Fraternity and Sorority Arms, Seals, Flags and other Insignia

[AlphaFrog]

I actually enjoy the simplicity of our COA. Central Phoenix rising. 4 point crown, 4 red and white panels, two ropes that represent 4, and Aspire, Seek, Attain on the banner at the bottom. They have a beautiful stained glass window of it at HQ. I'll see if I can find a pic of that.

[IrishLake]

Everything on our CoA is ritual... can't tell anyone a thing about it. I love the GPhiB coat!!! that's beautiful!

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by thetygerlily

I didn't notice that until Lucy mentioned the tops were the same. At first I thought she meant the wings, and then I noticed the sigma within a delta! For KKG, it is our new member pin & is ritual so you're out of luck there. I was thinking that the Tri Sigma one represented a Sigma for their org and the shape of their badge- but then why wouldn't they do an indented triangle? So I'm left with no ideas there, which means it may be ritual... I'm sure someone can clear that up!

Sorry I can't. It's all ritual except for the Greek script on the bottom

[LucyKKG]

Originally Posted by thetygerlily

As far as I know, this one is just a very stylized version. Our official CoA is the one Lucy posted. Personally I am not a fan of the stylized one... there are some blankets as well that have green added, which baffles me because green has nothing to do with KKG.

ETA: Here's a pretty cool stylized one on MSU's site. Not official, but fun:

Yeah, it's just a style thing. I have a sticker version of our COA that's more a of a blue and white outline. I think all of the pictures on the Kappa website have the colors that I found.

[GTAlphaPhi]

• Our colors, silver and bordeaux
• 2 of our major symbols, ivy (at the top) and the Big Dipper/Ursa Major constellations. Ursa Major ("Great Bear" is the inspiration of one of our less serious symbols, the Phi Bear!
  
• Lamps appear on a lot of COA's/crests/logos/imagery throughout human history, so make of it what you will.
• The lowercase Greek letters below the ivy (alpha omicron epsilon) stand for our secret motto and also appear on our badge
• The Greek phrase on the "banner" is our public motto, "Union hand in hand".

While we officially call this our crest, technically, I think a crest is only the thing at the top, so the ivy in this case, the bird on Theta's (eagle?), etc. Sometimes I think ours is too plain -- almost too modern and clean-looking. What can I say, I love the flourishes on the sides of come COA's!

[Psi U MC Vito]

Somebody correct me if wrong, but most of the CoAs aren't technically correct right?

[ebdelt]

I've always thought our CoA was a little different than others, in that our colors are barely used on the crest. And most of the images on the crest relate to our ritual, so those will not be explained.

[Psi U MC Vito]

Originally Posted by Leslie Anne

Love the plaque!

So do I! My chapter is too young to have one. But I happened to visit our mother chapter and they had one over the mantel. I was staring at it for a good 10 minutes. Then I went to visit the giant flagpole on campus with our Founders' names on it.

[angels&angles]

Pi Beta Phi:



Based off the COA of one of our founders. Our badge is on one side, and the other is the badge(?) of I.C.Sorosis, which is what we were founded as.

[carnation]

Isn't there something about the crest being diamond-shaped because a woman's COA is supposed to be? I'd swear I read that somewhere.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Gusteau

mind = blown

Me too. And thanks, Lucy, for the additional information on the different designs.

Originally Posted by jennyj87

In tri delta we have three stages of membership: new member (where you are a pearl), college (a pine tree) and an alum ( a pansy). I love how our crest has three of the stages.

I can't find the pearl. Where is it/are they?

Originally Posted by GTAlphaPhi

While we officially call this our crest, technically, I think a crest is only the thing at the top, so the ivy in this case, the bird on Theta's (eagle?), etc.

Heraldically speaking, yes. While many orgs (and many people) use "crest" and "coat of arms" interchangeably, from an heraldic standpoint, the crest (i.e. "top") is the part of the design at the top. Originally, it would have been the decoration a knight added to his helmet.

