How Has Your Badge Changed?

[WCUgirl]

From the website:

History of The Quill

The Founders of Alpha Xi Delta gave much thought to the selection of an emblem that would symbolize the ideals of their new fraternity. The original Quill badges, smaller than they are today, were approximately seven-eighth of an inch long and were set on stickpins. Founder Lewie Strong Taylor designed the original stickpin Quill, which is on display at Fraternity Headquarters. The stickpins were later changed to clasp pins.

The first jeweled Quill was made for Cora Bollinger Block. It was set with three jewels in the shaft, a sapphire flanked on each side with a turquoise. During the early years, the badges varied slightly from each other in size, shape of feathers and choice of jewels. A few early badges were made with the initials in black enamel instead of burnished gold.

In 1911, a definite die was chosen for the official badge, and the choice of jewels was limited to pearls and diamonds. The Quill badge is a conventionalized quill of gold with the letters raised and burnished gold on the barbs of the feathers.

ETA: I just recently found out we can have our pearls replaced with diamonds...supposedly the nat'l president's Quill has all diamonds. I'd love to do that one day...when I can afford it!

[AchtungBaby80]

What KillarneyRose said. I lost my "Delta Zeta and You" book. *sob*

I've seen pictures of older DZ badges, and they look a little...I don't know, curvier I guess, than the one I have.

[honeychile]

This is from our website:

The Alpha Delta Pi Badge
The first badge was worn by the Adelpheans in 1851. It was a satin riband with ribbon streamers; the name "Adelphean" appeared on one end, and a design of clasped hands at the other end. In the center was the Open Motto—"We Live For Each Other."



This is the official badge as we know it today. In 1906, during the Alpha Delta Pi's first convention, this design with the smaller gold badge with a black enamel center which pictures the clasped hands, the two stars, and the Greek letters was proposed.

****
In the beginning (1851), the Adelpheans had individual jewelers make their pins, which is why there is such a difference in size. But the clasped hands are there from Day One!

When I was getting ready for initiation, I had a choice between two sizes of pins: regular & minature. The regular has four pearls (or other jewels) between the points while the minature one has only three. As you already know, we have a vast amount of choices concerning our pins; yellow or white gold, plain, pearls, pearls with jeweled points, alternating pearls & jewels, etc. Our Grand President Eremitus has a pin with a double row of diamonds on it - it's amazing!

[KillarneyRose]

Originally posted by AchtungBaby80
What KillarneyRose said. I lost my "Delta Zeta and You" book. *sob*

Awww, don't feel bad! If you really want one for a keepsake, you can buy one from National for a few dollars. I just bought my copy a couple of years ago to replace the one I lost in college. Back then it was the same book, but its title was the "Pledge Handbook". Scandalous!

[texas*princess]

Originally posted by honeychile

Our Grand President Eremitus has a pin with a double row of diamonds on it - it's amazing!

Wowie Zowie! I bet it is GORGEOUS!!! I would love to see that someday!

I wish we would have had an option of getting a "regular" or "miniature" pin when I initiated... I guess they only make them "miniature" now!

[Kevin]

The essential design has never changed. In fact, our founders were VERY specific as to what the badge would look like. There have been ornamented badges over the years, and there's no problem with that. We also have a special badge for regents and other national offices.

[CutiePie2000]

Originally posted by Lil' Hannah
Ours used to be an H.

Yup, I also seem to recall reading in WATCHWORDS that at an early DG convention, "standardizing" the badge was addressed, because of course there was no Burr Patterson and Auld and a jeweller who would have been local and close by to the various chapters would have created the badge which have resulted in variances. Not sure if it was still an "H" at that point or if they had switched it to the Anchor.....

[phisigduchesscv]

the only difference I've ever seen is the original badge was just a sphinxhead with sapphire eyes. Now we have the option to chose the sphinxhead or the jeweled badged which is the pyramid with the sphinxhead - the pyramid has sapphires at each corer. Our chapter made the choice that all Iota Gamma sisters will have the jeweled badge - I just love my badge. I think when I get my masters next year I may break down and get the gold badge and have it inscribed with my initials and my initiation date.

