Professionals Frog Brooch

Synonyms:
See also:	Buttons, Badges
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The frog brooch/pin was something that a small group of Professionals fans wore in the early 1980s.

The original group of Hatstanders were identifiable at conventions because they wore identical frog-shaped enamel brooches in a variety of colours, all bought from the same jewelry stall in London. A frog brooch had to be 'earned' by making a contribution to the genre, either by writing a piece of fiction or by typing or otherwise assisting in the production of one. An early controversy in the fandom revolved around who was and who was not 'entitled' to wear a frog.

Some Anecdotes

O Yardley was put in contact with [P D], a gen Professionals fan who also mailed out slash stories upon request. When she wrote a sequel to one of the stories and sent it to [P D], [P D] sent “her a enameled frog brooch” which, she later learned fans would wear to conventions to signal their interest in Profs fandom.

Another fan explains: When you wrote your first Hatstand you received a coloured enamel frog badge from PD - a frog because of the reference in “Wild Justice”, as follows: “DOYLE: I’ll tell you what. I’ll bet you a fiver that if you took me home with you tonight, put me on your pillow, when we woke up in the morning, I’d’ve turned back into a frog.” The frog brooches are confirmed by NN West and Jay Trent.

Another fan, Sebastian, remembers: "I remembered something else as I was sorting out enamelled frogs for the Halloween awards - in the beginning, once one had finished a 'Hatstand' and submitted it to the Head Hatstander of the Other Group and it was copied and put onto the Circuit, then one was awarded a prize - highly sought-after and very very pretty indeed - a little enamel frog which HH-er used to get from her local market. They came in different colours, I believe mine was blue. How I treasured it when it arrived in the post! I believe a frog, specifically, because of some affectionate and reverent reference to Doyle as 'frog-like' in a story?"