And low-down dirty triflin' hoes. LOW.DOWN.DIRTY.TRIFLIN'.HOES.

I have my triflin' moments, but I'll never sink down pretending to be in another sorority. That, and I can't fight. :o

But we USE ours. Take the girl who says she is a Kappa on ebay who bids and buys all their badges and allegedly she is NOT even a Kappa. They've checked their database. I guess that would make her a PERP.

You should see our convention, when guys from 10-12 different chapters are trying to sing the fraternity song(in Greek) too funny!!

You missed the V's, dear. They had to be the worst perps of all time (right Sandy?).

Don't forget the one who said she was an AXiD at IU.

I'm brand new to GC so please excuse any dumb mistakes for now. About 10 years ago my sister and I inhereited some beautiful antique jewelry from my aunt including a gold pin with two hands holding a heart. It had an inscription that read something like "faithful sisters" was about the size of quarter and was dated 1885. The first and only time I wore it, my dear friend Joyce, a very devoted Phi Mu, just about had a fit. When she realized I had no sorority affliation and had no idea that I was wearing a sorority pin, she kindly but firmly told me I could never wear, what she termed "My Philomathean Badge" again. She told me it was wonderful, very rare and would be a treasure to the Phi Mu Fraternity. My beautiful sister died several years ago. It was my pleasure to donate the badge to the Phi Mu museum in her honor. I feel this was the right thing to do. Geez.....I really miss my sister!

Wow! That's a great story.

I'm sure losing your sister has been hard. I can only imagine...

Having seen one in person (which looks like a honkin' barrette not a small sorority badge) and knowing what they pull on ebay, you might have negotiated for a wee bit of a donation to a foundation in your sister's honor. Since you didn't and assuming you have the need for a tax write off, you may want to sit down for this. The badge is priceless but worth $3,000+ on the open market which is what close to what Phi Mu paid for another of those some years back from a fraternity pin collector. You may want to mention this to your accountant and hopefully you got a receipt from Phi Mu.

That is a wonderful tribute to your sister.

Oh my goodness!! I had no idea!:eek: I would never have guessed the value. I received lovely letters of appreciation from both the National President and Historian. I'm actually glad it is safe and sound in it's new home in the Phi Mu museum. It was the strangest thing! Every now and then the badge would disappear, sometimes for weeks at a time, then show again in the most random places.

I hope that if I'm ever in the Macon area I would be welcomed to the museum and could see the badge on display.

I never thought to ask. Just how rare is a Philomathean Badge from 1885? How often do they turn up? What is the size of the badges worn by members today? Thank you in advance for your answers!

Considering we were founded in 1852, and we didn't officially become "Phi Mu" until 1904, they're pretty rare. It's wonderful that you returned the badge to our national so it can take its rightful place in our museum :D.
My Phi Mu badge is about 1/2 an inch wide (estimating because I'm too tired to pull it out and measure it).

Phi Mu should be willing to give you an acknowledgement for this.

they did...
i read this story in the Aglaia. If I'm not mistaken, the woman wore the badge to a school event and a friend or someone there let her know it was a sorority badge and then she gave it to the FSU chapter to be turned in to national headquarters. It was not something financial or whatever, it was just simply an honorable act to do in the name of the great aunt who was a Philomathean.