Wanna look like you are in a GLO?
 

At first I was a little pissed at these people.. It's pretty rampant on Ebay as well. It's something folks buy and sell and there's no way to stop it.

Someone buying your badge really isn't a big deal. Might as well be just another trinket in their jewelry cabinet.

It's not just something 'bling bling' to show what organization we're in. It has special meaning, in many cases, secret, special meanings about the purpose of the organization.

If folks want badges they can just go to masters of design and buy them -- they don't ask for ID or anything. It's what the badges stand for that matters.

Your absolutely right Ktsnake, and i've argued that position before (most specifically to the debate over the Beta regalia that was found on ebay earlier this year).

Looking over this site though, these guys seem to be a bit more noble than the typical ebay seller - at least they seem to want to give badges to actual members, and they seem to be pretty knowledgeable as well. They nailed the descriptions of the Beta badges I looked out. All in all, I suppose this is better than ebay.

It doesn't even really bother me that they sell on Ebay... Especially if it's an estate sale. It gives brothers the opportunity to pick up a new badge for far less than they'd have to pay for one from Masters of Design. I've seen our badges going for around $15.00 (the standard ones).

If you want a Sigma Nu badge (a damned fine looking badge in my opininon) just surf on over to Masters of Design with your Mastercard/Visa/Discover. They'll set you up. If you want to know what the hell it means, become a candidate and you may one day find out!

A buy back program? I can really think of so many better ways to spend those national dues... Like buying property, opening chapters. Badges are just symbols, and to non-members they're not really even that.

I would have to agree with KTSnake. I would much prefer my dues and such to go towards programming, opening new chapters, etc rather than purchasing back badges or pursuing legal battles with people selling them. Badges are symbols of our membership and should not be taken lightly (and I would NOT want to see my badge on a non-member). If there were a ritual book for sale - that's a completely different story (though the 'important' stuff isn't in our ritual book. . . :) )

Sarah

they can sport the pins and lie
but they don't know ritual
and that's what sets the boys apart from the men

Really? Our badges are listed at BurrPatt.com but you can only order them through IHQ, and they definitely do a check to make sure you're a sister.

Let me kick the dead horse a little bit.

Yes, it may sting a little to see your badge/pin for sale on ebay or this other site, but it is 2003 people, we're lucky they weren't selling decades ago.

Nothing we can do except save your allowance and buy them up, or stop sobbing and go on with life.

Are you sure? I would think that Masters of Design would be obligated to let your GLO do "due diligence" first and ensure that the person ordering the badge is legit? (I mean, wouldn't your GLO threaten to drop them if they did not do any checking?) Did you try to order a badge under a non-member's name? Maybe that might be worth a try, just to see how thorough they are?

I know that on Burr, Patterson and Auld, you can order DG badges & stuff, but it all gets "cleared" through our EO first, before the goods are shipped out.

AOII Badges can only be purchased through our Headquarters. Also, it sickens me to see badges on E-Bay, especially when they are not listed properly or they are sold to a non-member. However, we all know what are badges to mean to us and if a non-greek wants to collect them for their beauty, I can respect that. Has anyone ever purchased one from E-Bay before? I tried to bid on an AOII badge once but some non-member kept on out-bidding! I couldn't keep up with his money!

We've bid on a few of the really old badges and have managed to get some. We have a group of women who are usually willing to put in a bit of money to get the good ones. We then donate them to our museum. A few months ago we managed to get one that had belonged to one of the charter members of our Rho chapter.

We do have members who individually bid on ours as replacements for a badge they lost (or had stolen). But a lot of the time you can get a new one cheaper from M of D.

We've decided to focus our efforts on educating our members about what to do with their badge when they die so maybe not as many will show up on the market to begin with.

Also, like what has already been said, our badges have to be ordered from Headquarters and can't be ordered directly from M of D.

Random EBay badge-related comment:

There's an old-style QC badge on EBay right now, and I've never seen one before (my boyfriend is a brother so I check for their badges from time to time). It's really nice:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...category=11145

http://ebay0.ipixmedia.com/abc/M28/_...25b4d7/i-1.JPG


I hope a QC brother ends up with it!

