I have "rescued" a couple of pledge pins off of Ebay. I gave one to a new member who lost hers and still have the other.

I don't know who bought the sapphire & ruby badges. They are being sold by a Zeta who is a former I/O employee so I am not comfortable bidding on items listed by her.

I'm going to Texas Zeta Days tomorrow and half the fun of figuring out what to wear is choosing a badge that will look pretty with my outfit. ;)

Carmenlau-whatever is a former IO employee and a Zeta???!! :eek: That's disgusting! I'm not sure who is bidding on the ruby badge but it's only $26 right now - I'm tempted to but I don't want to bid against a sister. I understand not bidding at all but I'm scared a collector will end up winning the auction.

I'm so jealous you get to "pick a matching badge" to go with your outfit! I've got a plain silver one and a gold one with pearls that I rescued off Ebay (and bought a chapter guard for) so I can match jewelry but I would love to get a turquoise and pearls in silver and/or an emerald and alternating pearl in silver badge. I keep searching ebay so at least it'll end up being a rescued badge... I'm so glad we're allowed to get blinged out badges! :D

Ok, so I found out it is a Zeta bidding on the Ruby badge so at least there's that :) Not sure who won the sapphire badge as the auction ended last night. Hopefully I get the pledge pin...

I won the pledge pin! :D

And now there's more badges on Ebay. The fight never ends....

Why ever would you say something distasteful about a badge? Any badge... I personally have a sapphire and pearl badge. It doesn't look like "someone took a sharpie" to it and it didn't "look better in the catalougue(sic)". I like it, thank you very much. Even if it doesn't match your or anyone else's taste it is MY badge. I would never judge your choice of badge. I find it tacky that you would even talk about the subject matter in such a way. Badges are meant to show your ZTA pride in a more personal way. That's PERSONAL -- meaning you don't have to like what someone else chooses for themselves.

Though I agree with what you said, I think I'll still give Child the benefit of the doubt. She's from a new chapter and is a newer sister - she may not have grown to love our badge in all its many colors and forms as we have just yet...

The process for making badges today is a bit different than it was many years ago which HAS slightly changed the look of them. Opinions as to whether this is a good or bad thing (or somewhere in-between) are entirely subjective.

The meaning of our little badge, and hopefully its preciousness to our members new and *old*, is still the same. :)

I think that's what Tippie was trying to say :)

Oh! I get it now. I thought she was jumping COTH's case so I was trying to defuse. My bad.

I was not jumping her case. (I think we all know that would have been extremely obvious had that been my intention...)

I WAS trying to show her that insulting badges is not cool. There is no need to defuse the situation. A simple lesson on respecting others' choices of badges is nothing I consider to be inappropriate, though. And, if her sisters are not willing to teach her those values which bind us, who else will? A simple correction here and there is what makes us all stronger. I have been corrected in the past and it makes me a better sister. I feel it my responsibility to do the same for others.

Tact is not a gift with which I have been blessed. We all know this. Honesty, I can do.

Yes, I said I got it once SthrnZeta pointed it out.

See, I knew this ;) ZLAM to Tippie!

yes. i feel that the quality of the construction of our badge went down when i.o. switched to the present jeweler. nonetheless,as radiozta stated, it is the meaning of our badge which we all hold dearest.

co-sign, FSU!

The present jeweler that is used is because they bought out all of the previous ones.
HJ now makes most of the greek badges out there as well as most of the school rings, etc. This is due to the cosolidation. The previous versions of the badge were all one molded piece, the current version is two pieces. The shield is separate from the base. This makes it a lot easier and cheaper to produce. Personally, I prefer the one-piece design with the more rounded shield.

Now about the badge buisiness.
In my post, many things that were stated were from OTHERS and many of their comments. The meaning of the badge is very special to me, as it is to many sisters. EVERYTHING LOOKS BETTER IN A CATALOGUE. (Seriously, I have bought some things from catalogues that I would have never done so in a store.) Making a post about good color combos is just that, it isn't about our badge itself. The jewels do not give it any extra meaning (in most cases - special badges not included). It is obsurd to me that people would immediately jump to that being a desicration of the badge and even a stand against its very meaning.

Also, my friends with the sapphires were dissapointed because the gems were much smaller than the picture and very light in color (like a blue topaz) and not at all the same. Mine came with the emeralds in a much darker and less vibrant shade of green. Overall the gem clarity and color matching from gem to gem of the badges we saw was not very well done and there were noticible gradients (especially compared to the pictures).

Now, I saw one of our advisors badge and it was stunning. It had the one-piece design and the gems were all one color, but vibrant! It did not look as though someone "took a sharpie marker" to it.

I am sure that many of you who have rescued badges from ebay can concur between the jewelers quality standards.

Most importantly as stated before, the material has nothing to do with the meaning.

My mother wanted me to have a nice badge so that it would be my first and last. We decided on this one and I am very happy to have such a mother. No, I am not some snobby rich kid who needs attention (far from it - oldest of 5 children).

Just because I am young, does not mean that I do not appreciate or understand the meaning of sisterhood or our symbols.

Probably more than many here (GC), I know the meaning of sisterhood. I grew up knowing all of my grandmother's sorority sisters and refered to them as family. They were a constant part of my life until I went to high school. My god mother is my mother's "Big Sister" from college and I still refer to her as Aunt, they still are best friends. My mother's sorority class(~40 of them) even went to vegas together only a few years ago. That sort of life-long sisterhood I really do understand and hope to continue with the sisters in my chapter. The symbols of our sisterhood have meaning and I always watch my actions to make sure that they are a good reflection of those ideals.

If you wrongly accuse me, I will defend my actions. If I am wrong, then I'll admit it!