greek stuff on e-bay

etienneSAI · #1 07-20-2000, 02:21 PM

hey gang,

i was wondering, what does your fraternity/sorority do if you see your greek pariphanalia(sp) on sale at e-bay? there have been quite a few instances where sigma alpha iota badges have been for sale there, especially older ones with dates on the back indicating they were members around when we were founded in 1907. how does your organization deal with this? in the past, sisters have bidded on the pin to "keep it in the fraternity" and then sent it to nationals. we've also just sent the problem to nationals. but how do your groups go about keeping your sacred fraternal things out of the wrong hands?

etienne
sigma alpha iota-the hartt school of music

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"red is the color of music and has been since the very earliest of times. the caps of faeries and musicians are well-nigh always red."~*~w.b.yeats

Corbin Dallas · #2 07-20-2000, 03:11 PM

I don't know what HQ does when they see these, but I figure they end up in the hands of brothers, or their families. I don't know why anyone else would want these badges, except to perp., but I definitely don't understand why they would pay such a high price to do so. The LCA badges I see for sale are gold and jeweled, and usually go for over $50, usually more around $80! I assume that it's either a brother, the chapter the previous owner belonged to, his family, or a jeweler who buys them. If it's a jeweler who buys them, I assume they eventually make it to a brother. That's my take on it anyway! I could be wrong, almost happened once before

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Steve Corbin
Lambda Chi Alpha
Theta Kappa Chapter
Rose-Hulman Inst. of Tech.

Corbin Dallas · #3 07-20-2000, 05:20 PM

I just got a reply back from a bidder on a Theta Kappa Nu (What my house was before merging with LCA) badge. He bids on all the TKN and LCA badges he sees on eBay and gives them to the outstanding associate each year at an awards ceremony. He said he's only found a couple of these on ebay, since the frat. has been part of LCA for over 60 years now, and that he bids high on them, hoping to win, but hasn't yet. So anyway, I'm sure there are other "good samaritans" like my bro. out there for other orgs. you may want to just try emailing the winning bidder on these auctions and ask them!

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Steve Corbin
Lambda Chi Alpha
Theta Kappa Chapter
Rose-Hulman Inst. of Tech.

etienneSAI · #4 07-20-2000, 07:19 PM

corbin,

it's nice to assume that there are good samaritans out there, but there ARE people that just collect fraternity/sorority pins as just that: a collection. i don't know, i just think that if someone dies and thier pins is still around, that it should be returned to HQ for a legacy or relative to have.

also, and i didn't mention this in the first post, is the problem my fraternity had with "talking" to people that were selling the pins. not members, just people trying to make a profit. unfortunately, some sisters were kind of harsh to the seller of the pin. we tried to get them to "donate" it to nationals, or have one of us pay the flat fee that the badge would go for now, but to no avail, the bidding went on. so this is another dilemma that we face. how would you handle that?

etienne
sigma alpha iota-the hartt school of music

mwedzi · #5 07-21-2000, 07:12 AM

etienne, I went to ebay and was upset when I found my org's pledge pin up for bid! Following Corbin's suggestion, I emailed the high bidder and asked very politely what his/her interest in the pin might be.

etienne, I think you are correct in that not all those buyers are members of the orgs. I saw someone's pledge manual for auction up there being sold as "a great read." The nerve!

BFulton · #6 07-21-2000, 07:35 AM

ettiene,

You might be interested in an older thread on this forum about the same subject (I think it was in June), if you've not already seen it.

I do keep an eye out for our badges, etc. on those auctions (so far have not found any - but we're a fairly young group, so perhaps this is why). Some of our chapter fundraiser cookbooks have shown up and I thought that was kind of neat!

Someone brought up a good point in the earlier thread: this is really not something we can get all hot and bothered with e-bay, etc. about (imho). When one becomes a GLO member, one should take on the responsibility of informing family where these materials go (back to national hdqters., the chapter, along with addresses, or to another family member who is also a member) should one pass on... I've also seen badges, paddles and other items in antique shops and flea markets so it is not as if this is a totally new thing.

Perhaps each national organization should have a small group of people with instructions to watch these auctions and what to do when they find articles for sale?

Corbin Dallas · #7 07-21-2000, 08:49 AM

I got this email from the brother that was bidding on the pin i mentioned:
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I went to a meeting last year in Baltimore of Fraternity Pin Collectors Society. There are about 15 hard core members and maybe 30 softies, like me. The buy/sell/trade pins day and night. I think some of them go overboard spending so much money on pins, but it does help keep the histories of Greeks alive. Some of them know more about my Fraternity than I do, and they are not even Lambda Chi's. I don't think they are in it for a profit as much as for the satisfaction of knowing they are a hard to find item. The leader of the group is not even Greek. He likes the old and obsolete pins. He must have a thousand different pins, mostly early 1900's and older. He is a med student at GWU.

If you are surfing Ebay, look for a bidder named SKIDMARKS. I don't have to search for pins. I just look at his bidding and they will all be there.
---------------------------------

Anyway, I guess this shows I'm wrong, but there's nothing we can do about it, which sucks! The only thing I know to do is watch the auctions and try to outbid them.

