Could this possibly be real?
 

Take a look at Ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...972147074&rd=1

"This is an ORIGINAL FOUNDING DOCUMENT of 1893 for the Theta Chi national fraternal organization, which currently has thousands of members even today.

The frame is original and most importantly, the individual signatures of the nine founders are perfectly legible.

The original gold, hand incripted medallion is also still attached with the original ribbon.

Yet another prominent feature of the Charter is the elaborate lithographs with the creator's signature present.

This is THE most important document the Theta Chi Fraternity must value and cherish.

I acquired this framed document over ten years ago when I purchased a building in Oakland, CA.

The paper of the Charter is torn in various places however, these tears do not interfere with the legibility what so ever and can easily be remedied.

Shipping: will be completed by Fedex, buyers request.

Payment: I require prepayment for the Charter before shipping and will not accept refunds. To ensure the buyers satisfaction, I suggest that the buyer view the document prior to purchase. If the buyer is not located in the Northern California area, I can arrange a meeting with a member of the local Theta Chi fraternity for a viewing and conference call with the buyer."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Claims to be an original Theta Chi charter. I can see that it is not, but could it possibly be some kind of merger of Theta Chi with another organization? She's got a load of nerve, with that $30,000 opening bid. SHEESH :rolleyes:

cough:bull$*!T:cough

An original founding document of a national organization is far more likely to be contained in either vault or a safe deposit box belonging to the organization in question. An add like this is highly suspicious, in my opinion.

That's not always true though.

Many of us might recall about a month or two ago when an original Tri Delta founding document (I believe it was the Constitution?) found its way onto eBay. Their EO was notified, and while it's hard to determine its true authenticity just by online photos, whenever these valued items end up for auction, it's best to just alert your EO and have an official archivist take a look at it and have them determine what to do next.

They lowered the starting bid to 20K

Anyone who would even THINK of buying something that expensive from a brand new ebay user deserves to lose their 20K.

I don't see how a random Theta Chi alumnus could be of any help in determining if it was what it was stated to be, unless that particular alumnus has training in dating documents and all that jazz

you know what this sounds like....
south end of the northbound toro

He's also revised it to say it's the founding charter for a local CHAPTER. I think he'd been trying to trick people into thinking it was for the national org.
I understand it's a piece of history, but unless there's some alumnus from that chapter with more money than he knows what to do with, no one in their right mind is going to pay 20K for that

He very well may not know what he has. Heck, I probably couldn't tell you the difference between the founding charter for the original chapter of Theta Chi, and the founding charter (or whatever other "important" document) for a local chapter of it.

Of course, in spending $20,000, I might be able to research that pretty adequately.

This guy expecting to get paid that huge sum is a little silly. Even if it were a historical document, I'd hope that Theta Chi would have more important things to with $20,000 than that.

Would Theta Chi be able to report it as missing or stolen property? I mean, obviously, you can't just sell anyone's stuff.

How odd. If you look at the two pictures located on the right middle row and the bottom row, the writing makes reference to NIC fraternity Kappa Delta Phi.

right middle row picture's wording
bottom row picture's wording
And if you notice the top of the "crest" it looks like the the Greek letters KDF. Also, the crest doesn't look anything like Theta Chi's at all.

Perhaps this was a local called Theta Chi that joined Kappa Delta Phi? Or maybe it's just a coincidence and KDF has some other meaning.

crest dissonance
 

Notice the difference in the crests.

http://www.thetachi.org/FactsFigures/creed.gif

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ayphotohosting


$20K...only in their wildest and wettest dreams......

Since the Kappa Delta Phi that you reference (I checked that, too!) was not founded until April 1900, it could not possibly be related to this document which claims to be from 1893.

Clearly this seller does not have a clue what they have and they haven't done the research to determine its authenticity or significance. I don't really think it has much historic value, either. I am thrilled that there is not a single bid!

Good catch. Maybe KDF has some sort of meaning to Theta Chi.

And it hasn't aged a day! Amazing!

$15,000 Bible


This is this person's other auction (which still has the pmt instructions for the Theta Chi Charter)...and also, she offers no shipping insurance...hell, I'd be putting shipping insurance on the check as well as the item if I was going to shell out $15/$20 thousand. Not that it matters because she's not going to find someone eccentric enough to spend that kind of money. Even for a "gold bible". Can you even put gold on a page?

According to Theta Chi's website their first chapter in CA was at Berkely, founded in 1913. Unless there was a local called KDPhi that was around for 20 years and then went to OX, or vice versa...