I asked the seller if they knew anything about the pin's history, and she did not.
She picked it up at an auction in Maryland.

I was rooting for you GTAlphaPhi.

I've seen this pin before, early Jan 2009 on Ebay. I don't know what it sold for, but the enamel had blemishes and missing two gems.

The second one looked worse. I'll post pics soon.

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r...alpha_phi2.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r...alpha_phi5.jpg

I'm a collector...of photos.:D

Interesting photos, twotimestalia. If there is more than 1 of these strange badges out there, I wonder if a chapter designed this for their own members pre-standard-badge era . They are all a little different in the placement of the large jewel and the engraving.

A more common badge, yes, but currently up for bid at eBay is a badge with a Beta Gamma guard. Beta Gamma is at University of Colorado.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ALPHA-PHI-SORORI...item335a267aa0

currently up on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ALPHA-PHI-sorori...item3ef7363084

the description says it is a founders pin from western michigan.

Currently up for bid: an unjeweled badge from 1921.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Alpha-Ph...item3a586c5334

Up for bid: pearl badge, vintage (doesn't say what year)

Alpha Phi Badge on Ebay

I have noticed that there are a few Alpha Phi pins on ebay. These pins shouldn't be there and should be returned to the EO.

There are always badges on Ebay for many different sororities and fraternities at any given time, I wish we could get our hands on all of them but it just isn't possible.