In terms of style we have pins that have holes in the bar for easy gluing and embedding. Some that have a special square hole these are for riveting  and sometimes we get a solid bar that is used when the item will be soldered. In addition there are bar pins with bails attached so the jewellery can be used either as a pendent or a pin. Some pin backs have  prongs on them so they can be mounted through fabrics and paper. The list goes on. Generally I would say the two an three hole bar pins are going to be the most popular and versatile as they can be used for gluing and some solder operations.

The actual quality of the pin is another issue that we have gone round and round on with suppliers and customers a like. Starting at the lowest level there are very inexpensive pins that are  made from just a bent piece of metal. Something like you see on a paper nametag. Moving up to a pin with an actual clasp we can still find extremely cheap base metal bar pins. These are made Asia. They will be plated and the price is right… but there is going to be a large percentage of bad ones. In the past we experienced 10%-40% defects on these. The catches won’t work correctly and they are just plain cheap. This is not a pin you want to put on a piece of hand crafted jewelry your trying to get some good money for. The next level up I would describe as good or medium quality. Generally these a brass. They are going to be pretty reliable. There may still be the occasional bad pin but overall it is a pretty good defect rate. This quality is often made here in USA they have a gold or silver plate finish. This is a popular choice and one I would recommend on most fashion jewelry. The last group of bar pins I put in the superior or best category. Again made in USA. These are constructed of solid nickel components. There is no plating and as such are not available in a gold finish. They have smooth acting clasps and strong thick pins. So thick in fact that some people will complain that the pin may be so big that it creates a hole in the fabric. Aside from that issue they are notably better and of course more expensive then other pins. Expect no bad pins at all in this group.