Carolyn

[ATOtnBetaTau]

Much like others, the ATO badge has remained the same over the years except in size. When Founder Glazebrook first designed the badge, the size was one inch by one inch and completely flat. You can still get one of these badges, known as the Founder's Badge, today. Many chapters get one for their president to wear. My father still has his, and it appears huge compared to the standard badge.

The standard badge is half an inch by half an inch and the center panel is raised slightly. Every member is given one of these with their badge number engraved on the back. You may also order jeweled versions of the standard badge. My parents bought me one as a Christmas present the year after I was elected president. Of course, I love it.

Jason

[ms_gwyn]

I'm not a member of Tri Sigma, but I do know that their badge has changed 3 times.

The first two had very prominent Skull and Cross bones theme.

The third and last design which I believe changed sometime in the early 1900s is what we see today of the indented triangle badge with pearls along the edge, a sigma in each corner and the skull and cross bone in the middle.

ms. gwyn

[mcellpe]

Phi Gamma Delta actually has an interesting page on its website that chronicles the changes made to the badge design from the founders to present day. Its been all over th map, from the simple design of 1848, to heavily jeweled versions in the late 1800's, to a very small one in the early 1900's. To promote equality among the brothers, jeweled badges were outlawed around the turn of the century.

Today's badge (since 1923) is identical and size, shape, and design to the original badge conceived by the founders in 1848. Balfour actually took a founders badge out of the archives and took a mold of it, to insure a match to the original. The whole story appears here:

http://www.phigam.org/history/Headquarters/exhibits.htm

[mcellpe]

Here's an interesting website I found that has a lot pictures of old pins and badges:

http://homepage.mac.com/sternjd/frat...es/Browse.html

I think its intended for use by collectors (blasphemy!) but can provide you with some historical insight on the badges of many GLO's.

[shadokat]

In our Pre NPC days, the D Phi E badge was just the triangle with the pearls around it, without our motto at the bottom. I think after joining the NPC, we added the motto at the bottom, and it is still that way today. Denise D Phi E is much more knowledgable of our badge than I am

[sailboatgirl]

The Tri Sigma Badge has changed (I think) quite a but from its inception. Our first badge was a flat & skull shapped. It was 2 colors...moss green & purple with a banner in the top of the skull with our letters in it. The next badge that I can remember (I think this was like a few years after our founding) was a gold skull & cross bones with letters on it. (These are all very cool and in this neet display at Walton House). The indented triangle badge, smiliar to what we wear today came into existence in (I think) the early 1900s, except for the fact that they did not have the pearls surrounding them. I know pearls weren't an option when my chapter was founded 1929 or when my pledge mother's grandmother was initiated in the 40s. I'm not sure when they added the pearls around our badge. Now, you can get a badge that just has pearls in the points, versus around the whole triangle.

[MysticCat]

Ours has changed some, but not drastically.

This has been our official badge since 1910:



The original badge looked like the current one except the Greek letters (and the lines separating them from the "S") were absent, and as a result the "S" was larger. This, of course, reflected the fact that our name originally was simply The Sinfonia Fraternity. I think that rubies may have been used instead of garnets.

In the early 1900's, a desire arose to include the Greek letters, which were being used in other contexts, in the badge. Around 1905 or '06, the triangle was turned point-down and separated into four triangles (formed by placing a point-up triangle in the center, its points touching the middle of the lines forming the larger triangle). An "S" was in the center triangle, F was in the upper left triangle, M was in the upper right triangle, and A was in the bottom triangle. (Sorry -- I couldn't find a picture on-line.)

In 1910, the triangle was turned point-up again, and the current design was adopted.

For many years, a non-jeweled badge was available, but the jeweled version remained the official badge. At our National Assembly last year, we voted to make the jeweled version the only one available. The placement of the pearls and garnets cannot be altered.