I know that when we've had significant things up on that site, a notice has gone out on the list-serve that HQ is bidding so that everyone on the list knows not to.

I'm hoping, since AGDAlum posted it on our Facebook page that someone close to the top picked it up for the IHQ badge collection. In looking at the bidding history of the winner though, I think it is a collector :(

Come on Vandal!! The non AGDs are waiting for some info!

I am very disappointed if this doesn't end up at the AGD HQ. How could they pass this up?!

Sorry, I had a whole bunch of stuff that took priority.

First thing is that I accepted that 19 03 was not likely a date but that this was an early badge due to the opals on the Alpha and the black enamel of the Gamma. I went to three being Gamma, our very short lived chapter at Wesleyan university in Middletown, Connecticut, and once you and lleduc posted a Charlotte Geer at the same school around the same time, I felt more confident. She graduated in 1903 so that could also be what the 19 03 engraved on the back was for.

Wesleyan was installed as Gamma in 1906, and closed in 1912. Women were no longer admitted after 1909, and were treated horribly by the male students. The information told to me by 'big squirrels" was that these women at Gamma had a squirrel as a local mascot and that was one of the reasons we have Skiouros, to honor the loss of that chapter. as well as squirrels being smart and industrious lil' critters, and squirrels also fit well with our color motif. There was a local organization founded in 1895 that was mentioned in the 1905 Baird's, Zeta Epsilon.

Zeta Epsilon.—A ladies' society founded at Wesleyan University in March, 1895. The membership to date is about 40. The badge is a diamond-shaped shield, displaying the letters "Z E." The colors are white, green and pink.

I have no idea what their jewels were, if any, so perhaps they were opals which is why this badge is opal. Charlotte Graham Geer Wilcox was born March 8, 1878 so she did not choose her birthstone, as opals are associated with October. Like many organizations badges were often made locally, so there wasn't complete standardization, and while researching Charlotte I found a 1915 edition of The Quarterly with an advertisement from D.L. Auld stating that company was our official jeweler. However from a historical document at the University of Illinois (Sigma chapter) J. F. Newman of New York is mentioned as the designer of our second badge with a plain Delta, a chased Gamma, and the Alpha in pearls or diamonds. That citation came from Georgia Dickover's written history and being that she is a founder and was our Inter/national Historian I believe that's true. I haven't pinned down when we switched to D. L. Auld aka Burr Patterson Auld aka Herff Jones and we can't forget L.G. Balfour aka Art Carved.


First thing I did was establish I had the right Charlotte Geer as there were many in Connecticut and then her married name, which is Wilcox, and did some cross referencing which placed her in the area. In 1909 in Ida Shaw Martin's The Sorority Handbook a Charlotte Geer was listed as Treasure of Alpha Gamma Delta Grand Council and living in Middletown, Connecticut (where Wesleyan was located). However she was a teacher and from the Wesleyan alumni publications I was able to track where she went and at that time she was teaching in Seymour, CT ten miles from Middletown. She married Edmund Cleveland Wilcox in 1912, and they had two children, a son Edmund Gillette Wilcox who died in 2002, and Margaret P. Wilcox who I haven't traced to a death yet. Charlotte and Edmund lived in the area where her pin was being sold, as did their son Edmund, and at his death one of his daughters was in the area. Charlotte died in 1971 so if this badge is "estate fresh" perhaps her daughter recently passed or one of her granddaughters. As I mentioned I haven't finished looking for information on her daughter and if she married and if so, kept her last name or if she had children.

When I muddle through that I'll come back and post an update.

Great thanks

Thanks VandalSquirrel....so do y'all know for sure an AGD did not win this?

VandalSquirrel, you are amazing! I like "detective work" and you have a talent in that area, for sure.

As for dates on badges, here's what I did with my new onyx badge: I had "ABC" "BD" and 4-1-11 engraved on the back of it. None of those initials would make sense to anyone else. ABC=Advisory Board Chairman BD = Beta Delta (chapter at UofA) and the date is my official appointment date. I made provisions for the badge upon my demise so it should never end up on any auction site. Still, the explanation will accompany the badge and it may end up lost so someday, there might be another GCer researching the weird engraving on an onyx badge.

