I have a question - and it may be a dumb one, but I am sleepy so forgive me :)

I always see pins up for bid, and people who are on the ebay list bidding against each other. So pins that could be purchased for $20 are being sold for hundreds of dollars - which of course gives the seller lots of cash for these pins that have been stolen or purchased at estate sales or whatever. Wouldnt it be more logical to look at who the high bidder is, and if it is a fellow sister, not bid against her....so that the seller doesnt cash in??

I'm with you ... if I can identify the current high bidder as a sister I won't bid against her. Unfortunatly not everyone seems to feel that way. I hate being outbid by someone I know is an Alpha Xi. I lost out on a closed crown quill on Monday I really wanted (they aren't made anymore) when outbid by an Alpha Xi at the last minute.

Actually, if you are worried about being outbid by another sister or don't want to out bid because you think they might be a sister, you can send your aol/yahoo messenger ID's to Amy Reinhardt at national headquarters. She's compiling a list of AZD's and sending them out to anyone on the list so we know who's a confirmed sister and who's not. She makes sure anyone on the list is an actual registered Alpha Xi. Her email is:

areinhardt@alphaxidelta.org

She'll be glad you emailed!

Hope that helps!!

I forgot to mention, the people that often times drive up the price of pins are not actually sisters, but fraternity pin collectors whose sole purpose is to own one pin from every organization. So most of what you see out there are pin collectors trying to "add" to the collection...most have no clue as to the true value.

Is she still composing the list of eBayers? I always see "okcatsmeow" bidding on Alpha Xi items and was wondering if she is a sister.

Anyways, bumping this thread, b/c I found this beautiful Quill from 1928. I've never seen one like it - it has 20 pearls. Looks like an Alpha Xi is the high bidder.

What's the difference b/w the regular Quills and the closed crown ones?

The current high bidder on http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...921166008&rd=1 would be me (I'm alphaxi4me on ebay) ... but I usually get beat out at the last minute :(

I don't know if okcatsmeow is an Alpha Xi or not ... she's been bidding on every quill for quite a while and will almost always over bid me.

Yes, I think that HQ is still collecting ebay names ... but a new list hasn't be published in a while.

The difference between a close crown quill (and I finally did get one off of ebay) and the regular quills are the top of the quill is filled in over the pearls making a smooth "top" with the pearls channel set instead of the open crown pearl settings which are "bumpy".... does that help explain it?

okcatsmeow is an A Xi D. She's on the list from Amy.

Yes. I was a bit disappointed when I got my pearled one and it was bumpy. I will have to keep my eyes open.

I think I may have bid against you on some things! Sorry!

Yes, I have bid against okcatsmeow a few times, and she does always win. Finally, I started looking through her past auctions and realized she was also purchasing other AZD items, such as notepads, blankets, etc. So I thought she might have been a sister.

I'm bubbles246 on eBay by the way. I'll be sure to e-mail Amy so she can add me to the list.

So, if I register on Ebay and then let Amy at headquarters know, she'll send me a list of other people also on Ebay so I won't be bidding against them? Is that how it works?

But what happens when there's something I really want? I'll have to bid against a sister to get it.

Such is life, I guess.

Of course more than one person is going to want the same thing! As long as you're not rude about it, I don't see why there would be a problem.

Here's another pin.

And yet another pin, only this time it's part of a lot of several.

The best thing to do when you see a quill for sale on eBay is to contact Alpha Xi Delta Headquarters. They have procedures for attempting to acquire these quills.

Take a look at this very old quill.... I've never seen anything like it..

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...923963294&rd=1

I'm currently high bidder .....

I was coming over here to post a link...I just saw it. It's beautiful! I hope you or another Alpha Xi wins this auction. It's very unique. Wouldn't it be awesome to replace those top pearls with diamonds?