Project record
Seventy-five pins, six proof rounds, and the happiest customer in the archive.
One of the smallest orders in the library — 75 pins at the largest standard size — and it got six design rounds.
- Quantity
- 75 pins
- Size
- 3.0"
- Pin type
- Standard pins
- Inquiry to ship
- 36 days
The brief
Seventy-five pins at three inches, headed for Ottawa — and the happiest customer in the archive.
How the design got made
- Beat 1
A small order by volume but the largest standard size we make, at three inches
- Beat 2
Six proof rounds, ending at C1F, with the customer thanking the rep for patience at every step
- Beat 3
Paid the same day the purchase order went out
- Beat 4
Shipped three weeks later, well ahead of the tournament
The full account
Small order, big pin
Seventy-five pins. One of the smallest runs recorded here.
At three inches — the largest standard size made.
That combination is unusual and it is a deliberate choice. A team that only needs seventy-five pins is not equipping a roster for a week of mass trading; it is making something closer to a keepsake. At that quantity the per-pin price is never going to reach volume rates, so the sensible move is to stop optimising for cost and make the pin worth having. Three inches, with glitter.
Six rounds
The design went to C1F — six proof revisions.
On a seventy-five-pin order. That is worth stating plainly, because the assumption runs the other way: that small orders get less attention, fewer rounds, a faster no. This one got the same process a fifteen-hundred-pin order gets, and the thread has no complaint in it from either side.
The mould is cut once. Whether you are ordering seventy-five or fifteen hundred, the moment before tooling is the only moment the design is free to change — and it costs the same to get right either way.
Why it existed
The customer paid the day the purchase order went out, and said why in the same message:
"Payment sent and thank you. My son is gonna be king of the world in Ottawa"
That is the entire business, in one line. Not a logo, not an asset, not merchandise. A kid walking into a tournament in Ottawa with something nobody else has.
Timeline
First contact 24 October, purchase order 4 November, shipped 29 November — five weeks, comfortably ahead of the trip.
Why this one is here
As proof that the small orders get the same treatment. Seventy-five pins, six rounds, shipped early.
Specification
| Team | Westchester Express |
|---|---|
| Sport | Hockey |
| Quantity | 75 |
| Size | 3.0" |
| Pin type | Standard pins |
| Finish options | glitter |
| Banner included | No |
| Inquiry | 2025-10-24 |
| Shipped | 2025-11-29 |
The banner threshold
This order sat under the threshold, so no banner was included. At the time the line fell at 1,000 pins at 2.0 inches or larger: the size step cost $0.20 more per pin — $1.07 to $1.27 — and brought a free 3ft × 6ft banner plus 100 bonus gold-metal or blackout pins with it.
Worth checking before you commit to a quantity: the bigger pin is frequently the cheaper total order.
quoted for this order onlyAbout the prices on this page
Every figure here is taken from a real quote for a real order. That is the point of it — and also the reason it will not match what you are quoted.
- Quantity moves the price more than anything else
- Size and build are priced separately
- Turnaround changes the total
- Import tariffs apply and are disclosed on the quote
- These are historical
What the customer said
“Payment sent and thank you. My son is gonna be king of the world in Ottawa”
Customer, Westchester Express · 2025-11-04 · on paying the invoice
Questions this order answers
Glitter is a finish, so it applies to any pin type — standard, spinner or slider alike. It is mixed into the enamel of a chosen colour rather than applied on top, so it will not rub off.
It is specified per colour: one glitter colour, or several. Commonly it lands on a single accent area — the shape of a state, a star, a puck. A 1,500-pin association order ran one glitter colour across the whole run; another design used gold glitter only on the state-shaped element.
Sourced — Multiple 2025–26 orders
Two inches or larger is the working floor for tournament trading — smaller pins get passed over. Sizes run from 2 inches up to 6.
One little league's four orders across three years show the migration in practice: they started at 1.25 inches and moved to 2.0. Larger sizes also unlock the banner threshold, which is why the bigger pin often costs less in total.
Sourced — Sizing guidance across multiple orders; Northern Virginia little league, 2022–2026
No. Every figure in this library is what one team was quoted for one order, on the day they asked. It is published as a record, not as a price list.
Quantity and size move it most: the break runs about $0.20 per pin for every hundred pins, and the range here goes from a 1,500-pin corporate run at 1.25 inch to a 3 inch dangler with glitter. Pin type and finish are priced per pin on top of that — a spinner was $0.65 more per pin on one order, glitter is $0.10 per pin per glitter colour.
Timing is separate again. Six weeks ahead of your date carries no delivery or rush charge; four weeks adds a $40 delivery charge; three weeks adds $40 plus a $75 rush fee. The pins are manufactured in China and are subject to US import tariffs, disclosed on the quote rather than at invoice.
For a price that applies to your order, send your quantity, size and in-hands date and we will quote it.
Sourced — Quoted ladders and fee schedule across the AP Pope, Corona Avengers and Brainerd AHA threads, 2025–2026
Starting your team's pins?
This order was 75 pins at 3.0". Send us your roster size and your event date and we will come back with a price.
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