When my class was initiated, the only possible badge was the 22 pearl. Now, they have introduced a badge with fewer pearls, which I've noticed that newer chapters tend to have (to cut down costs); my chapter always uses the 22-pearl, unless a sister specifically asks for an option. I think both are beautiful!

AOII Badge
 

I purchased the gold plated AOII badge because I was given my Great-Grandmother's badge from 1924. It has the pearls all over it and it is smaller then the newer badges. My younger sister ordered the white gold plain badge when she was intiated. It is very pretty too. When my mom is initiated this fall I'm going to give her my badge. Fun times!

Zetas can choose whatever pin they want. When I was initiated in 1961, I chose an opal pin with blue sapphire points and an opal guard. I still wear it proudly.

My son who is a Kappa Sigma has a jeweled pin set with rubies and emeralds (red & green being their colors). My husband who is a Phi Kappa Sigma has a plain pin. Phi Kap has not had jeweled pins for many, many years -- feeling that it is more democratic for everyone to have the same pin.

I was a colony member, so like tcsparky we were all loaned Quills at initiation until ours came in. I ended up getting the plain gold Quill to go with my gold colony pin, even though all my other jewelery is silver. We were allowed to get whichever we wanted -- quite a few girls got the plain silver one, and some got the gold one with 3 pearls. I think that that one's really pretty and different-looking...but for me, I really want the white gold, 15-pearl Quill (my chapter advisor has one and it's gorgeous). This broke college student is going to have to wait a while for that, though...

we were allowed to choose any badge we wanted, anything from plain white or yellow gold to chased golds to twotone etc etc. i chose a two-tone chased badge.... i love it so much

As said before, we're allowed to choose from literally hundreds of different styles. I have seen here on Greek Chat, however, that some chapters will keep the jeweled points to either pearls or one of the blue stones (sapphire, aquamarine, blue topaz).

We have one International Officer who has quite a collection - over a hundred! I would SO love to see a poster made of all of her different pins!!

We were also allowed to choose any badge we wanted, as well as were pinned with our Sister-Mothers badge until ours came in. I have the Fourteen Pearl Badge and love it!

When I ordered my Badge, white gold and silver were not options yet. And for the badges with the gem points, we could only order ruby or amethyst (maroon and lavendar being our colors). I ordered the crown pearl with ruby points, and I still thin it's one of the nicer styles. When I came back, I was suprised to see the white gold and silver options, and also differnet gem points. I liked that everyone in my chapter had very similar badges. Most people ordered either the scroll border or gem points, and it was rare that anyone ordered the badge with pearls and gems alternating. I did notice subtle differences in the enamel on the newer badges though, and while mine is more maroon, the newer ones are very dark, almost black, which I don't like.

SAE only really has one standard badge to begin with... well, excluding the president's badge anyway. Any member who wants to can order jeweled or otherwise more elaborate badges through Burr, Patterson & Auld, but in all my time as an SAE (including two trips to the national leadership school), I have never once seen any undergraduate wearing anything other than the standard badge. I did see our national president wearing a slightly larger version of the standard badge (but smaller than the president's badge, which confuses me as to why he didn't just simply wear that kind, but anyway).... yeah, that's the only exception I can think of.

We had quite a few choices to choose from (7 to be exact). I am hoping mine comes in the next few weeks. I got this one:

http://www.mastersofdesign.com/image...t/img1-403.jpg

In our chapter everyone had pearled badges. I didn' t know that a plain badge was an option until years later. We could choose plain, chased, or pearl guards. (I got chased and always wished I had chosen pearl, though I got my Arc so long ago that the guard's been in the jewelry box longer than it was on the badge.)

Our chapter had a tradition of recognizing the senior with the highest GPA by replacing the center pearl with a diamond.

BTW, there is a real difference in weight between older badges and newer ones. The actual letters are thicker. (At least in AGD badges, and I presume in others.) That was pointed out to me about 15 years ago, to help you define "older" and "newer."

AEPhi only has one sister pin but we have special pins for the national president and for many years of service.

Currently, Chi Omegas can choose either 10K gold or sterling silver badges with either pearls or diamonds as the 14 stones.

In 1906, the badge was standardized by a vote of the National Convention to approve only the use of pearls or diamonds. Prior to that time, the size & type of jewel were varied. Our National Archives has several unusual early badges that are spectacular!

* a miniature badge
* Ida Pace Purdue's ruby badge
* an opal badge
* a turquoise badge
* a badge with alternating pearls & diamonds

Our National Officers all have special badges which are passed down with the office. The National President's pin is a standard size badge (set with 8 full-cut diamonds) mounted on the outline of our crest & surrounded by a circle of diamonds. It has been passed down since the mid 1970s.

Here is the link to the options for the standard Chi Omega badge:
Chi Omega badge

Nutbrown,
Such pretty badges. I like the diamond one (go for the bling baby!) :D

We were able to choose from seven different "styles." All are 10K gold (otherwise we wouldn't be wearers of the "golden key!") and you can choose to get your letters enameled or not. Most girls got the plain badge, I opted for sapphires and pearls. My sister's is all crown pearls. When I was in school, one of our advisers had the all-diamond badge, it was very chi chi! Badge standardization didn't happen until 1974 and our headquarters has some very neat old badges--including Anna Elizabeth Willits' (one of our founders). One old badge just sold on ebay for $2676.00!!!