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Came upon this pin in a box of stuff from my grandfather:

Front of pin

The back has a little inscription, and a screw-on back that makes it clear this pin is designed to not come off accidentally:

Inscription Attachment

My grandfather moved to Aspen, CO when he was 9 and spent his entire life there. He was a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles but this doesn't seem related to that. I thought "H.S." might be "High School" but he attended Aspen High School.

How can I learn more about this item?

EDITS

  • He never worked for General Electric
  • These guys don't know what it is either (that's not my grandfather's pin but it's identical)
  • LGB has been identified as meaning the pin was produced by the L. G. Balfour company. Balfour stopped making pins 25+ years ago; their lapel pin line was taken over by Stylecraft USA. Neither Balfour nor Stylecraft have records that go before 1999.
  • "1/10 10K GF" means that it is "Gold Filled": it's covered with a layer of 10 K gold that constitutes one tenth of the weight of the pin.
  • There is a Gardner Edgerton High School in Gardner, KS, and my grandfather was born in White Rock, KS, but the two places are 230 miles apart. And the school wasn't built until 2000.
  • His wife (my grandmother) was Head Nurse at Cincinnati General Hospital in 1919 (in case "H.S." means something like "Health Systems")
  • I emailed Classic Medallics, hoping the "M" was their logo, but they replied "Sorry this is not our pin or box"
  • I emailed The Academy, they replied "Unfortunately we never handed out pins like that to our health system GE Fellows. We started this program back in 2005 for high potential leaders that are about 1-3 steps away from taking on a c-suite level role (CEO, CFO, COO, CMO, CNO, etc.) at a health system."
  • I contacted General Electric and they recommended I email The Museum of Innovation and Science (formerly, the Schenectady Museum Hall of Electrical History) as they have archives of GE company history and photos from the 1880s to the present. I have done so.
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11
  • 2
    Maybe "H.S." means "Honor Society" ?
    – kimchi lover
    Nov 23, 2019 at 2:02
  • 1
    I've emailed GE, but this seems exceedingly unlikely. My grandfather definitely was never a C-level executive in any kind of health services company, but we'll see what they come back with!
    – Betty Crokker
    Nov 24, 2019 at 16:01
  • 1
    His wife had been Head Nurse at Cincinnati General Hospital earlier in her life, but that was in 1919 and as far as I can tell the fellowship on that GE site wasn't created until 2006. But you raise a good point - maybe it's a memento from another family member ... keep the ideas coming!
    – Betty Crokker
    Nov 25, 2019 at 13:32
  • 1
    That article also says "when the new Gardner Edgerton High School was built in 2001" so it's possible the old school was around when my grandfather was in Kansas. It's a long shot but what the heck - I emailed the school secretary!
    – Betty Crokker
    Nov 27, 2019 at 13:42
  • 1
    Can you give us more on your grandfather's life? Did he go to college? Serve in the military? What did he do for a living and where did he work?
    – ruffdove
    Sep 11, 2020 at 16:43

1 Answer 1

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(Too much for a comment, but not a definitive answer)

LGB stands for Lloyd Garfield Balfour, who founded the L.G. Balfour company in 1913.

One source indicates that LGB was used as a mark in 1944. Another source indicates that LGB was used between 1922 and 1963.

Neither the International Encyclopedia of Secret Societies and Fraternal Orders (Axelrod, 1997) nor the massive Encyclopedia of Associations (52nd ed.) contains any associations with initials G.E.-H.S.

Rather than a two-word "G.E." phrase joined with another two-word "H.S." phrase, this might be a three-word phrase where the middle word is hyphenated, something like Grand English-Hellenic Society.

Choose one from: Grand, Great, Global, General,...
and one from: English, Eastern,...
and one from: Hellenic, Hibernian,...
plus: Society

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2
  • @Betty Crokker I googled G.E.H.S. and one result was an eBay listing saying it is a Masonic pin. But that isn't definitive of course. ebay.com/itm/…
    – user50410
    Jun 25, 2021 at 14:36
  • Also. how about Graduate Education Health Sciences, did he have any connection with Tulane University?
    – user50410
    Jun 25, 2021 at 14:51

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