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Steve Corbin
Lambda Chi Alpha
Theta Kappa Chapter
Rose-Hulman Inst. of Tech.

etienneSAI · #8 07-21-2000, 11:16 AM

corbin,

yeah, i think you're right. (bfulton, i didn't know there was a thread on this before...i just came in july!) who knew there was an actual SOCIETY of fraternity pin collectors? i don't think that the collectors of these pins are out fo do any injustice to the fraternity and like you said, are very interested in the fraternity itself, but it's just nice to know that something so integral to your fraternity is placed in national headquarters where it belongs, right?

etienne
sigma alpha iota-the hartt school of music

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"red is the color of music and has been since the very earliest of times. the caps of faeries and musicians are well-nigh always red."~*~w.b.yeats

"I think that happiness is when you can let yourself feel every emotion you want at any time instead of being a lying little fuck." - Tori Amos

#9 07-21-2000, 09:34 PM

I am torn on this! I hate it when my sorority's pins are up for auction, but I used to work for a guy who collected pins, (he's a Greek alum) and his point was that when these pins end up in pawn shops, they can be bought by jewelers for the gold weight, and then melted down. That is much more sad than a non-Greek collector owning it! I think that all the Nationals should buy the pins off eBay, or that the sellers should try to only sell to initiated brothers or sisters. I always look for my badges, and would buy one if it didn't get too high (which it always does).

As for non-sacred items (like you could buy on campus at the bookstore), I don't see any problem with that. I bought a silver key chain on eBay that none of the Greek stores at my school had.

mwedzi · #10 07-22-2000, 12:12 AM

I still don't know. Even if they like collecting them because it's cool for them to own something so old, we had several weeks in a pledge period just to get a pledge pin and depending on the finances and attendance and performace of some members, it took anywhere from a 3 months to nearly a year for some of us to receive our badges. And then Mr. So-And-So can just go buy one off of Ebay?

You are right in making sure that our families need to know what to do with our material, but no matter what, some things are going to end up out there, so I suppose it's pretty futile to get upset about it. Still . . .

Corbin Dallas · #11 07-22-2000, 12:32 AM

Yeah, I think it would be nice for them to go to:

A) Nat/Internat. HQ
2) Back to the chapter
D) At least to another brother.

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Steve Corbin
Lambda Chi Alpha
Theta Kappa Chapter
Rose-Hulman Inst. of Tech.

John · #12 07-23-2000, 05:22 PM

Looks like there may be some interest in previous threads about this topic. Here are the links:

http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/...ML/000287.html

http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/...ML/000377.html

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John Hammell
Network Administrator, GreekChat.com

dc1 · #13 07-24-2000, 12:54 AM

I've noticed quite a few treds on this topic... perhaps each fraternity/sorority could pool a "slush" fund and bid on the pins... I know that not every pin can be purchased, but atleast the pins you obtain will be off the market (so to speak)...

equeen · #14 07-24-2000, 11:07 AM

There's more than one way to skin a cat...

Honestly, I cannot fault someone for being a collector. To a serious collector, whether you're a philatelist, a coin collector, etc., it's the history and uniqueness of a piece that gives it its worth (not its monetary worth). I can completely understand being intrigued by the rich history of greek life...I am myself, which is a big reason for participating on greekchat.

Having said that: why are these pins showing up in the first place? I doubt that it's due to desultory negligence on the part of members...but I do think it's because they make no arrangments for properly retaining/disposing of their badges/pins in the even of their passing.

It would take such a tiny, simple step to make sure that one's pin/badge stays within one's fraternity/sorority. Here are a few ideas that came to mind:

(1) Give the pin/badge to your national organization/chapter. A new member would appreciate the gesture.

(2) If there's a legacy in your family (child, grandchild, niece/nephew), consider passing it on to them when they initiate. (My best friend's dad did this...he's a LXA, and when my b.f.'s brother initiated LXA, their dad showed up out of nowhere and passed on his pin (or is it badge? Corbin, please clarify!).

(3) Make arrangments for it in your will, if you plan on keeping it for life.

Of course, all of this is based on the assumption that there aren't any special restrictions/instructions already in one's GLO on how to keep or pass on the pin/badge.

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equeen
A Lioness has her Pride!
@>--;--
Alpha Sigma Kappa - Women in Technical Studies

Corbin Dallas · #15 07-24-2000, 11:50 AM

Is there a difference between a pin and a badge? It's small, about the size of a penny I think. I don't have it with me. It has a pin with a catch on the back, so I guess I would call it a pin. I hope to one day pass mine on to a son, grandson, nephew, or something like that. If I don't pass it on and I keep it though, I would probably put a notecard with it, saying what to do with it. I'm sure many of these men/women forget about them as they get older. It becomes just another pin in their jewelry box, and they don't think to make special arrangements for it.

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Steve Corbin
Lambda Chi Alpha
Theta Kappa Chapter
Rose-Hulman Inst. of Tech.