You'd think I would have had second thoughts, being appointed on April First. One day I'll tell the tale of my first year as an ABC (if I make it that long).

Unless it is an AGD who also happens to be a collector and a VERY frequent bidder/winner on e_bay, then sadly I fear it was not.

30 day bidding history of the winning bidder

Note they also have a feedback rating of 900. I buy Theta items all the time on that site and my rating is only around 100.

Very interesting and thorough research! Thanks so much for more of the story, VandalSquirrel! :)

You're welcome Dear Sister.

I didn't follow the auction that closely, and purposefully waited on publicly posting information until the auction closed as to not provide a reason to increase the value to a non-member.

Both of my areas of employment (outdoors in the summer, indoors the rest of the year) lend themselves well to "detective work" as you call it. I'd also like to think my History degree and research areas provided me with a solid background for inquiry and the skills to bring it all together.

Oh thetalady, there's more to the story. I found the daughter, her husband and at least one child they had. Since there are living people involved I'm going to keep some details vague to respect their privacy. I'll post again when I've either figured out how this badge ended up "estate fresh" on eBay or hit a wall. I find the generations of this family really interesting as they have roughly lived in two communities a few miles apart for so many years.

[QUOTE=AzTheta;2103469]VandalSquirrel, you are amazing! I like "detective work" and you have a talent in that area, for sure.

As for dates on badges, here's what I did with my new onyx badge: I had "ABC" "BD" and 4-1-11 engraved on the back of it. None of those initials would make sense to anyone else. ABC=Advisory Board Chairman BD = Beta Delta (chapter at UofA) and the date is my official appointment date. QUOTE]

Does anyone know when Alpha Gam badges ceased being engraved with the member's name, chapter, & initiation date? I was initiatied in 1971 and my badge has a serial number (AQ363, IIRC). My assumption is that Balfour stamped 'em and sent 'em out as they were ordered. Is that serial-number system still being used? Does IHQ maintain a list? (I should probably ask IHQ....are they in the midst of moving to the new building?)

[QUOTE=AGDAlum;2103965]The serial number system is still being used on badges from about five or so years ago, and I'm quite sure the numbers are assigned and maintained by IHQ. I'm guessing at the system/methodology but the first set of numbers would designate chapter (installed in chronological order I assume), the second identifies the individual within the chapter in the chronological order she was initiated. My number is the same on items I've received from IHQ, like The Quarterly and was needed to register on the old website. I remember that some very eager and/or industrious collegians wanted to have access to things on our old website, and as their copies of The Quarterly were sent to their home/parent's address they had to have their parents read it off the mailing label or call IHQ. Now it is streamlined and our new members are able to access everything since we use Omega Fi and they have an account to pay bills.

[QUOTE=VandalSquirrel;2104109][QUOTE=AGDAlum;2103965]

The serial number system is still being used on badges from about five or so years ago, and I'm quite sure the numbers are assigned and maintained by IHQ. I'm guessing at the system/methodology but the first set of numbers would designate chapter (installed in chronological order I assume), the second identifies the individual within the chapter in the chronological order she was initiated.


Well, my badge says AQ363. I was initiated into Epsilon Alpha chapter (which would have been Alpha Alpha if AGD did not use regional designations) and the chapter roll was over 800 initiates by then. :confused: I logged into MyAlphaGam and didn't see any membership number (such as would be on the Quarterly mailing label).

[QUOTE=AGDAlum;2104184][QUOTE=VandalSquirrel;2104109]Now that Omega Fi is managing our web site that number is probably not going to show up on the part of the website visible to us. I looked and couldn't find it, but I know that I had to have that label to have the right number to sign up for the old site. Who knows how many systems have been used over the years, and how long each one was used, and the reasoning for each one.

I'll try and remember to look at a copy of The Quarterly and see if I can remember the theory a collegian and I came up with to explain the numbering system we thought was being used. It is completely possible we saw patterns where none existed, as what's on your badge doesn't readily jump out to me.