House Pins

After I left the RAF children's school in Naples I attended boarding school at Notre Dame International in Rome Italy. During my stay there my German hat with numerous hat pins vanished. Unfortunately all of the pins related to the RAF Children's School were fixed to the hat and lost forever.

About four years ago I stumbled across a Harry Potter house pin on eBay. It was exactly the same make and model of the house pin used in the RAF Children's School. Fortunately the picture of the back of the item gave the manufacturer. It was the Fattorini Company in Manchester England.

Following several communications with the customer relations woman, she was able to locate the original work order placed by headmaster Tucker in the early 60s. We communicated for several months. Many of the stories in this blog were taken from communications passed between the customer representative and myself regarding the school and what the pins looked like. Even more surprising she had several blanks that had never been shipped. They been in a drawer with a number on them related to the original order. Based on the information on her company was able to reproduce the original enamel paint colors and faithfully reproduce the house pins. My communications with the company reminded me why I am so fond of the British. In fact our mutual voyage of discovery resulted in the company sending me the reconstituted pins as examples at no cost. These I proudly display beneath my military medals on the wall in my family room.