Pins showing the American flag or representing law enforcement agencies are hot among pin collectors at the 2002 Winter Olympics, according to Olympic pin trading expert Edward Playfair. Playfair, who was global Olympic expert at Sotheby's Auction House in England for a decade and is now the Coca-Cola Commissioner of Pin Trading, said that September 11th is having a significant impact on what is hot and what is not at this year's Olympics in Salt Lake City.

"Any pin that has anything to do with security will be hot," he said. "There are literally hundreds of different law enforcement agencies from the FBI to local sheriff's departments that have been brought in to help out with security at the games. Each has produced its own pin." He noted that he traded for a pin from the Enid, Oklahoma sheriff's department as well as one for the Kansas City FBI office earlier in the day. "Only the local Salt Lake area law enforcement agencies have the actual Salt Lake Olympic logo on them," he continued. "The others simply say 2002 Winter Olympics, but all of them are very popular."

As for the American flag, Playfair said that a series of pins produced by Coca-Cola show a snowflake along with the flag of a participating nation. "The ones with the American flags sold out the first day they were available, and we had to order more," he said. Other popular pins at the upcoming Olympics will be "anything with a heart on it" on Valentines Day and pins associated with whatever sport captures the imagination of the public during the games.

Pins with movable parts and flashing lights, as well as a Coke pin with a cowbell, are predicted by Playfair to be popular with more novice pin collectors. The serious collectors, he says, shy away from the gimmick pins. Olympic pin trading is far and away the most active competition at any Olympic Games. More than 200 million pins have been traded since souvenir Olympic pins were first sold in Stockholm in 1912. The biggest Olympic pin year was 1996 in Atlanta when 30 million pins were traded over the 16 days of the Games. The ten million in Salt Lake will be a Winter Olympic record.

"Olympic pin trading is not really something for serious collectors," Playfair observed. "It is mostly what Olympic spectators get into when they attend the Games." While millions of people trade Olympic pins, Playfair said there are no more than 2,000 ongoing Olympic pin collectors in the world.

Coca-Cola, an Olympic sponsor since 1928, has produced 120 different pin designs for Salt Lake out of a total of 3,000 different designs that will be introduced. The popular limited edition "Coca-Cola Pin of the Day" has become an Olympic tradition.

NBC, which is broadcasting the Olympic games in the U.S., is selling collectible pins celebrating Utah, home of the 2002 Winter Games. Each day of the Games, a new collectible pin with its own unique design and story, is being released. http://store.saltlake2002.com/daypins