Your ultimate guide to Disneyland Host/Guide "D" pins
Submitted for your approval: your ultimate guide to Disneyland Host/Guide "D" pins.
So you might be considering buying a Disneyland "D" pin on eBay or someplace. How do you tell if it's real or not? Use this guide!
The first "D" pins were created in 1958 when the Tour Guide program was started at Disneyland by Milt Albright, who worked at the park as an accountant in the payroll department. Here is the first pin from 1958 (notice the rather crude state of the GUIDE lettering on the rocker bar, where the later generations are rather refined. This is the first clue that a pin is the first generation):
And the back of the 1958 pin:
You can clearly see that the first-generation pins from 1958 are made of gold-plated sterling silver, and are hallmarked as such on the back of Sleeping Beauty Castle, with the same DISNEYLAND W.D.P © hallmark on the second and third generations of pins. The 1958 pin does not have a hallmark on the bottom of the castle, unlike the next generations of "D" pins.:
The second generation of "D" pins were manufactured in the early 1960's by the N.S. Meyer Inc. of New York:
(N.S. Meyer also made HOST and HOSTESS pins for Disneyland. They carry the same hallmarks in the same places as the GUIDE pin presented here.)
Note the clasp goes horizontally across the "D" on the N.S. Meyer pin:
The back of the N.S. Meyer pin:
and a close-up of the N.S. Meyer hallmark, (It says N.S. MEYER, INC NEW YORK)
The bottom of Sleeping Beauty Castle carries a hallmark of DISNEYLAND W.D.P © (short for Walt Disney Productions, and any pin that carries this hallmark was made before 1986. Michael Eisner changed the name of the company to The Walt Disney Company in February of that year):
Around the mid 1970's and again the 1980's, Disneyland needed some new "D" pins to replace lost or worn out ones. This time an order was placed with a different company, Vanguard Industries. Both Vanguard and N.S. Meyer providers of insignia to the United States Armed Forces. The "D" Pins made by Vanguard are nearly the same as those from N.S. Meyer, with some key differences. Here is the front of the first generation pin from Vanguard:
And its back side, notice the clasp is horizontal, about the middle of the pin, whereas the NS Meyer was towards the top, and it bears the hallmark © WALT DISNEY PRODUCTIONS:
The bottom of the Sleeping Beauty Castle on the Vanguard pins also bears the DISNEYLAND W.D.P © hallmark. Also notice the distinct glob of metal on the bottom, it's present on both generations of Vanguard pins:
Here is the front of the second generation 1980's Vanguard pin. You will note the clasp goes vertically across the Vanguard pin:
and the back (note the different hallmark of "© WALT DISNEY PRODUCTIONS"):
The bottom of Sleeping Beauty Castle on the Vanguard pin carries the same hallmark of DISNEYLAND W.D.P © as the N.S. Meyer pins:
In 2001 when Disney California Adventure opened, a new "D" pin was created for cast members working the service desk in the Guest Relations office. It was made by a company in China, whose name I cannot find. Here is the front of it:
And some shots of the back side, note the pin goes vertically. The Guest Relations pin from 2001 does not have a hallmark on the bottom of the Sleeping Beauty Castle, but is hallmarked © DISNEY on the back side:
A closer picture of the hallmark:
As an additional point of comparison, Vanguard Industries also made several costume pieces for Walt Disney World. Here is a Guest Relations pin made by Vanguard for WDW, compare its features and details to the Disneyland pin, in particular the unpolished metal on the back:
One key detail in the Vanguard pins lies in the © WALT DISNEY PRODUCTIONS hallmark. In the PRODUCTIONS part of the hallmark, the bottom of the P, N and S are always missing, as the hallmarks were made with the same dies.
One other thing of note is that N.S. Meyer went out of business in 1992, and Vanguard Industries purchased all their old stock. Vanguard then sold them on the open market, including many Walt Disney World pins still on the N.S. Meyer backer cards, which look like this:
So you might find Host, or Hostess, or Director, or many badges on this card, which came in blue and red. You can buy them knowing they are genuine. And just for the sake of completeness, here is another of the "D" pins from the 1980's, the Disneyland Ambassador pin :eek2: :
I'm not sure which company Disney contracted to make the Ambassador pins, as it bears a © WALT DISNEY PRODUCTIONS CHINA hallmark. There is no hallmark on the bottom of the Sleeping Beauty Castle:
Now I will show you an example of one of the many fake "D" pins that are on eBay and other places. The most common is what I call the "can opener" variety. Here's the front and back, so you can see what I mean:
.
Notice the rather lethal-looking 'can-opener' on the bottom of the pin. That's the dead giveaway.
And the "can opener" fakes have no hallmarks on the back, or the bottom of the Sleeping Beauty Castle:
You will also find fakes with absurd titles never used at Disneyland, like TRAM DRIVER, BOAT PILOT, etc. So if your pin looks like one of these below, you now know it's a fake
:down::
So know you know a bit more on how to spot real and fake Disneyland Cast Member costume "D" pins! :wiggle:
:hug:
So you might be considering buying a Disneyland "D" pin on eBay or someplace. How do you tell if it's real or not? Use this guide!
