Crests you love
 

What are your favorite fraternity/sorority crests?

Fraternities:

Lambda Chi
Beta Theta Pi
SAE


Sororities:

Chi Omega
KD
Tri-Delt

Having studied heraldry at school in my program I have a deep apreciation/understanding of the basic meaning behind a lot of the crests at the school... of those crests the following I like alot:

Lambda Chi... of course
Zeta Psi

and

Alpha Gamma Delta

Picture of Chi Omega's first "crest" before the current one was adopted in 1902:

http://www.chiomega.com/chiomega/abo...-badge-ill.gif

Chi Omega crest:

http://www.valdosta.edu/ChiOmega/colorcrest.jpg

I also like Chi Omega's crest.

I remember when I learned the meaning of our crest I was amazed at how far off what I *thought* the various things meant versus what they actually mean. Anyone else?

I guess I was clueless, but I didn't really realize that anything had a deeper meaning.

I was absolutely blown away when the meaning of our Armorial Bearings was explained to us. Every single thing on our Bearings has a meaning--nothing and I mean NOTHING was left to chance or chosen because it looked pretty.

As a lot of you know, one of our Founders, Emily Butterfield, was an expert on heraldry. She designed or assisted in the design of many armorial bearings for NPCs and NICs. Emily was an amazing woman, and she gave me two of my very favorite things concerning Alpha Gamma Delta--the Armorial Bearings and the Purpose.

I like ours, cause its simple and classy. There is no gaudy designs around it. It is what it is. I like it. go Beta! Although, I must say that SAE's is pretty sweet.

These are the ones that I can look at for hours on end, because I study heraldry, there are some universal symbols and I just love the design and detail that went into these creations.

Theta
ADPi
KD
ZTA
KKG

KAPsi
DST


Alpha Sigma Phi
Fiji
Kappa Sigma

I like KKG
http://www.stanford.edu/group/kappa/crest.gif

However, I am partial to my own fraternity's ideals! As you all might know in AOII we do no have a crest or shield.
"AOII believes that the Fraternity has an essentially Greek heritage, and not one of medieval or Masonic background. Thus it does not have a shield or a crest as a symbol."--From AOII website. We do use our rose in place of a crest/shield.
http://www.isu-aoii.com/images/aoiicrest.gif

I love ours, and I'm partial to Phi Mu's as well. I believe it was Emily Butterfield who helped change ours to reflect more of the heraldry rules, like changing the banner at the bottom to spell out "Alpha Xi Delta" in Greek instead of just having the letters.

http://www3.telus.net/greek/alphadeltapicrest.jpg
I think the ADPi crest is unusual and cool looking.
http://www3.telus.net/greek/alphaphicrest.jpg
I love Alpha Phi's color combo and the Ursa Major on the crest, and the little ivy leaf at the top, plus it's clean in design.

http://www3.telus.net/greek/alphasigmaalphacrest.gif
and the ASA crest, because I'm partial to the phoenix!

I love ours, mainly because the design is very symmetric overall, which is important to me. I love how so many of our symbols and colors are included, along with our open motto (Let us steadfastly love one another).

http://www.tridelta.org//REPOSITORY/..._COLOR_RGB.GIF

I also really like ADPi's crest too.

I think Delta Gamma's is rather purty....
http://www.deltagamma.org/gallery/crest2.gif


I also like the KKG crest:
http://www.kappakappagamma.org/Image.../symbols01.gif

I'm quite partial to ours:

http://www.apolouisville.org/img/crest.gif

Like DeltaEtaKP, I didn't really think about the things in our crest having special meaning until it was explained to us. Then again, I had no clue our letters stood for other words and had a secret meaning until that was revealed, too. :)

As My Brother RH Cooper Said, LXA is the most true to Heraldry of any and was made so by a very deep study by one of the early Members.

Second would be Alpha Phi Omega.

Granted, each Coat Of Arms Means much to each of the Members and have special significance in Ritual.

