Unofficial Badges
 

Has anyone ever had a badge made at an unofficial jewelers?

My sororities only have a couple options. One is only pearls and the other is chased or pearls. But I am wondering if anyone has any experience getting a badge made with different stones at an unofficial jewelers. Obviously the official jeweler is HJGreeks and I have no clue if they would make a badge that went against the norms of what is officially recognized by the sororities.

Um. I would check with your I/HQ first. There might be very specific reasons only pearls are allowed on the badge.

Why would you even want to think about an unofficial badge?

33girl--I am seriously just curious if anyone on here had ever done it before. My grandmother did so I am just curious if anyone else has. Her sorority also only allowed pearls but she added rubies. But times have changed and the sorority's official jeweler became HJ Greeks.

There also may be trademark/licensing issues. Not to mention the fact that if a GLO has established an official design, and that official design inludes specifications as to jewels, then an unofficial badge that uses different jewels isn't really a badge of that GLO anymore.

So my grandmother's badge is no longer official...ah. That is what I was trying to get at I suppose.

I don;t think that is what they were saying at all. Your grandmother's badge preceeded any regulations put into place by her GLO; therefore, those regs surely would not apply retroactively.

Perhaps a better descriptor for your grandmother's badge would be vintage.

You might say it was "grandmothered" in. HA!

If it was "official" when it was made, it is still official - for that particular badge. The descendants of our founders are typically initiated with a badge their relative wore. We send them from our archives for that purpose. But I wouldn't want to change MY badge to look like another that was no longer made.

Exactly. But if it's not allowed now, it wouldn't be official if made now.

Many organizations can point to the specific time their badge designs were standardized. The ones you see that were made before that time will be all kinds of different; to some eyes nicer, to others not as nice.

Surely you could take a badge to a jeweler and have stones replaced with different stones, but IMHO that badge no longer represents the organization.

I think it depends on when/how your grandmother "did" it. Did she order rubies added to her badge originally or years after, did she take it to her hometown jeweler and have it changed?

Years after Gamma Phi designated official jewelers, but still many decades ago, women in my area still had local jewelers who made their badges. Every now and again we'll see one that has been passed down, or is worn by a 75 or 50 year member at Founders Day. I am 100% on board with the fact that this isn't allowed anymore (and technically wasn't then), but I must admit that those badges are stunning.

My grandmother's badge was made by a local jeweler. She never had any other. So if a member were to come up to her, or if she wanted to get into convention, she would be okay? But how would her sisters know it was made that way previously? Would they just have to trust her word?