The crest on our coat of arms is a harp -- the modern equivalent of the lyre.

Originally Posted by Psi U MC Vito

Somebody correct me if wrong, but most of the CoAs aren't technically correct right?

Depends.

Most Americans who know anything about heraldry are used to the British (English and Scottish) rules of heraldry, and by those rules, many GLO arms are not completely "correct." But in other countries, the rules can differ.

But yes, many GLOs use arms that do not adhere strictly to the rules of [Bristish] heraldry. That's the American in us.

Originally Posted by purcupile

Some of my favorite images came from this era, in the form of elaborate allegorical representations from the various chapters. One of my favorite images was a Sigma Chi image of their badge and motto floating above an island…from that image I created, what I consider to the most beautiful image of the Sigma Chi badge. I have subsequently seen this same allegory with other fraternity’s badges and mottos.However, I digress as this forum is for a discussion of the arms of the fraternities not for badges…nor is it my intent to discuss fraternities different from my own.

You don't digress at all. I was thinking specifically of allegories when I said that we could share information about pre-heraldic designs. I think it's fine for is to discuss other org's arms, as long as we're clear about them not being ours.

During the period of the late 1880’s through the turn of the century many fraternities went about creating specific images which incorporated the rituals, and purpose of their founding. Some just drew up an image which appealed to them, while others took a more pragmatic approach which required that a heraldic description from which to artistically design the coat-of-arms. For those reading who are not familiar with that terms is a cryptic and specific description of a coat-of-arms,,,it follows the ancient symbols in use hundreds of years ago. At that time there were only 5 colors and 2 metals that were used on arms… e.g. horizontal lines symbolized azure in drawings.

See, this is where our focus on "the rules" can get in the way. In British heraldry, there are 2 metals (or/gold and argent/silver) and 5 common tinctures (gules/red, azure/blue, vert/green, sable/black and purpure/purple). But British and European heraldry knew other tinctures as well: tenny (or tenné)/orange, murrey (a burgandy color), sanguine (blood red), celeste (sky blue), carnation (the color of "typical" European skin), cendrée (dark gray), just to name a few.

Originally Posted by carnation

Isn't there something about the crest being diamond-shaped because a woman's COA is supposed to be? I'd swear I read that somewhere.

Traditionally (British rules again), a woman does not use a shield for her arms, because she would not go into battle. Instead, her arms are placed on a "lozenge" -- a diamond shape like Pi Phi's arms.

There is one woman who by rule uses a shield rather than a lozenge. Her primary residence is Buckingham Palace.

[als463]

You'll notice that our badge is also incorporated into the COA.


Alpha Chi Sigma (my guy's Fraternity). Notice the badge shape of the COA.



As a Member of Kappa Delta Pi (International Education Honor Society), here is our seal:


Notice that the shield incorporates the KDP badge:

[Psi U MC Vito]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

There is one woman who by rule uses a shield rather than a lozenge. Her primary residence is Buckingham Palace.

That's by virtue of her being the head of the British Armed Forces right? Do the various Governor Generals have CoAs, and if so do they also hold the shield shape regardless of gender?

/tangent.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Psi U MC Vito

That's by virtue of her being the head of the British Armed Forces right? Do the various Governor Generals have CoAs, and if so do they also hold the shield shape regardless of gender?

/tangent.

In the Queen's case it is because she is the monarch and the royal arms are both hers and the arms of the country.

I would assume Governors General bear arms, but as they would be personal only, I would expect them to follow the traditional rule.

And I need to revise a little -- traditionally, women use lozenges or ovals rather than shields.

[TSteven]

Originally Posted by Senusret I

^^^ This one is wearable.

The below are not and are for official use only (documents, certificates, banners, flags, etc)



There are one or two intermediate versions which I cannot find online.

Current shield

If you are allowed to say so, why is one wearable and the others not?