Badge with Emeralds?! E-Bay
 

So, this does not look like most badges...I've never seen one with emeralds, nor with that type of name on the back - with out a chapter marking and date...do you think this is a real badge or a fake?

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

whoa
 

445 bucks?!?!?!count me out on this one, guys......
:-D :-D
~*~mandie~*~

I can't believe it got bid up to 455$! It looks like a president badge but i don't see a clasp in the back

Re: Badge with Emeralds?! E-Bay
 

Just board crashing...

this guy seems to have a number of GLO badges (including one of ours :(

check out his seller link...
http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...sort=3&rows=50

I don't think it's a president's badge, since it's too small (or, at least much smaller than the president's badge I remember). I've never seen one with emeralds or that kind of engraving either--so one of three things pops in my mind:
1) It's fake (but highly likely to be as I've held up my badge and the detailing is incorrect).
2) It's REALLY OLD (which would be why there's no chapter or date of initiation on the back)
3) The chapter somehow had them engraved differently, or this woman had hers engraved separately from DG.
ETA: I looked more carefully at my badge and saw the differences--especially the fact that the Delta and Gamma are elongated. I would think that someone had a necklace made to look like their pin. Also, if you notice, there's no marking to see if the gold is, in fact, real (like our badges have)--this could be a piece of costume jewelry made to look like our DG badge. Has anyone asked EO to check this out???

But 445 is way too much--can't afford that! I just hope the high bidder is a DG.

Just My Opinion
 

I bet it's real...and real old!

This is my perception after looking at it, do you think it could have been altered and perhaps it wasn't engraved on the back originally and so they member had it done herself. I know of some older AOIIs who have badges with no engraving on the back. Sometime they didn't get it done. Now, my badge is my great-grandmother's from 1924 and it is engraved, but sometimes some were not for some reason. Also, the former owner could have liked emeralds so much as to have them added on herself. Just a thought.

I saw this the other day, it's possible that it was made before there was a standard jeweler or guidelines for the standard way to wear the badge. It looks like this one was a necklace.

$445 may seem like a lot, but I remember a while ago a DG badge with diamonds went for $1025 or something like that.

Something about that badge just looks off. For one thing, the cable isn't going over the crossbar like they all usually do. And it just looks....flat to me. And now that I look at it again, the cable isn't wrapped around the anchor. Now it could have been broken, but the badge still looks different to me.

But I love the emeralds!

It looks fake to me......the letters on the crossbar look really strange....like they are handpainted on....

but.....i don't know.....:rolleyes:

I'm not a professional or a DG, but it does look like the letters are painted on now that I look at it again. Also, do you think maybe the former owner gave her badge to a jewler and said, "make me a necklace that matches my badge?"

Either way, it is sort of neat in a way.

WOW! I do believe this is an extremely old pin, 100 years or more old. I am looking in my old "History of Delta Gamma" issued 1973, and there is a photo of several early pins. It is tinted black and white and hard to tell, but it looks like one has a loop at the top and emeralds, and the cable goes behind the TDH bar. All look rather different, as if each was hand made by a different person. The lettering looks similiar to the lettering on the badge for sale. Another photo of an early badge shows it as a stickpin...there is a horseshoe on the top of the pin.
In the report on the 1905 Convention, the "History" states: "A uniform badge had become a necessity because of the many sizes and differences of design which came with the many authorized official jewelers - and probably some who were not official. The form used by Bunde and Upmeyer, our oldest authorized jeweler, was accepted."
During that same 1905 Convention, we adopted the familiar Pi Alpha new member pin.
At Officer Training Seminar in 1998, a PCC stood up and said she collected old badges. She had found a man that had an "H" badge but had not persuaded him to part with it yet!

Check with your national headquarters to see WHEN this Katie was initiated. Certainly that will indicate when the pin was made and its relative age/value.

:)

Good luck...

Good idea!
I checked with Carrie Hochwalt, Fraternity archivist at Executive Offices. She found a Katherine Bollinger Stimmel, Lambda - Minnesota, Initiated Date 10/1/1892. Date of death 1944.
So the pin is very old indeed!
I would love to know the story behind how it got from her to eBay. Apparently the current top bidder, bluedevil88, is a DG. She has bought several items with anchors - old postcards/greeting cards - and a gold and pearl lavalier that was on eBay back in December. Kate's wonderful old pin stays "in the family."

