RARE (?) Engravings
 

Hey, guys: I'm sure we've all seen this item on eBay over the last few months:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...919345575&rd=1

My question is about the "rarity" of these prints. My bride purchased one for me last Christmas. It looks great, and it appears to be genuine.

However, these prints appear to be about as "rare" as those lame, ubiquitous "Godfather" or "Watermelon Bust" t-shirts that make up 2/3 of the LCA stuff on eBay. Doesn't it seem the prints show up every couple of weeks (a.k.a. one week between auctions)?

What do ya'll think about this, eh? If anyone has something to share about the seller but don't wish to do it here, throw me a PM. Thanks--

ZAX,
BF

It might not be the "rarest" of all lambda chi history...someone obviously has the means to reproduce this engraving, but I still like it. How often do you see the old coat of arms? I'd like to bid on it one day...if I have the extra money.

My thoughts are that these engravings are real and were done a long time ago - probably over-runs meant to go into yearbooks, that were stashed away for many years until the seller bought the batch of leftovers.

But they are WAY over-priced! You would do much better searching ebay for old college yearbooks where we had chapters, especially if they name Lambda Chi Alpha in the listing, and buying the entire book. I have done this several times. Then you can cut out the page with our COA, frame it, and if you wanted, sell the other GLO's COAs on ebay like they are doing.

This would reduce your cost, and you might even break even. Hell, you might even make a buck or two. In any case, you get the whole yearbook for a cheaper price.

In ZAX,
Jono

See it everytime I go to meeting at the chapter :) We have a old gold-embroidered Coat of Arms in our front room....

Jono and I have cussed and discussed this many times.

While Jono may be very right, this person has had other Greek Orgs. C of A similar to ours that were being sold on ebay.

Agree with Jono, pricey as all get out!

I have my doubts as being real though, think they are being made. Can do a whole lot with computers these days. Well, so I am told.!

If you check the seller's feedback (1611 positive; 1 neg) you'll see that customers themselves state the engravings are real. It's easy to tell. These are struck with an engraved steel plate. There are no litho dots, no pixels, and if you run your finger over it, you can FEEL the texture.

But his Buy it now price is $65. That's exactly what I paid for a 1914 LaVie yearbook from Penn State. It has the older COA (copyright 1913 by Charles Elliot of Phila.) along with 20+ COAs of other fraternities, and photos of the founders of Zeta Zeta. 500 pages in all.

Just be careful - some yearbooks have only prints, not actual engravings. There's no comparison. I did a hi res scan of the COA and will be happy to send the jpeg to any brother who pms me with his e-mail address.

In ZAX,
Jono

Been a while since I've actually chimed in, but I am pretty sure that the ebay listings say that it is an authentic engraving.... That is not to mean that the actual paper is antique, just that someone has used the origional engraving plate to reproduce them.
Oren

Oren, that was my thought but, if he picked up engravings from other Greek Organs? That does not mean he/she/they dint?

Still and interesting point of topic tho!

The listing states that these are original and were printed 80 - 90 years ago (or some such) and that the original steel plates used to make them likely don't exist anymore.

But, hey, even if they were made yesterday, what's the dif? Same thing. If you can feel the impressions and there are no pixels or dots, then it's an engraving. They're amazing to scan. You can zoom in as far as your machine will go, and even the shading reveals only tiny lines!

My thoughts are that a printer made a bunch of these for a bunch of GLOs way back for use in a yearbook or some other book, and they were stored for many years until this ebay seller bought and matted them. I see he has listed some more recently that he says WERE cut from yearbooks and have text on the backside.

ZAX,
Jono