very sound direction and advice above.

Personal, I want to encourage you, to take your time (if you can). There are some great memories, I'm sure in the collection they left. Disney pin collecting is celebrating 25 years in '25. So I sure you'll be able to find new homes for the collection of Shinny-Pieces-Of-Disney-Magic!

This community Can and Will help you. It's safe!

And, Welcome to DPF.
 
This is a problem faced by a lot of folks who inherit Disney collections. Often they find the value is more in the memories than the memorabilia as not everything old retains value. Though you may certainly have some treasures in there.

The basic truth if you want to sell the collection is: you can sell it in bulk and get less than it may be worth or you can take the time to piece it out and determine the individual values. As noted, if you take some photos, folks here can and will help.

I'll add on a personal note - I've been hunting for an older pin for about two decades that may be the type of thing you have. It was released at the same time, I believe in the 80's or 90's, as a plate and possibly a watch with the same image. The pin may or may not have come with the watch and is probably around an inch to 1 1/2 inches and may have yellowed with age as older pins do. But if you run into this, please message me as I'd be happy to buy the pin from you (note, I don't need the plate but if it came with a watch together in a box, I'm happy to buy the set of pin & watch from you):



Good luck and sorry for your loss.
 
I just want to add both welcome and sincere condolences for your loss.

I completely agree with the wonderful advice you have been given so far. Whatever you decide, we will be more than happy to support and assist you any way we can. Please don't make any decisions hastily, while you still are grieving. Remember that there is no need to rush into anything and if the decision is the correct one for you, it still will be the correct one in a month, six months, or a year (or more) later.
 
Thank you everyone for your kind words and condolences. I want to take some pictures and share them here for everyone to see. However, I have so many pins I'm not sure what to take pictures of. @Jabberwocky I'll keep my eyes open for what you are looking for. But any advice on what to take pictures of to share. I have everything from Mickey/Minnie/Donald/Goofy - to - Club 33 - to - Nightmare before Christmas - to - sets. Any advice on what to share? Also, I am in the Los Angeles area and if anyone else is close I would be willing to meet with a couple of books and other things for you to review. Thank you again for all your kindness and advice.
 
Very sorry for your loss, I'm sure you must be feeling overwhelmed.
The good news is that you are in the right place. This forum is full of wonderful people who are full of pin knowledge and even better, kindness.

I agree that if you have no hurry, then take your time and who knows, you might enjoy the process of sifting through the collection.

Meanwhile, post all the pictures you can, we're all eager to see this amazing collection.


Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk
 
If you're looking for what's going to be more immediately valuable/popular, here are themes that always are "hot":

Villains
Princesses
Cats (think Figaro, Marie, etc.)
Stitch

Classic princess films like Sleeping Beauty and Little Mermaid are always popular. Other films go in and out of phases of popularity.

Fab Five characters have their collectors (and a few on here!) but are generally less desired because there are simply so many of them made.

Collectors will definitely be interested in your Club 33 pins.

People also do like sets, but again, depends on character popularity or set popularity.

Where in L.A. are you? (You can message me that answer if you don't care to post it. And you don't have to answer at all, of course! Just trying to see if I'm near enough to help with some pointers.) And how big of a collection is it? 2-3 bags or 20-30?
 
What is your intention to do with these pins, keep or sell?

If you wish to sell, do you want to do it yourself (which might maximize what you can get out of them) or are you less concerned about money, and want them to move on. It sounds like you might be in SoCal, and your parents worked at Disneyland. In which case, there is a business in Anaheim called My D pins that might be able to help. There are plenty of online resellers out there who are interested in purchasing collections such as what you have, but My D Pins is a professional business, with a physical storefront, and I think the pin communities interactions with them are mostly positive. But be warned that they will offer a low price per pin. So it's good to have an idea of which pins are worth more than others, and negotiate on the pins that are more valuable.

Club 33 pins are highly sought after. So are pins that have identifiers like "Walt Disney Imagineering," "Disney Employee Center," and either "Disney Soda Fountain" or "Disney Studio Store Hollywood." Cast Member exclusives can either be worth several times their original retail cost, or not much at all depending on how many of each were made and popularity of the character. In general, park pins haven't appreciated much in value, but some have doubled or tripled, and a few are worth more.

It sounds like you have a very interesting collection, and I'd guess very much up my own collecting alley.
 
