1984 U.S. Championships at The Netropolitan Museum of Figure Skating Pins

Inexplicably, a derivation of the famous “Stars in Motion” logo designed for the 1984 Summer Olympics, held in Los Angeles, California, was the main element used for the logo pin issued for the 1984 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. The event was held in Salt Lake City, Utah, in January that year—several months before the opening of the 1984 Summer Games. Nearly 40 years later, it remains a “head scratcher” why a design so closely associated with a sports event as significant as the Olympics made its way into figure skating pin history. Yet it did.

The artless copying of another logo and the resulting uninspired design isn’t the worst part about the pins issued for the 1984 U.S. Championships, unfortunately. The production value is low, with an inexpensive sticker applied to a metal base for both the logo and mascot pins; many of the stickers also are applied off-center and/or crooked. The 1984 U.S. Nationals pins are considered by some collectors to be the worst ever produced—from both a design and production standpoint—for the annual event. In an Olympic year, the pins were a failure of Olympic proportion.

The artless copying of another logo isn’t the worst part about the pins issued for the 1984 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, unfortunately.

The main logo pin features a figure skating pair in motion emerging from the stars logo, all done in red, white, and blue just like the 1984 Olympic logo. Beneath the star element are the year and event name: “1984 National Figure Skating Championships.” Note that the location and dates of the event are not included, and the more colloquial word “National” was substituted for “U.S.” A blue keyline frames the design. The pin measures approximately 1-1/4″ x 3/4″ (3.2 cm x 1.9 cm) and is on a gold-color base metal.

An alternate logo pin, made of silver metal and produced in cut-out style, simply reads “1984 Nationals” and was (mercifully) sold only at selected locations during the week-long event. Similarly to the main logo and mascot pins, this pin leaves much to be desired from a quality standpoint, exhibiting an overall crudeness. It measures approximately 1-1/4″ x 7/16″ (3.2 cm x 1.1 cm).

The mascot pin features Edges the Eagle at its center and is a companion in every way to the main logo pin. The pin measures approximately 1″ in diameter (2.5 cm). The sticker material used for the logo and mascot pins appears to be a type of vinyl or similar substrate.

Although the 1984 U.S. Figure Skating Championships may not be best remembered for the lapel pins, they will be remembered as an event where a strong U.S. team was named to represent the U.S. at the 1984 Olympic Winter Games in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.

Enjoy Of Olympic Proportion. 1984.

---

1984 U.S. Figure Skating Championships Pin Gallery

#figureskatingpins #pincollecting #pintrading #pincollector