No one verified it with me (or at least I don't remember them doing so) when I ordered my jewelled badge.

Maybe they verified it with Nationals? Did you give them name, initiation date etc?

Hmmmm....I think MofD and BPA would be in deep doo doo if they mailed out a badge to just anyone who phoned up. This is worth looking into, peut-etre?

Mais non...

Like I said, if someone thinks my Fraternity's badge is good looking enough to drop $200 on it well that's fine with me.

What, are they going to wear it to our Grand Chapter and try to sit through ritual or something? Think a badge is all you need to get in?

Does anybody buy a badge of a GLO they aren't a member of off of E-bay or vintagepins.com (or from anywhere else, for that matter) with the intent of actually wearing it? I doubt it, except for that one, sad guy with big L on his forehead.

It's been gone over on GC many times: there are lots of non-sinister reasons that people might collect Greek badges. Some collectors may be doing the Greek world a favor by keeping old badges from disappearing forever.

And as much as I love and honor my own badge, count me in the list of people who would be horrified to see my Fraternity spending money to "rescue" badges instead of to support chapters and the like.

Okay, ktsnake, your turn to phone!
 

I just called Burr Patterson and Auld at (800)422-4348 and asked about ordering a DG badge (and I asked if they check to make sure that the caller is a legitimate member). (God Bless the 1-800 toll free no.). The lady was very nice and said that when you order the badge, it goes through DG Headquarters and they take it from there.

From there, Delta Gamma definitely does check (cuz when I ordered a pledge pin from DG's Anchor Trader for a keepsake, I had to give my full name and chapter designation and the approx. date of initiation) and the official jewellery lady for DG "vetted me".

Here's MofD's number...who wants to call? (800) 542-3728
Please someone else call and post what the response was...I have no privacy at work and snoopy co-workers!!!

Yeah, I seem to remember that pin collector dude, wwpt or whatever his name is saying that they don't collect them to wear them. I guess they collect them cuz they're pretty (which they are).

You can look at our badges online, but you can only order then through our NHQ office. I think that's probably a good way to do it. We have an order form, we send it to nationls, they verify it all, and then order it through the company, then the badges get sent to us. We can't even see the prices online because they are not sold that way. But they are on the order form.

OK, I may get alot of flaming my way but, that's what some of you will probably think I deserve for say this.

As has been stated before in this thread, the badge is just a symbol. There are many out there who have seen or have one of our symbols. Think about it, you know the meaning behind it they don't. It doesn't mean much to them. I mean should DG or AST go out there sue and do a "rescue" program for all of the anchors of the world, and legally go after anyone who has an anchor symbol anywhere(window sticker etc). WHat about Phi Sigma Kappa, we have the T's, should we sue the rest of you for everytime you use a "T" in your writing, typing, speech, etc. Hills and a Star are another one of our symbols, so now anyone who uses hills, or owns a hill IHQ should sue them or try to buy it from them. Or the star anyone who has star in there s/n must turn it over to our IHQ. These symbols are just that symbols. What is important aren't the symbols, it's our values, what we stand for. The symbols are supposed to remind us of the meaning and help us toward our goals and values. Our ritual book is all secret, no one but brothers is supposed to read it. But, I know for a fact(from reading it a few times) if a non-brother was to get their hands on a copy and try to read it they would not understand some of it, it's encoded, they'd come out with no more information then they went into it with.

Remember our Rituals and Symbols are secret, but, not the most important part. The most important part is how we live our rituals(notice lower case r). The Ritual is secret, but that's just a ceremony, our ritual, is not, it's how we are to live our lives and live our values.

Sorry if it seems like I'm preaching, if you couldn't tell this is something I feel passionately about since UIFI.

I don't know how the rest of you feel, but it would take one heck of a DG to put the Exxon's anchor over her heart. Whew, that's a big anchor, and lord knows, they should pursue after it, because afterall, it's an anchor. (Note: sarcasm)

I think that last post blew everything out of proportion. We are talking someone's property here, not symbols and rituals. Property can be sued over, not a star, dragon, T or an anchor.