Some are simplistic and very beautiful, but looking at all, LXA is Hands Down one of the most accurate and meaningful for Trueism to Our Heratiged as Greeks of the Social Order..:cool:

Nifty little fact that I've shared before and that I'll share again! :)
 

Don't forget that Alpha Gamma Delta has 2 versions of its crest;
the American one:
http://www3.telus.net/greek/alphagammadeltacrest.gif

and the Canadian one:
http://www.zetachi.net/images/can8dn.gif

"Interestingly, Alpha Gamma Delta chapters in Canada have a
slight variation in the design of the Armorial Bearings. Chapters in Canada use the Coat of Arms without the helmet.
Rulings of the British government do not permit anyone except
the sovereign to bear the Royal Helmet."

Thanks for adding that, CutiePie! That's a good Alpha Gam trivia question!

Tau Kappa Epsilon...
 

Of course, I really like ours... Why? Because it looks so different from everyone else's...

Its simplicity is almost on purpose, as there are symbols not even depicted but are cloaked so to speak... It is "correct" in the world of Heraldry, and of course, has its own secret meanings...

Every Teke knows the Heraldric desciption verbatim...
"Gules on a bend argent, five equilateral triangles bend wise of the first voided... Crest: above a peer's helm, a death's head three-quarter's profile proper... Mantling: Gules, double argent... Motto: the Greek letters Pi, alpha, omega, epsilon, alpha..."

As pledges in TKE, we know there are meanings that we don't know at the time because we are told so...
We did not, however, know to what extent... :)


http://www.albany.edu/~tke/crest.jpg

But I also like Lambda Chi Alpha's Crest...

For sororities, I like Delta Gamma (because I have a soft spot for Delta Gamma in general) and Chi Omega... KKG is nice too... :)

I have to disagree with this statement, A LOT of CofA are just as heraldic correct as others and some are symbolic and do not conform to the rules of heraldry.

LXA may be the most elaborate, but is not the “most” correct.


Studying GLOs CofA's is one of my hobbies

For NPCs, I like ours the best (of course!), but I also like KD's and ZTA's. Gamma Phi Beta and Kappa get honorable mentions. :)

For fraternities, I like Pike's (I was a little sis -- again, I'm kinda' partial ;) ), but from going down the list on ariesrising's Greekpages, I also like DU's (it's so...regal!), FarmHouse's and Phi Psi's. FIJI, KA and Sigma Nu get honorable mentions.

of course, i'm partial to KD's

http://www.kwc.edu/slife/kd/crest.jpg

In my chapter we have a tradition of giving hand painted crests (usually on some sort of wooden plaque) to our littles. I had 3 littles. I became intimately familiar with our crest, lol. The first one I did totally freehand with pencil outline then paintbrush. The second two I learned and used paint pens. No matter how hard I tried, the skull always ended up looking like an Elmo head. lol

I think sororities keep the paint pen industry in business.

I have to get more familiar with other's crests before I can really say who else i like.

This is true...

Although I have said I do like Lambda Chi's Coat of Arms, ms gwyn is correct...

Lambda Chi chose to be very very elaborate, whilst others choose not to for certain reasons... Like I said above, my Fraternity has a simple Coat of Arms because it "cloaks" a lot of symbols... Basically they're not depicted on the Coat of Arms, because the whole thing is cloaked... During initiation, you see what the real coat of arms looks like - which is a little more elaborate...

And yes, there are more that are "correct"...

I've seen the old sketches of some alternative C of A's we would have used - they look more like other Fraternities with the leaves and stuff... Obviously, the one that stuck looks nothing like it... :)


But what I find interesting when you go down the line of National Fraternities, is that you can see in a lot of their Coat of Arms the MASONIC origins reflected with the symbols... :)

That was my first time seeing Kappa Delta's Coat of Arms... I like it! I have a soft spot so to speak for C of A's with the skull... :)

http://www3.telus.net/greek/alphadeltapicrest.jpg
I love ours - of course I know what everything stands for so maybe that has something to do with it.

