Vintage Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity Badge 10kt Yellow Gold Lapel Pin w/ Seed Pearls

Description

Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity Badge
Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity was inspired by Richard J. H. Gottheil, a professor of languages at Columbia University and a leader in the early American Zionist movement. On December 29, 1898, Professor Gottheil gathered together a group of Jewish students from several New York City universities to form a Zionist youth society. The society was called Z.B.T.
During this brief period, the society came to serve as a kind of fraternal body for college students who, as Jews, were excluded from joining existing fraternities because of the sectarian practices which prevailed at the end of the nineteenth century in the United States. The continuing need for a Greek-letter fraternity open to Jewish students prompted Z.B.T. to change its raison d’etre, structure and emphasis and to become Zeta Beta Tau in 1903.
This 10kt gold lapel pin features seed pearls with an enamel emblem featuring a skull and cross bones, the fraternity’s letter ZBT, and a whitish-blue David’s star on a black background. On the back is Beta Gamma E.F. which we believe means the pin is from the Beta Gamma chapter of the fraternity at Indiana University – Bloomington.
The pin has some dirt around the clasp but otherwise appears to be in good condition. Though the item is not stamped, it has been tested as 10kt gold, 41.7% pure.
Measures approximately 21.3 mm tall by 12.6mm wide by 4.0 mm thick (not including the pin) and weighs 2.5 grams.