99% of the pin collectors are greek themselves, so yes, we should be thankful that they are collecting them, afterall, they're one of us. The pins are in good hands, on display in nice cases and are being cherished, unlike the many that are sitting in sock drawers.

I doubt Big Daddy Firestone would disown Little Jimmy Firestone if has a Corvette with Goodyear tires.

The badge is just a symbol. Yeah I get upset when a non-member buys a Phi Sigma Kappa Badge on Ebay and what not. But, then I realize they don't understand what it means to me. The badge has a special meaning to all members and I'm glad there are greeks out there buying badges to put on display rather than sit in a sock drawer. But, what is the importance of the badge, which is just a symbol, it may be property to ultimately it's a symbol, without the values, The Ritual, or the ritual? Nothing really. Like ktSnake said before, what makes a person a member the badge or the secrets and bond? I'm just trying to say a badge isn't as important as other things. We should put our time and money towards programs, philantrophy, service, brother/sisterhood, and living our rituals.


edited to add: Do you think the founders of our orgs were worried and concerned with other people having our badges in their possession? Probably not, that's why we have grips, passwords, whistles, etc. I'll bet that they wanted all members to live the values, goals, principles of the org.

I would guess that MofD does whatever the GLO requires of them. If the GLO allows their badge to be purchased directly (without going through HQ) then who are they to question the decision? If they verified EVERY badge ordered by every GLO, that would be a LOT of work on their part.

I bought a jewelled pin on eBay a while ago. For me it was very special to have the pin of a brother who preceeded me in Phi Sigma Kappa. To someone who doesn't share that bond, it is just interesting jewelry or a knick-knack to collect.

The only way to keep badges out of the hands of non-members is for every Greek man and woman to specify in their will that their badge be returned to their national HQ. There is no other way to keep the estate of a deceased member from disposing of badges as they wish.

This is very true - many people these days are first generation Greeks and their families have no idea what to do with their badges. I had to instruct Lee's family on his - he had just been fully initiated in April, so I'm sure that even if he planned to mention it, he hadn't had time yet.

As morbid as it is, maybe draw up some little will that states what should be done with items like that - most of us probably don't feel the need to tell our parents, and may have forgotten all about our badge by the time we are married. You never know when your time is up.

I can't speak for any other GLOs Masters of Design does business with, but Alpha Xi Delta uses them, and, no, you can't just order them through MoD. You must get the appropriate form from AXD. It even says on the MoD site: MUST BE ORDERED THROUGH ALPHA XI DELTA FRATERNITY HEADQUARTERS. Other, non-official jewelry such as lavaliers can be purchased directly.

I notice the same statement is NOT on the Sigma Nu section of the site. This suggests to me that it is Sigma Nu's choice to do it that way. Man, that diamond pin is pretty bling bling! I like it!

There is a statement in my will (I'll have to look up the exact text) that allows me to draw up a separate document detailing how I want various personal items disposed of, and states that the executor must honor it. I think the document has to be signed and dated, but not notarized.

Since it's a separate document, I can change it at any time by just revising it - I don't have to mess with a codicil or a new will. So, say I've stipulated that my badge should go back to nationals, then my daughter calls and tells me she's just pledged AEPhi - I can revise the document right away to say that she gets my pin.

Not sure if this is acceptable in other states/provinces/countries, but it's worth looking into.

BTW - AEPhi's badges and guards can only be ordered through nationals.

Consider that if our GLOs went on a buy-back campaign that it would drive the prices of badges on eBay up and only encourage sellers and make our badges a precious commodity due to our efforts in the marketplace.

The Chi A province of SAI discussed this at length last year when I pledged and a few of us tech-savvy sisters started going on eBay and rescuing our badges. The decision was made that if individual sisters wish to rescue our badges and inform sellers of what they actually have, and the fact that our nationals considers the badges of members the property of nationals once a member has passed away or disaffiliated, individual sisters may do so. But the various chapters and certainly nationals cannot get involved and create an artifical inflation of the market for SAI badges.

I've saved a few badges myself, usually unusual ones. I saved a patronness badge from 1953, and will probably donate it to Sigma Omega's newest patronness or return it to nationals shortly.

~Emma