Her badge

[Eternallyours]

Originally Posted by nyapbp

I am Pi Phi's Historian. Sciencewoman's daughter is correct. The badges will be given a good home at HQ. PM me and I can give you more info. And if you tell me your grandmother's name, I might be able to see if we have any pictures or information about her.

Thank you! I'll direct message you!

[generallygreek]

Thank you so, so much for your love and care for our sisterhood. I am truly touched by your grandmother's story. I'm so glad she found a warm, safe, and loving home in our sisterhood when she needed it most, and to hear that she never stopped loving Pi Phi as much as both you and her sisters surely loved her. It sounds like your grandmother was a tried and true angel, and really embodied all of our values--most of all what my chapter lovingly called "everyone's favorite value," sincere friendship. I'm saddened by your loss, but I think you are dealing with this issue with the respect and grace a wonderful woman like your grandmother deserves. Don't let those who don't understand everything a badge represents get you down or change your ultimate decision. I'm sure your grandmother entrusted those treasures to you because she knew you would treat them with thoughtfulness and care. Thank you for sharing your memories, and for allowing us to share briefly in the life of a wonderful woman and sister. Pi Phi love and mine.

[Kevin]

Is there a probate open? Who is in charge of the estate? While Pi Phi might tell you to donate the badges (and that would be great), doing so could end up costing you. Was there a will? Is there a trust? How did you come back into possession of the jewelry? If your cousins "stole" it, why do you have it now? You need to run this stuff by a lawyer in your state because while I respect the hell out of everyone in this thread, I don't see a lot of expertise in probate law here except navane. She's apparently on the same page I am. Definitely not enough information here, and you are in danger of being in the legal weeds.

And as far as badges not being jewelry and being the property of the national organization, that's a bunch of bullshit. Badges sell on Ebay all the time, sometimes for big bucks. While organizations might say that badges are the property of the organization, a court of law is probably going to take a different view. I own a jeweled badge which I paid good money for. I bought it from an authorized vendor. It is definitely not the property of Sigma Nu, though I will probably will it back to the chapter.

[Eternallyours]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Is there a probate open? Who is in charge of the estate? While Pi Phi might tell you to donate the badges (and that would be great), doing so could end up costing you. Was there a will? Is there a trust? How did you come back into possession of the jewelry? If your cousins "stole" it, why do you have it now? You need to run this stuff by a lawyer in your state because while I respect the hell out of everyone in this thread, I don't see a lot of expertise in probate law here except navane. She's apparently on the same page I am. Definitely not enough information here, and you are in danger of being in the legal weeds.

And as far as badges not being jewelry and being the property of the national organization, that's a bunch of bullshit. Badges sell on Ebay all the time, sometimes for big bucks. While organizations might say that badges are the property of the organization, a court of law is probably going to take a different view. I own a jeweled badge which I paid good money for. I bought it from an authorized vendor. It is definitely not the property of Sigma Nu, though I will probably will it back to the chapter.

My grandmother didn't view them as jewellery. The will personally specified me as the recipient and the jewellery box was not recovered until now because my cousin lives in the same town as my grandma and had the opportunity to take what she wanted when we were all more preoccupied with things other than money, we came back into possession because my cousin's husband called another one of my cousins to ask if she had any claim on the jewellery (which she did), and my grandmother's lawyer has cleared me on everything but figuring out how to distribute the badges.

[Titchou]

Then keep the Kappa ones and return the Pi Phi ones to their HQ. They will have a procedure for that.

[Titchou]

I bought a chapter guard from our HQ that had been on a returned pin. Was very proud to have it!

[thetalady]

Eternallyyours, your grandmother's pins sound very special. I hope you might take some pictures and share them with us here! I am especially in love with opal badges!

[Sciencewoman]

^^^ The Pi Phi badge my daughter rescued in an opal badge. I will see if I can get generallygreek to post a picture in the badge thread.

