New Badge for Lambda Chi Alpha!

[LXA grits]

So, I believe it's been a while (about 9 months) since this was talked about, but there's been a great new development. Remember when I was talking about my ideal badge, and how the pearls on the Lambda are unnecessary additions to our perfect brotherhood badge? If not, you can download this document (which will recap that Greekchat discussion) that led to the creation of this badge.

Well, I pursued the creation of a new-and-improved badge, and with a huge deal of help from Joe Klimek, the new badge is physically sitting by my side right now. As you can remember, I described the ideal badge as:

"A yellow (or white) gold badge with etched Lambda and 8 pearls in the crescent, properly placed."

Well, after a lot of working and waiting, I received mine (in white gold) in the mail today! Here's what happened since March:

Since I wanted this badge so much, I had to try to figure out some way to have it made for me. I looked around at local jewelers, but the prices were far too high. Soon, good news came in the form of a phone call from a brother and friend up at LCA Headquarters, Joe Klimek. Joe said that he had seen my "Frankensteined" mock-up (from Greekchat) and liked the idea. Soon, serious conversations were happening between him and our fraternity's Herff Jones representative to get my digital image of the mock-up into the production phase. Through a lot of trial and error, the jewelers worked to create a brand new mold (although to me, it looks similar to two pieces of other previous badges) and cast the prototype. That was sent to Headquarters for approval, and then given the go-ahead for mass production. I was contacted by Herff Jones to receive my special badge, the first one (other than the prototype) to come out of the new cast. I had it cast in white gold (although yellow gold and, perhaps soon, sterling silver are other options). So you can get a good look at it, and because the photography is unavailable online as of yet, I've included some fun pictures of my new badge at THIS webpage. It's a very basic webpage that displays my new WHITE GOLD badge. The manufacturer (The Greek Division of Herff Jones) will be releasing these badges into the market very soon. They are awaiting photography to come in, in order to put it on their website (hjgreek.com), but you can see it now by visiting that page.

I'm not sure exactly on the price at which the badge will be sold, as they sounded unsure on a final price during communications, but it seems likely that it will be sold on their website for around $100.00. For the record, I'm not selling this or in any way affiliated with the jewelers...just letting you know. I hope you like it! I know my future son will in a couple of decades.

Yours in Z A X ,

[docroc67]

Brother,

Well Done!

I am impressed....

Yours in ZAX,

Mike Raymond,
ZUZeta

[NutBrnHair]

Very nice. A good looking badge...and you are adorable!!

[JonoBN41]

Chris,

I agree with Mike, well done! I too am impressed that you were able to accomplish such a task in a relatively short period of time. Your perseverance has paid off nicely.

I must apologize, however, for previously writing that these had never been made before. I had forgotten about the pictures of the display cases at IHQ. Hoover & Smith of Philadelphia did, in fact, make a variety of badges with plain Lambdas, but it was a long time ago - roughly during the period from 1913 to 1915.

You might amend the statement on you web page to read, "This Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity's newest Brotherhood Badge is the first of its kind produced in more than 90 years!"

In fact, I think it sounds even better that way. You have revived a piece of history by producing a badge of a type that might well have been worn by some of the earliest members of Lambda Chi Alpha.

I am not aware of Balfour ever having made them, except for one with no pearls at all.


In ZAX,
Jono

[Tom Earp]

Brother Chris,

This is indeed a very interesting Badge, but it seems that I have seen this also and I think it was H J or Polock. The Lambda almost looks convex but I am sure it isnt. The styling is quite nice, plain and elegant. I am sure Jono is correct though.

You should be proud of and in working with this idea and getting the job accomplished.

I too like white gold as my original Badge is white gold. But, it has saphires in the Lambda, the same as the TS/ELC who first visited us at then BX and then soon to be LX Z.

In ZAX,

[ihearttrisigma]

Sorry to intrude into your forum but I just had a quick comment and question....

First, thats a lovely badge! The graduated pearls are fantastic! (Whoever says some men doen't have good taste in jewelry certainly hasn't met you!) Congratulations on all your hard work!

Second, I have a question and this may seem obvious to everyone else but I'm either not understanding the history of this badge or its been a long day.

Your organization presently has a badge that every new member is given upon initiation. Is the badge that is the subject of this thread replacing that badge or is this an option for ordering the badge? An example would be getting sapphires as Tom mentioned his was.

I also wanted to add, that I've often wondered this same thing about my organizations badge

[john1082]

The badges have evolved over the years. The crescent must be set with pearls, but jewels in the lambda are another matter. I ordered one with the lambda set with emeralds but received one with alternating diamonds and emeralds, with diamond points. This was in the Balfour days.

Originally Posted by ihearttrisigma

Sorry to intrude into your forum but I just had a quick comment and question....

First, thats a lovely badge! The graduated pearls are fantastic! (Whoever says some men doen't have good taste in jewelry certainly hasn't met you!) Congratulations on all your hard work!

Second, I have a question and this may seem obvious to everyone else but I'm either not understanding the history of this badge or its been a long day.

Your organization presently has a badge that every new member is given upon initiation. Is the badge that is the subject of this thread replacing that badge or is this an option for ordering the badge? An example would be getting sapphires as Tom mentioned his was.

I also wanted to add, that I've often wondered this same thing about my organizations badge

[GammaZeta]

Nice badge! Very well done and your hard work shows.

Now that suit.......

[AGDLynn]

Congratulations to you and your Fraternity for being open-minded about changing.

I'm glad that Alpha Gamma Delta allows with/without pearls and diamonds but I don't think they'll go for the white gold

[Trey_P-I_47]

I really like that new style of badge, now what I would like to see come back is the ones like they used to have with GEMS in the Crescent. I always thought that was a neat picture that is on our website with the plain lambda and Ruby (or possibly Garnet) crescent.

[LXA grits]

Thanks for all the information guys! You've helped me gain a better understanding of this type of style of our badge. I think the first time I'll get to legitimately wear the new badge is at this semester's Associate Member Ceremony this upcoming weekend. I'm looking forward to it, even though our chapter down here at uMiami probably won't take a second glance. Oh well...it's good to have your enthusiasm. Also, I got to take it home to show my family and girlfriend over the 3-day weekend, and they all liked it, too.

The Lambda is not curved at all...it appears to have been reproduced from the Lambda in the 9$ badge. I'm telling you, it looks like a combination of the plain one, and one of the expensive ones with pearls int he crescent. the two pieces look like they were borrowed from each other and combined. But, the end result is good. FYI...still not up on the Herff Jones website...

To answer iheartrisigma's question, in case a clear picture hasn't been painted yet, we do have a few different official badges of the fraternity. The basic one is a 9$ plain one that all members can have. Other, more expensive and bejeweled badges are sold to members if they want to spend some extra cash. A little more bling and some different stone/gem combinations are offered, but the design premise is the same. You can view all of the currently offered badges (from the fraternity's official jeweler) here.

[Shadowskream459]

Originally Posted by Trey_P-I_47

I really like that new style of badge, now what I would like to see come back is the ones like they used to have with GEMS in the Crescent. I always thought that was a neat picture that is on our website with the plain lambda and Ruby (or possibly Garnet) crescent.

But doesn't it specifically state that the crescent is to be made from PEARLS?


SOmething about ritual... :P

[Tom Earp]

There is one on ebay right now only in yellow gold for $80.00 opening bid.

[robswede]

Originally Posted by Shadowskream459

But doesn't it specifically state that the crescent is to be made from PEARLS?

yeah, they are there for a reason....

I am thinking of getting a badge with amethysts on the Lambda.... because it is my birth stone...

[JonoBN41]

...and they're purple.