Tintin Forums

Hi There... Can anyone tell me what is going on with the Coca Cola style Tintin badges & pins... Are they for real or just cashing in fakes on the market... Cheers (A true pin collector)

It may be that, as a pin collector you already have information that many of us here who are not, might appreciate.

What, specifically, are the issues? Do you know, for example, that other pins are faked? Is there a known "industry", which would be making and distributing counterfeit and pirate badges?

As a non-specialist I might have thought that producing fake pins might have been more trouble than it was worth - they are made of metal, enameled or cloisonné, and that might seem a lot of work given the effort that must require.

However, I know I've been surprised by some of the designs I've seen, which don't just have Tintin but other characters on them, or with figures such as film stars, many of which designs are truly ugly or poorly realized, and I would be surprised if that had happened in an official promotion, which experience shows are (to my knowledge) limited to Hergé characters and seem checked for detail.

So I can't say that all Coca-Cola badges featuring Tintin are not genuine - there have been many products which have been promoted in the past; however, many badges out there do look unlikely candidates to be authorized.

Do the badges you have, or have seen, bear any dates, makers marks or countries of origin? Do they have a Hergé, Studios Hergé or Moulinsart copyright mark?

It may be possible with some details to be able to see if they can be tied to a particular territory, or promotion, and look at establishing what they were produced for. Otherwise, we are as much in the dark as you are.

Thanks for your answer.
Producing metal badges these days is not very hard to do, the expense is moderate also as long as you produce enough of them and have the customers to buy them it can be a good business opportunity to make money...
As you say the pirate items just don't have the quality images, ie: what has Coca Cola got to do with our beloved Tintin? Nothing!
I must admit that I do have a few of the Coke related pins and badges in my collection (they have come from Spain), but I have already made a stand to not buy any more: it is pointless, as it looks like these variations are endless and I prefer to be a purist.
The strange thing is there are not many outlets for Tintin pins in England. The Tintin shop in London is the only one I know of, and it has limited items, rarely in stock.
This is probably the main reason the fake ones are gaining a foot hold on auctions such as e-bay.

Kindest regards,

Pete B

I don't think the quality is related in point of fact to the sponsorship; Tintin and Cº have been used to promote soaps, cars, chocolate, cooking oil, margarine, Nutella, cars and cagoules, to name but a few, so a promotion with Coke is not unlikely - both can be see as leading brands!


Even the undoubtedly genuine pins by Corner come in a plethora of variants - colours being the usual change, so that aspect just seems to be the way these things go!


I can't share your conclusion on this - there just isn't the pin collection culture here as there is on the Continent, so I can't imagine that there is much of a market here for either genuine or fake pins; if the Tintin Shop had a ready audience for them they would sell them and keep them in stock. Thus the lack of a market here isn't going to drive a fakes market, rather they will feed into place which *do* want them, but can't meet the demand.

Let us know if you do come across any further information about any genuine Tintin promotional pins.

Thanks for all your comments... I'll keep you post on new pins coming on the market... All the best RedJet...

Hi Redjet

I'm a London based Tintin pin collector and usually use ebay to source new purchases. I remember one day years and years ago walking into the Tintin shop on Floral Street and they seemed to be getting rid of all the Tintin pin stock as they were all i a basket on the counter at 50p each. I should have bought them all but I was young and my pocket money wouldn't stretch that far...! I've never been tempted by the Coke pins but I seem to remember reading somewhere that they were official (can't remember exactly where) they certainly don't come before the 'pure' pins! Are you also a collector of the corner metal figures like I am?