Hi , a few days a go i went to my local museum and found a glass cabinet which had some old Mason aprons and some documents , luckily i had my camera with me and got a few pictures taken.

i guess the reason i created this thread is to gain some information about these artifacts , they are old that much i know and that we have atleast one local lodge but thats pretty much where my knowlegge ends ,

so if anyone knows anything im all eyes and ears

cheers,

The top two photos appear to be what we refer to as a patent. It's a certificate of membership, and this one appears to be for a member of a chapter of Royal Arch Masons.

The 3rd and 4th photo are the front page of a particular lodge's bylaws... their rules & regulations. It says that particular lodge was founded in 1751 and that that specific set of laws was printed for the lodge in 1809. (You'll see on the flysheet A.L. 5755. Doing the math, that means that they're adding 4004 years to the Anno Domini. Off the top of my head I don't recall what A.L. stands for. Anno Lumini? Anno Lux? Probably something about year of light...)

I don't really know anything about the specific designs of those aprons or sashes. The blue & red trimmed set has a tripple-Tau on it, so I'm guessing that's a Royal Arch apron & sash. Nothing particular stands out to me on the more greenish one.

Originally posted by zerbot565
id guess a few follow up questions would be that is there any way to see how high ranking this fellow is in that photo or is that something one does not advertise and can it be assumed that this is just one fellows "membership and artifacts" ?

Your talk of "rank" is fairly meaningless. All Masons meet on the level. All men are equal. He was a Royal Arch Mason, as his apron has the same triple-tau that I described as being on the other apron & sash in the display case. If you could go back and tell us who he was, maybe a Google search will tell us of his accomplishments, either in Masonry, or to your city.

I dont think the fella in the picture was of any profound importance, as far as masonic office goes (which you could consider rank, in its own way. Id bet all that in the case was his, and his estate donated it to the museum. Hes not wearing officer jewels, nor jewels of the grand lodge anyways. Still nice collection.

The sashes show your degree within the brotherhood.

Note the repeated use of the phallus, or triangle. can mean either man, or taken as a pyramid; ascension to godhood.

The toolbelt is symbolic to the tools that man carries to create; hammer, plane, compass, etc

not an authority on these things but was intregued by the pics thanks for posting and shareing with us