The pin collection at Pin Base Photo: Wang Zi

By Li Shuang

Pin Base, a popular pin-trading club at Houhai has been accused of selling fake Hard Rock Café pins. After receiving complaints from Hard Rock's representative in China, the authorities confiscated 143 Hard Rock pins for further inspection Monday.

Pin Base, which opened about two months ago, is a popular café and club for pin collectors to trade their collections. Located on the south bank of Houhai, the café is decorated with pins from the Hard Rock Café, almost every Disneyland around the world and Olympic delegations from various countries.

Many of the Hard Rock limited edition pins are in mint condition. Almost every year's pin from every Hard Rock Café around the world is available and for sale for 300 yuan ($43.94) apiece.

The Xicheng branch of the Industry and Commerce Bureau received complaints from IntellecPro, which represents Hard Rock trademark interests in China, and paid a visit to Pin Base Monday to inspect the badges at the café.

Yang Xu, the owner of Pin Base, told the Global Times that he got his collection through trading with pin collectors all around the world and buying them off eBay. "The authorities took a guitar case decorated with pins out of my window display. I hope they will later conclude that they are not fake," said Yang. "I assure you that my pins are authentic, but every collector loses his touch and is cheated with fakes once in a while."

Yang Xu said that he became interested in collecting pins during the Beijing Olympics after meeting collectors from all around the world and has collected more than 1,000 pins since then.

The club has successfully organized two pin trading parties and has another coming up March 14, which will take place as scheduled. "There are many people in Beijing who are into pin collecting. I welcome them to my café to trade," Yang told the Global Times.