TKE Facts and Trivia

[JonoBN41]

Sorry for crashing your forum, but as someone who studies many fraternities, I have a question that I can't seem to find a definitive answer to. When was the first Teke badge made?

I have gone to dozens of chapter websites, all of which repeat that the badge has remained unchanged since first adopted. They stop short, however, of saying when that was.

Although the 1935 edition of Baird's manual sets the year at 1900, that seems unlikely since the name Knights of Classic Lore was not changed to Tau Kappa Epsilon until 1902.

Baird's also states, "The fraternity soon adopted the equilateral triangle as its chief geometric symbol. It is significant that the first three chapters are so located geographically as to form the apices of such a triangle." The Teke Guide states, "The significance of the location of these first three chapters, closely approximating an equilateral triangle on the map, was at once realized and has been symbolized ever since by the traditional position and shape of the badge."

Does this mean that the shape of the badge could not pre-date the installation of the third (Gamma) chapter on February 3, 1912?

What years are the earliest examples displayed at TKE headquarters? This seems like a fairly easy question, but I'm having a hard time finding anyone who knows when the first prototype or first production badge was made.

Thanks,
Jono