Badge Trends?

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by als463

Here are some pictures of my badge ring. The badge is turquoise for the 2010 National Convention in Phoenix, Arizona. It is a special edition badge for Phi Mu. My fiance bought me the badge holder ring. Sorry if the picture looks. Also, thanks for letting me know what site to use. I'm going to use that site from now on!


http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/689/dsc00154dp.jpg

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/839/dsc00156lg.jpg

Very nice! I bet you love wearing it.

[NutBrnHair]

Originally Posted by als463

Here are some pictures of my badge ring. The badge is turquoise for the 2010 National Convention in Phoenix, Arizona. It is a special edition badge for Phi Mu. My fiance bought me the badge holder ring. Sorry if the picture looks. Also, thanks for letting me know what site to use. I'm going to use that site from now on!

Cool! That will be fun to wear.

[als463]

Oh yes! I love it! Trust me when I say that the badge is much more "swoon-worthy" and the horrible pictures I took of it don't do it any justice! I love it!

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by lleduc

Did anyone see that KKG key from 1935 with the dangles? I've never seen anything like it...it looked a lot older than 1935...

Anyone know anything about it?

Thanks
lledUC

Did you buy it and want information about it?

[sigmagirl2000]

Sorry to bump without anything exciting to add... I just recall a few recently initiated folks were going to post pictures of pins/ badges. Maybe someone else has some pretty to add as well? (The Patriots aren't dominating like they should. Thus I'm antsy and could use a little badge fix to help out )

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by sigmagirl2000

Sorry to bump without anything exciting to add... I just recall a few recently initiated folks were going to post pictures of pins/ badges. Maybe someone else has some pretty to add as well? (The Patriots aren't dominating like they should. Thus I'm antsy and could use a little badge fix to help out )

You spoke too soon! The Ravens are giving them a run for their money!!

[momof4girls]

As soon as my daughters badge arrives I'll post a picture of her's and mine together. I would think it would be arriving anyday now.

[honeychile]

Any opal-loving Zetas in the house?

[MysticCat]

Here's an oddity: A seller on The-Site-That-Must-Not-Named has this badge for sale:




As you can see, this looks just like a Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia badge, except that there is a Δ where the Α should be. Looking carefully, you can also see that the gold line that separates the Δ from the S is just a little thicker than the lines that separate the S from the Φ and the Μ, and it seems to connect completely to the outside gold triangle, while the other two lines do not. Even the seller describes it as a "Mystery Fraternity Pin -- Phi Mu Delta Sinfonia" and notes the similarity to our badge.

What makes it particularly interesting is that the Phi Mu Delta badge is indeed similar to ours already:




(Sidenote: I've always found the similarity between our badge and the ΦΜΔ badge interesting anyway. Both fraternities were founded in New England -- us in 1898 and ΦΜΔ in 1918. The current form of our badge was set in 1910; I haven't been able to determine when or where the ΦΜΔ was designed or adopted.)

I guess I'll never know the story behind this, but I am intrigued.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Here's an oddity: A seller on The-Site-That-Must-Not-Named has this badge for sale:




As you can see, this looks just like a Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia badge, except that there is a Δ where the Α should be. Looking carefully, you can also see that the gold line that separates the Δ from the S is just a little thicker than the lines that separate the S from the Φ and the Μ, and it seems to connect completely to the outside gold triangle, while the other two lines do not. Even the seller describes it as a "Mystery Fraternity Pin -- Phi Mu Delta Sinfonia" and notes the similarity to our badge.

What makes it particularly interesting is that the Phi Mu Delta badge is indeed similar to ours already:




(Sidenote: I've always found the similarity between our badge and the ΦΜΔ badge interesting anyway. Both fraternities were founded in New England -- us in 1898 and ΦΜΔ in 1918. The current form of our badge was set in 1910; I haven't been able to determine when or where the ΦΜΔ was designed or adopted.)

I guess I'll never know the story behind this, but I am intrigued.

Weird!

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

Weird!

Isn't it? Really weird.

ETA: I went back to That Site and caught something I hadn't before. It says "The back of the badge is engraved RBA Sigma April 10-19-38." Our Sigma chapter was at the University of Washington (Seattle); it has been inactive since '74. That means it should be fairly easy to figure out who it originally belonged to, but that still leaves the question of why the Α is now a Δ.

[TSteven]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Isn't it? Really weird.

ETA: I went back to That Site and caught something I hadn't before. It says "The back of the badge is engraved RBA Sigma April 10-19-38." Our Sigma chapter was at the University of Washington (Seattle); it has been inactive since '74. That means it should be fairly easy to figure out who it originally belonged to, but that still leaves the question of why the Α is now a Δ.

Were custom made badges allowed in '38? If so, this badge may be one of them. Which might explain why the gold line separating the "Delta" from the "S" is slightly thicker.

Now this is pure speculation based on if custom badges were (are) allowed. Perhaps the jeweler goofed and used a Delta instead of the Alpha. Then once the error was discovered, the badge was returned to the jeweler. And now after all these years, it has surfaced.

[AOII Angel]

I like the jeweler error idea, but that's a huge error for something like this. I just don't see Phi Mu Delta using the combination of pearls and garnets exactly like PMA does so I doubt it's a PMD badge. Really weird. I'd buy it if I were you, but I know how much they charge for their badges at that stupid site.

[TSteven]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

I like the jeweler error idea, but that's a huge error for something like this. I just don't see Phi Mu Delta using the combination of pearls and garnets exactly like PMA does so I doubt it's a PMD badge. Really weird. I'd buy it if I were you, but I know how much they charge for their badges at that stupid site.

I agree. Except for the "Delta", it looks like a Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia badge. Especially with the script "S" in the middle.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by TSteven

Were custom made badges allowed in '38? If so, this badge may be one of them.

I would be surprised if that's the explanation. The arrangement of the jewels dates back to 1901 (three years after founding). The badge looked just like the current badge except no Greek letters -- the S filled the central triangle. From 1902-1909, some chapters advocated alternatives, including a point-down triangle and adding the Greek letters. The current design (with Greek letters) was adopted in 1910, and so far as I know, the only alternative that has ever been permitted since then was a scroll-edged version with no jewels. (That was in the mid-to-late 1900s; we don't even allow that anymore.) So all that is to say that I seriously doubt any customization was allowed in 1938.

And as far as I know, we've used an official jeweler pretty much all along, but I could be wrong about that.

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

I just don't see Phi Mu Delta using the combination of pearls and garnets exactly like PMA does so I doubt it's a PMD badge. Really weird. I'd buy it if I were you, but I know how much they charge for their badges at that stupid site.

From what I've read, my impression is that the jewels on the ΦΜΔ badge are non-negotiable, just as they are for us.

And yes on the price. It just may not be in the budget right now.