Coaches Pin or Press Pin??

[delesch]

Anyone know the answer? All the ones I've seen say "Press" where the Braves name is.

[springpin]

I know little about World Series press pins, but enough to ask some questions that might help you ID it. Do you have the other pin that you referenced, the one that has the word "Press" on the feather instead of "Braves?" A photo of it would suffice as well. I will bet it is different in more than just the Press/Braves distinction.

First, World Series press pins are issued before the WS. The winner of the series ("World Champions") can't be known before it is played. Second, even the crown is a bit ostentatious. Yes, they were "National League" champions, but by definition each team in the WS is a league champion. Third, WS press pins are very understated. They simply state the team name and usually "World Series" on it (or it might be implied by a globe design). Most are dated, but some are not. Some list the dates of past WS appearances. The Yankee press pins will typically list the number of times the team has been in the WS, like "It's our 30th." For the Milwaukee Braves in 1957 it might read "Our First" or counting their time in Boston "Our Third."

WS press pins are typically designed by high-end jewelers, like Balfour. They would not permit another party to make variations of their original die to produce souvenir pins to be sold to the public. My guess as to what you have here is the product of some vendor's attempt to sell a souvenir of the Braves 1957 championship. Pinback buttons are not expensive to make. I imagine the cost of having a die cast would be substantial. Is there any marking on the reverse as to who made it? It might have been made by the maker of the press pin, but I doubt it. It is an honor to the jeweler to be selected as the maker of a team's WS press pin. I don't think they would cheapen it by also creating a souvenir from the original die, but maybe. If it is the same company, then my guess is the players and major front office people got rings, and people holding less prominent positions got this pin.

[batsballsbases]

After talking with a good friend of mine who has collected press pins for many years he believes the ones that are printed with the braves logo on the feather are knock offs (or fakes) done much later. All the ones that have press printed on them also have the Balfour small stamping on the bottom under the threaded post. The press ones also have a more copper look to them opposed to the more steel look on the ones that have the braves on the feather. He also said he hasnt seen any of the braves feather ones with the Balfour logo on the bottom. If you can also provide a picture of the back that might help. The name Balfour should be at the bottom on the back. As for it being a coaches pin I would doubt that highly as there seems to be alot of these around. Also if Balfour did make lets say a bunch of these for coaches and even players they would have put the Balfour stamp on the back of them just like they did for the "Press" ones.That is why its important to show us a picture of the back of the pin. Also the ones with balfour say "series" on the front not "champs"