WHOA
 

Damn! I wish i had 450 bucks...emeralds are my birthstone.....MAN...........::grumbles about not ever having enough money after the bills are paid:: LOL......maybe if this auction were to go....i don't know.......2 months from now, after getting my paychecks and saving up...........
:Grumble:
:-D
oh well, at least it's still a DG
~*~Mandie~*~

It's so wonderful that such a beautiful peice of your history is staying with a sister!!!

I hope our DG top bidder gets this!!!!!!! I wish I could bid on it!

Amazing at the age of the badge! I hope a DG won it!

I JUST SAW THIS ON EBAY! HOW NICE!
LOOK HERE!

That is beautiful!!!

It went to a collector. :(

<sigh> a beautiful one lost.

:( :( :(

She/He did have to pay a lot though.

OMG
 

OMG!
I watched the last minute and a half and in the last 30 secs it jumped from 445 to $2,289.82

:sits back in awe:
~*Mandie*~

I did the same thing! All of a sudden it just skyrocketed...I had to check to make sure I was on the right page!

it's CRAZY
 

**** collectors.
:grumble:

lol-though---i was at work and checking it and i yelled out OH MY GOD!!! and scared the poo out of everyone

VERY sad to have lost the badge...
 

Hi fellow DGs,

Yes, I lost it. Boy, I tried, and tried hard, but got outbid. I have searched for 18 years for that badge style, and it would have been the last DG badge I would have ever bought. It would have been the Holy Grail of my DG badge collection, and I have some lovely ones, but not one of that style.

I am a DG, as you noted in some of your posts. I am very, very sad. I had contacted EO to get the date immediately. It was indeed her badge, and she had the pin portion removed (which would have been a t-bar with a c-clasp -- very old) and it must have been made into a charm for a charm bracelet. This was not an imitation or a replica. This was/is the real she-bang. Due to the variations on jewelers and engravings, it did not surprise me that her chapter and date were not on it.

I knew I would be outbid by that person and that person would be my sole competition, and that the price would be very steep. If it is any consolation to any of you she is a DG, but one I do not know personally. I know of her. Let's just say that I expected this. :-( I would have worn this badge proudly and for the rest of my life.

The style is authentic, and they were all flat then, and large. The current president's badge is modeled after that original badge style. In 1905, the badge was ruled at Convention to be one style only, with one authorized DG jeweler. Up to that point, there were all sorts of jewelers, and you could have your badge made where ever you wished. In Convention years, they would sign a contract with a jeweler in that particular city, for example. This is one reason you see such variances in the badges.

In the Archives you will see numerous badges with all sorts of gems and stone combinations: coral, opals, rubies, garnets, saphhires, turquoise, etc. They are staggeringly beautiful.

So, my sisters, thanks for your support - I did not know of your posts until I read another board on which I am a member. I just joined this to let you know I am a sad sister tonight. :-(

:eek: :eek: :eek: at the price...I mean WOW!

I'm sorry you didn't win that beautiful badge...I was pulling for you to get it!!

Hi Blue Devil, welcome to our board. I'm so sorry you lost the badge...I wish with all of my heart that I could have had it too!! It is so beautiful. I'm so glad that the winner is a DG, but it still breaks my heart becuase it was obvious by the way that you were bidding that you wanted it. My heart dropped in the last 11 seconds when the price jumped so big. I'm sorry you lost it.

Do you happen to be from Beta Theta - Duke? I'm at Eta Kappa - NCSU. The Blue Devil in your name leads me to believe that you are (or once were) a Beta Theta.

DG
 

Yes, you are right about my chapter of initiation. :-) I used to be right down the road from you at your new chapter! :-)

Still reeling,
bluedevildg

Glad she is a DG...and apparently (looking at her feedback) enjoys collecting all kinds of fraternal pins and likes to have clean teeth!!!
You fought the good fight......still wonder about our Kate....

I too watched this auction. I am glad for DG it went to a sister. But I can't help feeling said that this important badge for DG ended up in a public auction at all.

Perhaps this collector can be persuaded to donate the badge to the DG archives eventually.