Badge Rescuers?

[ComradesTrue]

In reading about the Kappa group "Keeper of the Keys," in which dedicated members work to rescue badges from eBay, jewelers, etc., I wondered if Theta had such an organized group.

Like many others I am disheartened to see so many badges up for sale. I often wonder if in an attemt to ensure that a Theta win an aBay auction that we unknowingly bid against each other. This of course means more money out of our pockets and into the pockets of the sellers, which keeps the sellers in business and motivated to continue selling our badges.

I recently asked HQ if there were any "official" positions on badge disposal. They did indicate that badges were to be buried with the member, passed on to another Theta, or returned to HQ. However, this does not seem to be well publicized.

By comparison, my Mother-in-Law is a Delta Zeta. Proper badge disposal protocol is on their website, runs frequently in their magazines, and each member of her alumnae chapter can quote the options. They are also frequently reminded to put their wishes for the badge in their will.

I don't think that badges wind up on eBay out of disregard for the organization. Instead I believe that it is uninformed decendants who do not realize the importance that only initiated members be in possession of our badge. There also seems to be some that are a result of being lost and stolen, but with the high number of initiation years prior to 1950 on eBay, a member's death seems to be more of a common way that these are finding their way into the mainstream.

I know I haven't stated much new... my main purpose was to learn if there is a group similar to Keepers of the Keys and hopefully to encourage our national organization to take a more pro-active approach with education on badge disposal.

Do any of your local alumnae chapters cover this in newsletters, meetings, etc?

[ThetaDancer]

Thank you for starting this thread! I was just reading the Kappa thread too and was wondering the same thing. Unfortunately, I dont have an answer to your question about whether or not there is something similar to Keepers of the Keys, Crescent Catchers, or anything like that. I don't know if it's just my perception or if it is really a growing problem, but I seem to notice more and more badges of ours for sale on ebay lately than at any other time.

[ThetaPrincess24]

I dont believe there is an official organized group at HQ that rescues badges, but there are several of them that do rescue badges.

[hoover815]

paging KAOKite!

[kaokite]

yeah yeah yeah. I knew someone would want me to respond to this thread.

for the record, there is no offical Theta badge-rescue group.

let me be clear: I am a collector, not a rescuer. I buy Theta badges, and badges from other greek groups as well, and typically buy/sell/trade with collectors from other groups. I have some wonderful NPC/NIC friends, whom I've met through this collecting hobby. We all look out for each other and I have a number of items in my collection that have never exchanged hands on ebay. I wear my collection (not all at the same time! ), because in so doing, I feel like I'm honoring the women who wore the badge before me. if you are at convention, you'll want to come find me to see which special ones I've brought!

Some in our midst see things differently; they believe ALL badges should be sent back to HQ. I see their point, but hope that they also see mine. I don't want to engage in a debate. PM me if you want to discuss offline.

I started buying on ebay in 1998. IMHO, while there has definitely been a spike in online sales of badges in recent years, this is only a movement of the existing offline traffic over to a more popular (and visible) venue. I bought my first badge in 1991 for $50 IN GOLD WEIGHT from an antique store in Boston. Back then (and even now) many jewelers and dealers treat these fraternity/sorority pins as SCRAP GOLD AND MELT THEM. More and more they are learning that ebay is an option to sell these items instead of melting them for the mineral content. Hence why the badges are showing up online. I firmly believe there were just as many badges trading hands 20 years ago before ebay; they were just mostly being melted down instead of being sold in a public forum.

In the last 3 years, there have been over 200 Theta badges sold on ebay. Less than 10 of these were what i would call "historically significant". I am going to sound very callous, so I apologize to those I offend, but I don't feel we need to organize a group to buy what is, for the most part, ordinary badges.

Even for the historically significant badges, there's a significant amount of competition amongst both the Theta rescuers & collectors and non-Theta collectors. No bidding group is going to be able to control that kind of an auction, so overall there probably isn't a point in putting forth the hours of time to run & maintain such a group..

Okay my 2 cents are up.