✅ SOLVED "GUON BEM" Ring a bell? What is this shield?

rastinirv · Apr 9, 2013

Here's a tiny thing I found today, appears to have been a lapel pin or similar. About the size of a dime. The triangle contains a crest or shield and "ICI GUON" above the shield. (not confident it says ICI - hard to read) Inside the shield are two shepherd-type staffs crossed plus the letter B E M and &. Got nowhere fast on google. Hard to see so I approximated it for you too. Any clue? Thanks!

joe_dirt · Apr 9, 2013

Definitely an interesting and cool find. Unfortunately I can't help identify it but I hope someone can.

Bryanhashemi · Apr 10, 2013

hmmm. Maybe a fraternal tie pin

nhbenz · Apr 10, 2013

No luck yet, but some terminology that may help in google searches; a shepherds staff is called a crook. Two crossed crooks form an X (chi), the first letter of the title Christos in Greek, which is where we get Christ (meaning savior, it wasn't Jesus' last name)
So anyway, it's safe to assume that it was a Christian group, not that this narrows it down much.

nhbenz · Apr 10, 2013

So far I think the letters are read B.M & E
If this is correct it may stand for Baptist Missionary & Education, but I don't know how long this organization has been around.

rastinirv · Apr 10, 2013

nhbenz said:
No luck yet, but some terminology that may help in google searches; a shepherds staff is called a crook. Two crossed crooks form an X (chi), the first letter of the title Christos in Greek, which is where we get Christ (meaning savior, it wasn't Jesus' last name)
So anyway, it's safe to assume that it was a Christian group, not that this narrows it down much.

Thank you. I was trying to think of the word "crook" but it wasn't coming to me.

Bramblefind · Apr 10, 2013

I think it is from the Grand United Order of Nazarites. An African American Fraternal group which was active in Baltimore. Here is a newspaper clipping - notice at the end it reads "Yours in the principals of B. E. and M."

TheCannonballGuy · Apr 10, 2013

Bramblefind, I continue to be very impressed by your relic-research skills.

Combining your work with Nhbenz's, we now know the meaning of the ICI and GUON (Grand United Order of Nazarites). Thanks to y'all, this very unusual insignia-pin is definitely solved, with both ID and approximate time-dating (late-1800s-to-early-1900s, based on the 1896 date of the newspaper article).

surf · Apr 10, 2013

Well done, Bramblefind!

joe_dirt · Apr 10, 2013

Impressive work Bramblefind. I'm pretty sure that makes you an honorary member of the Grand United Order of Nazerites. Congrats.

rastinirv · Apr 10, 2013

Bramblefind said:
I think it is from the Grand United Order of Nazarites. An African American Fraternal group which was active in Baltimore. Here is a newspaper clipping - notice at the end it reads "Yours in the principals of B. E. and M."

Wow wow wow. Thank you Bramblefind. Amazing work. You definitely got it.

rastinirv · Apr 10, 2013

TheCannonballGuy said:
Bramblefind, I continue to be very impressed by your relic-research skills.

Combining your work with Nhbenz's, we now know the meaning of the ICI and GUON (Grand United Order of Nazarites). Thanks to y'all, this very unusual insignia-pin is definitely solved, with both ID and approximate time-dating (late-1800s-to-early-1900s, based on the 1896 date of the newspaper article).

I didn't catch what it was that ICI stood for. Did I miss something?

Anyhow, I think the info that Bramblefind found (he searches through the metaphorical brambles of the internet and finds stuff?) is particularly interesting after something else I learned yesterday regarding the area where I found it. A couple walking their dog started chatting with me and told me that during and after the Civil War the area was for some time a sort of tent camp of freed slaves. I realize that the dating of the pin puts it at least 25 years or so from the Civil War, but the fact that it comes from an African-American organization is compelling. Ironically, the surrounding neighborhood is now pretty much lily-white and filled with multimillion-dollar homes of Washington, DC's elites.