help 'decode' fraternity symbols?
 

maybe some of you here can shed some light,

i recently came across an antique fraternity coin/badge (see photos), the company (DYER) is no longer in business (1890-2009) but a long term employee said it looked like one of theirs and that they did a lot of items for fraternities and societies.

it is (what we assume so far) a fraternity membership badge / challenge coin. it has been stamped overtop of an indian head penny (1860-1909).

i am having a tough time to sort out the history of it. perhaps some of the symbols are recognized? what does the text say/represent in the center of the shield?

any info greatly appreciated,

http://i.imgur.com/kUqEg.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/GVmBv.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/yVTtF.jpg

The first word isn't Greek; G is not a Greek Letter. I can't tell what it is. The second two words are "Phi Sigma." Presumably it is either the name or a motto of the organization in question.

The stars on the shield -- two groups of three, separated by a bend sinister -- are reminiscent of the stars (separated by a bend) on the Phi Delta Theta arms, but the similarity ends there.

Just curious who "we" is.

"we" being myself, the rep from DYER, and a wide spectrum of exonumia collectors from several forums.

of course it could be military, occult, or just plain novelty (100 years ago it could have been bring your kid to work day at DYER!) , but being DYER's mainstay was fraternity type stuff "we" (me) are leaning in that direction.

any thoughts on the letter between Phi and Sigma? Xi or Zeta? or ?

also, there are not 2 groups of 3 stars, its 4 over 3.

Looks like an iota, which is how the word Phi would be spelled.

[QUOTE=MysticCat;2169636]The first word isn't Greek; G is not a Greek Letter. I can't tell what it is. The second two words are "Phi Sigma." Presumably it is either the name or a motto of the organization in question.

QUOTE]

Could the G maybe be a stylized Theta?

LOL, you are of course right. The mind sees what it decides to see.

The letter between the the Phi and the Sigma appears to me to be a lower-case Iota with a tonos (accent). This seems a little clearer in the picture that is not a close up. It looks to me like the second and third words are Phi and Sigma spelled out: Φί Σιγμα.

That said, I realise now that the third letter in what otherwise looks like Σιγμα is actually a lower-case Eta (η), not a lower-case Mu (μ).

And now that you mention what is between the Phi and the Sigma, is does look a bit different from the other letters that appear to be Iotas, whether with tonos or without. In the picture of the entire coin, it almost looks like the Phi could be the last letter of the first word rather than the first letter of the second word, but it is an upper-case Phi, not a lower-case one (φ). And I'm still thrown by the G, which isn't a form of any Greek letter.

Curious.

ETA:
I guess it could, but that seems unlikely. The follwing letters would be Iota, something that looks like an English i or j, Iota and Alpha.

If I had to guess, I would guess a local group of some kind, but that is only a guess.

i was considering the G as a theta as well.

but what of the third letter? looks like a "j", i dont see anything in the greek alphabet with a dot over it?

a contributor from another forum suggested the last 5 letters spelled "sinea", translated into "precious gift", dont know if that helps or not

I was just exploring that same possibility -- that what looked like a lower-case Gamma to me (γ) is actually a lower-case Nu (ν), which would indeed render the word "sinea."

The only place that I can find that it means "precious gift" is at answers.com, where someone says it's her name and means that in Greek. I'm doubtful, especially since I'm not finding it in Greek lexicons.

This item is from the old high school fraternity known as Beta Phi Sigma, which was founded in 1899 at Muncie High School in Indiana. This is the groups coat of arms, and their badge was shield shaped with an eye and skull and bones on the face with the letters Beta Phi Sigma.

Sincerely,
The Badge Guy :)

just going to google the info you provided,

in the mean time, do you have any links or other to back up your statement?

the beta sigma phi / beta phi sigma logo is no where on this badge

(wiki shows "beta phi sigma" 1899 NOT "beta sigma phi", i assume you type-o'd?)

Info on this group is very scarce for this group since it existed pre "internet" age. (One webpage shows a chapter in the phillippines, but this group is NOT connected to that one.)
My source for this is a publication called American Secondary School Fraternities published in 1912 by J. Ward Brown.
Im sure also that if you find old yearbooks from some high schools in IN you will find an image of this coat of arms, or their pin.

Sincerely,
Badge Guy

any chance you could post page(s) from that book?

i believe what you are telling me,
i would just like something that i can add to a couple of other forums that this 'coin' is being discussed in.

(the philippines chapter has a good history write up on the founding of this society)

Beta Phi Sigma
 

https://cache.nebula.phx3.secureserv...2-e3caa47414fc

https://cache.nebula.phx3.secureserv...c-e067ba6b9a56

Badge Guy

^^^ The description does match the arms on the coin, but how in the world does one can get Beta (Βητα) out of that first word on the coin?

I was wondering that too. Perhaps those words are not the name of the organization, but their motto?