What is the emblem on this lapel pin found in my living room?
March 15, 2010 9:12 AM   Subscribe

I found this lapel pin beneath my living room couch yesterday and have no idea what the emblem is. Can you help me identify it? I'm not sure that I am even holding it the correct way in the photo.

A few ideas that have not been confirmed include:
* Variation of logo from Augsburg College in Minneapolis, MN where a family member works.
* A variation of this unofficial 4-H logo.

Any other thoughts? I have spent hours combing Google Image Search and various logo/design/branding blogs to find clues, but to no avail! Hopefully the answer is buried somewhere within the hive mind!
posted by jk252b to Grab Bag (12 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Almost definitely an alchemical symbol. This site has a list of them.
posted by griphus at 9:24 AM on March 15, 2010


Okay, according to that site it is almost identical to the alchemical symbol for Borax, but it has an extra bar at the bottom.

Here's a bigger resource for alchemical symbols from an 18th century manual.
posted by griphus at 9:30 AM on March 15, 2010


Just to clarify: your image hasn't been reversed, correct? Because if it was the 4h logo, why would it be mirrored like this?
posted by Think_Long at 9:33 AM on March 15, 2010


Response by poster: @griphus Hm, alchemy is definitely not something I thought of but it sure does look like the Borax symbol (save the extra bar)

@Think_Long No, image hasn't been reversed or mirrored. Though I may not be holding it correctly. If you rotate the picture 180 degrees you can see how it is more similar to the 4-H logo, although still the "4" would still be facing the wrong direction. For these reasons I tend not to think it has anything to do with 4-H (especially since National 4-H seems rather strict about use of their "official" emblem, which is quite different from the image on my pin: http://www.national4-hheadquarters.gov/emblem/4h_name.htm).
posted by jk252b at 9:40 AM on March 15, 2010


Maybe a variation on the Cross of Lorraine?
posted by oinopaponton at 9:50 AM on March 15, 2010


My first thought was some sort of Asian symbol/word/letter.
posted by MexicanYenta at 10:25 AM on March 15, 2010


Looks to me like a regional variation on the Eastern Orthodox Cross.
posted by Aquaman at 10:42 AM on March 15, 2010


I'm inclined to think it's a variation on a papal cross, although I can't find one with that diagonal.
posted by specialagentwebb at 10:43 AM on March 15, 2010


Best answer: It's the symbol for Columbia Business School; you're holding the pin horizontally, but it's oriented vertically.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 11:02 AM on March 15, 2010


Response by poster: @Admiral Haddock I think you've got it. Not only is it obviously the Columbia Business School symbol, but it also makes sense contextually because my father did a program there a number of years ago. Thanks!
posted by jk252b at 11:08 AM on March 15, 2010


Good god! The Columbia Business School is run by crypto-alchemists?!
posted by griphus at 12:18 PM on March 15, 2010 [3 favorites]


No, they're run by Mages from White Wolf's World of Darkness. ;-)

(That was going to be my guess, given they use a number of alchemical symbols in the RPG - but someone found the answer before I needed to look it up and verify it. I know there were a number of licenses pins, which I was thinking this was one.)
posted by GJSchaller at 12:27 PM on March 15, 2010


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