Masonic Material Culture

[Bushrod Carter]

Re: Masonic Material Culture

Here is another image from eBay. Check out the placement of the S&C.

Also, and I HATE to even mention this, BUT...

does anyone else think this Brother looks like the dude that played Ashley Wilkes in "Gone with the Wind"?

[M_Kupsch]

Re: Masonic Material Culture

Brother Pat,

Yep, I have to agree. He does bear a resemblence to the actor, Leslie Howard, who portrayed Ashley Wilkes in GWTW.

Now you mentioned it bothered you even brining it up; bothers me more that I knew who the actor was. :cry_smile

[Bushrod Carter]

Re: Masonic Material Culture

Ok, here is VERY cool piece of Masonic Material Culture. This was up for auction on eBay last year. I bid on it, but someone else wanted it a lot more than I did. Still, I think a carpenter’s square inlaid with Masonic emblems is very cool!

Enjoy!

[Bushrod Carter]

Re: Masonic Material Culture

Here is a very dapper fellow from the Daguerrain Society.

How long is that apron? Wow!

[Beaner]

Re: Masonic Material Culture

Here's my latest find. It's a tintype of 19th Century brother wearing his apron and a wheel hat.
Dave Prince
4th Texas Co. E
Walled lake #528

[Bushrod Carter]

Re: Masonic Material Culture

This is kinda fun. Here is a Jacquard coverlet from the 1840s. Notice the Masonic symbols?

Enjoy!

[aaron1stvirginia]

coat with square and compasses

Gents,
I read on a website the other day that a fellow had read or saw pictures of a coat or coats with a square and comasses sewed in the inside of the coat. Has anyone seen or ever heard of this? If I could find a picture of it I would do it to mine since brass was hard to come by in the war.

Your obediant servant,

[BrianHicks]

Re: coat with square and compasses

Brass?

If you have not yet read through this discussion:

http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10441

I encourage you to do so. In it, are several pictures of period items which where worn on shirts, jackets, etc.

[aaron1stvirginia]

Re: coat with square and compasses

Mr. Hicks
I had read it before. As a matter of fact I have even got a picture of a gentleman that was in the 13th TN Cavalry, but I'm not sure if it was before, during, or after the war. Anyways, I do thank you for helping though, but I would still like to see a reference or a picture of a square and compasses sewed in a coat. Most of all I was wandering if it was embrordered or a piece of material was sewn in the coat.

Your obediant servant,

[nick19thind]

Re: coat with square and compasses

It was embroidered onto a patch.

[BrianHicks]

Re: coat with square and compasses

It was embroidered onto a patch.

What reference do you have for this?

Images? Written descriptions?

We have seen the horrid, sutler row variety. The big patch with the square and compass embroidered in the center (often with a gold border). To date however... we have not seen any reference which would indicate this particular type of item is anything close to being period correct.

If you have information, it would be appreciated.

[Justin Runyon]

Re: coat with square and compasses

Nick needs a time out. Perhaps after he comes back he'll post his wealth of information on the subject.

More to the point, it's going to be rough to find photographs of anything on the inside of a coat. There is a thread here somewhere though wherein Mr. Craddock posted numerous written discriptions of using Masonic symbols on garments. That would be an excellant place to start.

[Hank Trent]

Re: coat with square and compasses

I read on a website the other day that a fellow had read or saw pictures of a coat or coats with a square and comasses sewed in the inside of the coat. Has anyone seen or ever heard of this? If I could find a picture of it I would do it to mine since brass was hard to come by in the war,

What I don't understand is, why ask here? Why not contact the fellow and/or the website where the information was presented, to get more details? Seems like he's the one who already knows where such a thing is.

But one thing that occurred to me is it could be quilted into the lining. Never heard of a Masonic example, but sometimes tailors got fancy. Tried to find an example quickly, and all I could come up with was Lincoln's overcoat that he was wearing when he was shot. No image, but "In the quilted lining of the overcoat is an embossed figure of an eagle holding in its mouth two festoons, on which are the words 'One Country, One Destiny.'" http://www.nps.gov/history/history/o...h/3b/hh3h3.htm

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Dale Beasley]

Re: coat with square and compasses

Come-on Hank, give the guy a break,

Think about the soldiers in the field, what were they able to obtain?...I don't know. Being a soldier in the field, I not only carved the Square and Compass on my dog-tags, but I did stitched them on the inside of my uniform. I know the PX's in Iraq and Kuwait did not carry a metal of the Square and Compass, so I had to do a little thinking of my own. And really how much has the soldier changed over the past 140 some odd years? After living thru Vicksburg, I know not much. I be willing to bet the farm they did stitched them on their own.

[Hank Trent]

Re: coat with square and compasses

Come-on Hank, give the guy a break,

It was a serious question. Why not first ask the person most apt to know, then go from there if the answer isn't satisfactory? It may be that the person on the website has access to information that most others don't, like a coat in a private collection, and we could spend all day speculating, when he could easily report where the coat is, its provenance if any, what it looks like, etc.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net