[ColdInCanada11]

This makes me wonder: new members must purchase a badge (order is placed before initiation), it's not optional, it must be done. Is this not the case in all NPC orgs?

[aephi alum]

Originally Posted by ColdInCanada11

This makes me wonder: new members must purchase a badge (order is placed before initiation), it's not optional, it must be done. Is this not the case in all NPC orgs?

It's required for AEPhi. You must purchase a badge unless you are going to wear your sister's, mother's, or grandmother's badge. You cannot give away your badge while you're an active, so if your sister is still an active, you must buy your own badge.

If you've seen the "badge trends" thread, you've seen my not-infrequent complaints about how AEPhi badges cannot be customized. Letters in sequence, 27 pearls, gold bar, end of story - no opals, sapphires, emeralds, rubies, diamonds, white gold, etc. But one nice thing about this is that, since no customization is allowed, we almost always had our new members' badges before initiation. The other sororities at my school did allow customization, so it took time to craft those badges - new initiates wore their big sisters' badges, sometimes for as long as a semester, until their own badges came in.

[GreekOne]

Originally Posted by ColdInCanada11

This makes me wonder: new members must purchase a badge (order is placed before initiation), it's not optional, it must be done. Is this not the case in all NPC orgs?

In the 80s, the cost of our badge was embedded in our initiation fee and it was compulsory. Today, sadly, it is an option. New members are initiated with their big sister's badges and given an order form to get their own. This takes time and some young women with financial difficulties never place that order, and therefore never own a badge. I don't know when this change took place but it saddens me when a young women tells me that she does not own a badge due to the cost. The most basic option is under $40. With the expense of membership, I strongly preferred the days that it was embedded into the initiation fees and every sister had one.

[ColdInCanada11]

Originally Posted by GreekOne

In the 80s, the cost of our badge was embedded in our initiation fee and it was compulsory. Today, sadly, it is an option. New members are initiated with their big sister's badges and given an order form to get their own. This takes time and some young women with financial difficulties never place that order, and therefore never own a badge. I don't know when this change took place but it saddens me when a young women tells me that she does not own a badge due to the cost. The most basic option is under $40. With the expense of membership, I strongly preferred the days that it was embedded into the initiation fees and every sister had one.

It is embedded in our dues! (I mean, it's a separate fee, but you must pay it before you initiate, and it's not overly expensive) I could see if only 14k gold or jewelled badges were your options, but a simple gold-plated badge should be required. A badge is such an important identifier of our vows and bond, I couldn't imagine not having my badge!

[APhi2KD]

Just saw this on Ebay and think it's funny timing:

One more thing, please don't complain about my sale of this pin, I do not feel that it is my job to return any item to your organization or headquarters. I am not selling copies of pins, nor do I make any claim of ownership of the design of the pins. Just a guy saving a lot of nice Greek pins from the refiner. If anymore of my auctions get pulled for copyright infringement, I will make it a point to melt every one of that groups pins from now on, Delta Sigma Theta, I'm talking to you...

[aephi alum]

Originally Posted by GreekOne

The most basic option is under $40.

That's not bad at all! Heck, textbooks go for 5-10x that!

When I joined AEPhi, our only option was a 14k yellow gold badge with pearls. It was $75. You could also get a chapter guard - it had to be yellow gold set with pearls - for an additional fee. There is now a 10k gold option. I'm not sure what the badges are priced at today.

[navane]

Originally Posted by GreekOne

In the 80s, the cost of our badge was embedded in our initiation fee and it was compulsory. Today, sadly, it is an option. New members are initiated with their big sister's badges and given an order form to get their own. This takes time and some young women with financial difficulties never place that order, and therefore never own a badge. I don't know when this change took place but it saddens me when a young women tells me that she does not own a badge due to the cost. The most basic option is under $40. With the expense of membership, I strongly preferred the days that it was embedded into the initiation fees and every sister had one.

Aww...that's a shame. I had always assumed that all sororities required their members to wear their badges for ritual and formal meetings.