Question about Pin Backings

Hi Everyone!

I'm new to this board and I bought 100 pins (in two packs of 50 off Ebay) before I knew about scrapper pins. My question is, when I'm looking at the backs of the pins, if they have the mickey stamp on them and it is vertically stamped and runs right off the edge (without borders) is it safe to assume on that alone that they are legit pins?

Thank you for your help!

Nope, not safe to assume that at all.

I made the mistake of buying a large lot off eBay when I started collecting, too. The best advice I can give to to try to look up every pin from your lot on Pin Pics & see if they 1.) have scrapper/counterfeit warnings listed, and 2.)if they match the pictures shown there.

The lot I bought ended up being 100% bad pins. I was able to return them & get my money back.

Hubby bought me a lot of 25. 23 were bad pins. Sucks but I did learn my lesson.

Odds are against them being good pins. Even if they really were "traded for at the parks". Too many scrappers and counterfeits out there. That said, you can find folks selling real pins for pretty reasonable prices. Look for trader lots on the sales forum here. You will pay a little more but have the satisfaction of knowing they are good pins.

I've all but given up on hidden mickey's. I love the thrill of the hunt but honestly and the simplicity of their series. But at DLR there are pretty much no new HM's to be found, and if they are on the lanyard, they are probably fake. Unless you run into a cast member the second they come out of the break room door or put the lanyard on, you're gonna miss out. Hidden mickey's is what got most of us started. It seems though they are much harder to find anymore. Too many people with scrappers running around snatching up the real ones and listing them for $5 on eBay. I feel like Disney has also cut their production runs of HM's. That's just speculation, but they used to be so easy to find. The World of Color water fountains for example, you could always find those and real ones. The new stuff, the popcorn turners, construction signs, coffins, etc. are nearly impossible. Don't even try to find those Wilderness Explorer pins. Geez. I wish it was still easy to complete sets on a casual few days strolling around. Even when I go a few times a month and look at EVERY lanyard I see I still only have 5 2013 hidden mickeys. 4 of them came on a weekday when I took half a day off work and went at park opening. The other 1 I got at like 11pm in one of the hotels.

First off, welcome to the forum! And unfortunately, scappers/fake pins are everywhere and can be hard to avoid, especially when dealing with hidden mickeys. Consider your purchase of scrapper pins as a rite of passage as a pin collector. When I first started, I purchased a lot of 15 pins. All were scrappers. I learned my lesson then, and for a good number of us here, that's how we all learned that lesson.

I do collect a few hidden mickey sets but I do not trade for them online. It isn't worth the money to mail nor the risk of getting a bad pin for my good pin. I usually try and get what I can when I go to the parks. I feel like I got lucky on my trip at DLR the other week. My daughter and I picked up a few of the new 2013 Duffy bears, a couple wilderness explorer, a mystery crest, and 3 of the new Pixar Vinylmations. Although I am no expert, they all look good to me.

Bryana said:

I feel like I got lucky on my trip at DLR the other week. My daughter and I picked up a few of the new 2013 Duffy bears, a couple wilderness explorer, a mystery crest, and 3 of the new Pixar Vinylmations. Although I am no expert, they all look good to me.

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Wow, that sounds pretty good. Since you mention your daughter, were many of the pins on kids lanyards? How many days were you there? Sounds like you had better-than-most luck.

Thank you all for your replies. I've contacted the Ebay sellers and I am already returning one package for a full refund. Hopefully, I'll be able to go out there and get some real pins now.