I looked through greek info pages and I like these:
http://www3.telus.net/greek/alphaxideltacrest.gif
^Alpha Xi Delta
http://www3.telus.net/greek/chiomegacrest.jpg
^chi omege (although not knowing what it stands for I have always been fearful of the skull thing
http://www3.telus.net/greek/kappadeltacrest.gif
^kappa Delta
[img]//www3.telus.net/greek/kappakappagammacrest.gif[/img]
^kappa kappa gamma

I like the crests with a bunch of stuff on them. They keep my AADD suppressed.

YES! Unfortunately, your paint pen skills get rusty after graduation.

Each Psi Upsilon chapter has their own individual chapter coat-of-arms.

Psi Upsilon heraldry

Another nice one is AEPhi:

http://www3.telus.net/greek/alphaepsilonphicrest.gif

I like it because it has a different look to it. :)

I like Pi Beta Phi's because of its unique shape:
http://www3.telus.net/greek/pibetaphicrest.gif

I don't like anything that's really ornate or flowery-looking, so for the girls I also like AEPhi's, DZ's, Tri Delts, and Thetas.

For the guys I like Alpha Delta Phi cuz it's different:
http://www3.telus.net/greek/alphadeltaphicrest.gif

AEPi
ATO
FIJI
Pi Kappa Phi
Sig EP
ZBT

I'm sorry Tom as much as I love out Coat of Arms I also have to point out that it violates a number of heraldric laws/rules (or at least British, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, and Canadian rules). In point of fact we wouldn't be able to register the Coat of Arms here in Canada as a Coat of Arms.... only as a registered trademark/logo.

Being an Alpha Sig, I hafta side with my coat of arms:

http://www.ou.edu/student/greek/alph..._armscolor.gif

Below is some research I did which I put on my chapter's website (though the chapter is now defunct, it's still accessible on OU's web):

HERALDIC BLAZON OF THE COAT OF ARMS

Crest: On a wreath argent and sable, a phoenix rising or. Exact symbolism known only to initiated members of Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity. The phoenix rising reflects the "second founding" of Alpha Sigma Phi in 1907.

Shield: Quarterly argent and or, on a bend sable, three mullets (stars) or, all within a diminutive of a border or. On sinister chief a book open argent, pen and five hieroglyphics or, on dexter base a laurel wreath or, a Greek column minus capital argent, an ancient lamp or with rays sable. Symbolism known only to initiated members of Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity.

Motto: On a ribbon or, "18 Causa : Latet : Vis : Est : Notissima 45" sable. The open motto, in Latin, of the Fraternity, "Causa latet vis est notissima" (The cause is hidden (but) the results (are) well known) and the year founded at Yale University, 1845.

The heraldic blazon is the description of the coat of arms in the traditional language and terminology of heraldry (derived from Old English and French). Sinister and dexter refer to the wearer's left and right, respectively; as you face the shield, the directions are reversed.

The heraldic tincture (color) "argent" (silver) is also used to describe the color white, while the tincture "or" (gold) also describes the color yellow. In traditional heraldry, the "rule of tincture" states that metals (the tinctures argent and or) should not be next to metals, nor colors next to colors; a rule designed to make the arms easily identifiable in the battlefield (the original purpose of the coat of arms). This rule is not strictly followed, as varying shades of the tinctures may also be used in the design of a coat-of arms.

In the traditional heraldry of the American college fraternity and sorority system, the coat of arms symbolically denotes many of the principles and ideals of the fraternity or sorority, traditionally secret and revealed only during the initiation ceremonies. Moreover, the right to use the fraternty's coat of arms is limited only to initiated members.

P.S. In case anyone's thinking... no ritualistic information was revealed.

Heraldically, Pi Phi's emblem correctly denotes it as a women's organization. In heraldry, only males bear coats of arms; the female members of the family use the same armorial bearings upon a lozenge, or diamond-shaped shield.

Greek organizations don't always follow this rule to the letter, nor do they always follow the 'rules' of heraldry in the design of the coat of arms/crest.

