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Ten most collectable Phish pins

Phish parking lots are a gold mine of bootleg memorabilia for fans. It used to be that a clever T-shirt design was the hot item on lot, but these days, fans have been moving into a different type of collectors item: hat pins. Below are our top ten hat pins...
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Phish parking lots are a gold mine of bootleg memorabilia for fans. It used to be that a clever T-shirt design was the hot item on lot, but these days, fans have been moving into a different type of collectors item: hat pins.

Below are our top ten hat pins in circulation -- with their corresponding Phish song below. Be sure and keep an eye out for some of them as well as new designs in the parking lots, as a few are considered rare and hard to find these days.

10. "Stash" flip coin (Myfe) "Control for smilers can't be bought The solar garlic starts to rot Was it for this my life I sought? Maybe so and maybe not"

9. "Sanity"/Earth bomb (Myfe) Another Phish oddity, lyrically, but with helpful reminders that "you can trespass anywhere" and "The stars in the sky are really bright." But the narrator also mentions he has lost his mind a couple of times and makes it clear: "You can save the whales, you can save the toads, but I don't care if the (world explodes)." 8. "Lizards"/Helping Friendly Book (Myfe)

The lizards are a race of people who originally inhabited the land of Gamehenge. They've been driven to extinction by "doing things smart people don't do" since losing their guiding oracle, The Helping Friendly Book, to the evil King Wilson.

7. "Mexican Cousin" (Myfe)

Remember Slowpoke Rodriguez? Speedy Gonzales's lazy, stoned and drunk cousin from Mexico? Now you get it. What better image to have for this borderline obnoxious song than the classically racist cartoons of 1950s Warner Brothers?

6. "My Friend, My Friend" (Zenster)

One of the stranger and creepier Phish tunes, "My Friend, My Friend" tells the tale of a friend, with a knife and a wife. This simple pin sums up the strangeness of the tune quite well.

5. "David Bowie"/"Maze" flip coin. (Adam Davidoff)

So, this isn't a pin, but we're including it anyway. The snappy high-hat introductions to both songs sound similar before the first notes of either song come out and let you know which one it may be. This coin may or may not help your odds when guessing, but it's a pretty cool memento to have around.

"Bowie": "Maze": 4. Pac-man "Ghost"/Fishman dress (Pinmedown designs)

A double-meaning here, with the ghost representing the ever-funky original Phish tune, "Ghost" and the red-circles mimicking drummer Jon Fishman's moo moo that he has worn for nearly thirty years behind the drums.

3. Read Icculus (Party Time Pins)

"This is a special man. This man was a philosopher many years ago." A pin paying homage to Icculus, the most intelligent, enlightened person in the mythical land of Gamehenge and author of the Helping Friendly Book. You haven't read the book yet? Read it.

2. Ocelot headstock zipper pull (Pinmedown Designs)

A mini replica of the headstock of the current show guitar of Trey Anastasio you can carry with you wherever you go. The guitar's namesake song, "Ocelot," is a part of the batch of new songs the band has written over the last few years.

1. Hampton/Scent of a Mule pin (Myfe Designs)

From Phish's completely sold-old, three night reunion shows at the Hampton Colloseum in Hampton, Virgina, this is one of the more coveted pins, especially if you were lucky enough to make it to any of the three nights.

*Bonus* "Makisupa Policeman" Badge (Pinmedown Pins)

This reggae ditty has an ever changing verse that is usually related to smoking pot in some way or another. Owning this badge gives you the right to check your neighbors stash with a toke or two to make sure it's up to par.




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