Nurses Pins

When I turned 50 I got the usual black balloons and things plus a ruptured appendix. My collector’s mind trapped in a hospitalized body quickly got very desperate and in no time at all noticed that all the nurses wore pins. I discovered a whole new (to me) collecting field. Most nurses pins fall into one of four categories. Largest is that of school pins from nursing schools. This category also includes hospitals since many large hospitals also incorporate nursing schools. Then there are also hospital and hospital long service pins and Red Cross pins. Finally there are license pins like the Minnesota Registered Nurse pin illustrated in the group below. The older pins are usually 10 and 14k gold or sterling silver and enamel. The newer pins are just gold plated even though you’d never guess that when you take a look at the listed retail prices posted on the pin manufacture's sites. To get an idea of this vast collecting field check out the Ecrater.com http://freds.ecrater.com/category.php?cid=499683 and other internet sites including Google.