The first "D" pins were created in 1958 when the Tour Guide program was started at Disneyland by Milt Albright, who worked at the park as an accountant in the payroll department. Here is the first pin from 1958 (notice the rather crude state of the GUIDE lettering on the rocker bar, where the later generations are rather refined. This is the first clue that a pin is the first generation):
And the back of the 1958 pin:
You can clearly see that the first-generation pins from 1958 are made of gold-plated sterling silver, and are hallmarked as such on the back of Sleeping Beauty Castle, with the same DISNEYLAND W.D.P © hallmark on the second and third generations of pins. The 1958 pin does not have a hallmark on the bottom of the castle, unlike the next generations of "D" pins.:
The second generation of "D" pins were manufactured in the early 1960's by the N.S. Meyer Inc. of New York:
(N.S. Meyer also made HOST and HOSTESS pins for Disneyland. They carry the same hallmarks in the same places as the GUIDE pin presented here.)
Note the clasp goes horizontally across the "D" on the N.S. Meyer pin:
The back of the N.S. Meyer pin:
and a close-up of the N.S. Meyer hallmark, (It says N.S. MEYER, INC NEW YORK)
The bottom of Sleeping Beauty Castle carries a hallmark of DISNEYLAND W.D.P © (short for Walt Disney Productions, and any pin that carries this hallmark was made before 1986. Michael Eisner changed the name of the company to The Walt Disney Company in February of that year):
Around the mid 1970's and again the 1980's, Disneyland needed some new "D" pins to replace lost or worn out ones. This time an order was placed with a different company, Vanguard Industries. Both Vanguard and N.S. Meyer providers of insignia to the United States Armed Forces. The "D" Pins made by Vanguard are nearly the same as those from N.S. Meyer, with some key differences. Here is the front of the first generation pin from Vanguard:
And its back side, notice the clasp is horizontal, about the middle of the pin, whereas the NS Meyer was towards the top, and it bears the hallmark © WALT DISNEY PRODUCTIONS:
The bottom of the Sleeping Beauty Castle on the Vanguard pins also bears the DISNEYLAND W.D.P © hallmark. Also notice the distinct glob of metal on the bottom, it's present on both generations of Vanguard pins:
Here is the front of the second generation 1980's Vanguard pin. You will note the clasp goes vertically across the Vanguard pin:
and the back (note the different hallmark of "© WALT DISNEY PRODUCTIONS"):
The bottom of Sleeping Beauty Castle on the Vanguard pin carries the same hallmark of DISNEYLAND W.D.P © as the N.S. Meyer pins:
In 2001 when Disney California Adventure opened, a new "D" pin was created for cast members working the service desk in the Guest Relations office. It was made by a company in China, whose name I cannot find. Here is the front of it:
And some shots of the back side, note the pin goes vertically. The Guest Relations pin from 2001 does not have a hallmark on the bottom of the Sleeping Beauty Castle, but is hallmarked © DISNEY on the back side:
A closer picture of the hallmark:
As an additional point of comparison, Vanguard Industries also made several costume pieces for Walt Disney World. Here is a Guest Relations pin made by Vanguard for WDW, compare its features and details to the Disneyland pin, in particular the unpolished metal on the back:
One key detail in the Vanguard pins lies in the © WALT DISNEY PRODUCTIONS hallmark. In the PRODUCTIONS part of the hallmark, the bottom of the P, N and S are always missing, as the hallmarks were made with the same dies.
One other thing of note is that N.S. Meyer went out of business in 1992, and Vanguard Industries purchased all their old stock. Vanguard then sold them on the open market, including many Walt Disney World pins still on the N.S. Meyer backer cards, which look like this:
So you might find Host, or Hostess, or Director, or many badges on this card, which came in blue and red. You can buy them knowing they are genuine. And just for the sake of completeness, here is another of the "D" pins from the 1980's, the Disneyland Ambassador pin :eek2: :
I'm not sure which company Disney contracted to make the Ambassador pins, as it bears a © WALT DISNEY PRODUCTIONS CHINA hallmark. There is no hallmark on the bottom of the Sleeping Beauty Castle:
Now I will show you an example of one of the many fake "D" pins that are on eBay and other places. The most common is what I call the "can opener" variety. Here's the front and back, so you can see what I mean:
.
Notice the rather lethal-looking 'can-opener' on the bottom of the pin. That's the dead giveaway.
And the "can opener" fakes have no hallmarks on the back, or the bottom of the Sleeping Beauty Castle:
You will also find fakes with absurd titles never used at Disneyland, like TRAM DRIVER, BOAT PILOT, etc. So if your pin looks like one of these below, you now know it's a fake
:down::
So know you know a bit more on how to spot real and fake Disneyland Cast Member costume "D" pins! :wiggle:
:hug:
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