I have been helping an older friend sell her pins over many years. One time I decided to do an at cost sale so I sold the pins at cost or almost at cost (I added about 5% for PayPal fees). This worked really well. If a pin was a very high value pin, I adjusted the price higher. You can make an inventory on PinPics or Pin and Pop. I find it’s easier to locate older pins on PinPics. I hope we’re not bombarding you.
 
Thank you for the information. As of now, my intention is to try and figure out what I have. There is just SO much to review and having no knowledge in this space - a ton to learn. However, more than likely I would be looking to cut down on the volume that I have. With no exaggeration, this collection is taking up a significant portion of my garage space. (Not to mention all the Disney watches and other non-pin items that they saved.) Thank you again for the suggestions and, as I am in Los Angeles, the My D pins could be interesting to talk with.

I'll def post some pictures after this weekend. Who knows, maybe there I have some hidden gems in there. )
 
Thank you for the information. Doing the pins one at a time seems pretty duanting but also understand it is really the only way to understand what I have. And NO - you are not bombrading me at all. I am finding this whole thing very interesting and exciting. It's making me more excited to sit down and review them all. )
 
Another option is to contact an auction house. Recently, a pin collector in the Chicago area passed away and as part of the resolution of her estate an auction house sold her Disney collection. Pin collectors found out and several people went in person to bid. Some other auction houses will have online or remote bidding options.
 
For just an initial sense of your collection, and since you have so many, you don’t necessarily have to put in the effort to individually photograph and post the pins. You could take and post batch photos. So lay out a bunch at a time (like 15-20) and take a photo of the whole group. That will probably be an easier way to get a larger number viewed and commented on.

Also, in addition to the great suggestions already about what tends to be more valuable, as a very high level and general rule, larger pins tend to be more valuable than smaller pins.
 
You are correct that there is much to learn when it comes to pins and pin trading/collecting. Please give yourself time and grace and remember that you need to learn a habit ... er ... hobby ... that your loved ones participated in over decades. With the understanding that you might want to reclaim your garage space, but please do not rush to make any decisions. You've found a really good place here; our members will be more than happy to answer any questions you might have about pins and pin trading so you can make the best decision for you.

If space is an issue, perhaps hire a storage locker? The last thing I would want for you is for you to sell off your collection only to regret it down the road and be unable to reacquire the pins later. I know I've said this before, but it bears repeating: there is no need to make any decisions in a rush. If a decision is the correct one, it still will be the correct one in a month, six months, or a year (or longer).
 
Sorry for your loss.

I am in north county San Diego and would be willing/interested in taking a look (although I am much better at recent pins than the older ones). I drive up to LA a few times a month to visit my daughter at college, so willing to meet up anywhere btw San Diego and LA if you want me to take a look. If of interest, like @Jabberwocky mentioned, just send a private message (envelope in upper right corner) and we can work out details.

Edit1: The other suggestion is "My D Pins" on Katella in Anaheim. They are a Disney reseller store close to DLR. I have no idea how it would work as I have only purchased pins from them, but they might have advice and might buy in bulk (ie, at a discount.) As a buyer of pins, I find My D Pins to have reasonable/realistic prices, so I would assume their buying of used pins would be similar (ie, reasonable/realistic), but because they would be looking to profit their offer would not be at market value.

Edit2: I attended the Disney auction (pins - 1st day) outside of Chicago last fall if you have any questions about how that worked from a bidder view. The auction Hopemax mentioned above.

Edit3: Of course there would be interest from DPF members also. We love pins.
 
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OK, I took a bunch of pictures and will try and post them to "Help Me Identify This Pin" either today or tomorrow. Now I just need to figure out how to use IMGUR lol.

But I will say, it was/is a daunting task to try and figure this out. Based on my calculations we have ~5,000 pins. I tried taking in all the advice that was provided but there are just SO many pins it felt futile. I'd love to boil this whole thing down to prob 10-20 pins but it just seems futile. At 5,000 pins - taking 1 minute per pin to google search, review, type into an excel sheet - that is 5k minutes or 83 hours of work. And there is no rhyme or reason to what they bought. They have everything and anything from characters, to movies, to various attractions, collectible coins, 100's of watches, and from parks around the world. The collection is just so BIG it's laughable cuz you can't fully understand what is there. Sorry for venting but I just feel so overwhelmed. Pictures to come
 
I wish we were neighbors, that sounds like so much fun!!


I'm sure it is daunting for you though. I can't imagine someone giving me a collection of stamps or sports cards...I'd be yelling "Help!" at the top of my lungs.

Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk
 
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