I love the simplicity of the Phi Tau C of A
http://www3.telus.net/greek/phikappataucrest.gif
and the makeup of the ZBT crest is neat too..the scale.
http://www3.telus.net/greek/zetabetataucrest.gif
And for unusual placement and useage of the badge, Delta Chi
http://www3.telus.net/greek/deltachicrest.gif

I love our crest. It may or may not be "right" in hearaldry, but I think it's beautiful!

http://www.gammaphibeta.org/meet/ove...colorcrest.jpg

I gotta get to a scanner and take a picture of our crest...it isn't heralded at all really. Maybe I'll photography my paddle...

of course I am partial to KD's...this is a version of one of the original crests, dating back to 1904:

http://community.webshots.com/script...ecurity=rTcKkT


I also really like Zeta Tau Alpha's and FIJI's.

Don't forget that our beloved Emily also created IFC crests...If I remember correctly, TKE was one.

Yep...from the TKE website

"Modified slightly several times during the early years of Tau Kappa Epsilon, the present Coat-of-Arms, adopted in 1926, was designed by Dr. Carlton B. Pierce and Ms. Emily Butterfield."

LOL - I thought I was the only one who hated the concept of a skull & crossbones on a pin!!

I like the Alpha Sigma Phi's coat of arms that's shown - but isn't the "bar sinister" a sign of bastardy?

Great info!
 

When I found this during a goodle search on our sister Emily Butterfield, I found this gem!! (Emily wrote a book called College Fraternity Heraldry.)

http://web.library.uiuc.edu/ahx/howe/

STEWART S. HOWE COLLECTION
(Record Series 26/20/30)

Illinois alumnus Stewart S. Howe provided the impetus for the development of the Student Life and Culture Archival Program at the University of Illinois Archives. Howe was founder of the Stewart S. Howe Alumni Service, which provided management, public relations, and fund-raising assistance to fraternities, sororities, and institutions of higher education. He had a life-long interest in higher education and was a dedicated collector of material dealing with fraternal organizations and other areas of college life.

Howe was a long-time friend and supporter of the University of Illinois and a frequent user of the Library and the University Archives. When he passed away in 1973, his collection of material dealing with student life, along with his personal and business papers, were willed to the University Archives. The collection contains over 350 cubic feet of material, dating from 1810 to the present, including books, journals, newsletters, clippings, correspondence, and photographs. It includes files on student life at over 300 American colleges and universities.

As a Kappa Sigma, Howe had a special interest in the American fraternity system and his collection demonstrates his emphasis in that area. He built the world's largest collection of materials dealing with fraternities and sororities. Supported by a gift from the Stewart Howe Foundation, the Student Life and Culture Archival Program is dedicated to building and maintaining this unique and outstanding collection.

The Howe Collection contains quarterly journals, histories, directories, catalogs, song books, handbooks, pledge manuals, and subject files for over 230 fraternities and sororities (active and defunct). It also contains material on interfraternity organizations such as the National Interfraternity Council, College Fraternities Secretaries Association, College Fraternities Editors Association, Interfraternity Research Advisory Council, National Panhellenic Conference, Professional Interfraternity Conference, and Professional Panhellenic Association. In addition, college and university subject files hold information on individual organizations and the fraternity system at a large number of institutions throughout the nation.

The following section of the Howe Collection finding aid lists only the journal, publications, and subject files for specific fraternities and sororities represented in the collection. The finding aid is arranged alphabetically by name of fraternity or sorority.
|A| B-C| D| E-J| K| L-O| P-R| S| T-Z|
The full (A-Z) version of this finding aid (147,671 bytes) is also available. A complete finding aid for the collection is available in the University Archives. For more information contact:


Archivist for Student Life and Culture
Archives Research Center
Room 105
1707 South Orchard
Urbana, Illinois, 61801

Telephone (217) 333-7841
Fax (217) 244-4300
E-mail illiarch@uiuc.edu

Remember that the heraldic blazon is described from the wearer's left and right, respectively; as presented facing you it's reversed. So what appears at first to be a 'bar sinister' is actually a 'bar dexter'. :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...m-psscrest.gif

I love Phi Sigma Sigma's crest... Ive never seen anyone else with even a similar crest!

OOPS!!! My bad!!