MASONIC jewels are more accurately medals, badges of distinction and honour, although many of the early examples were pieces of real jewellery, a few of them, indeed, being elaborate articles of virtu, heavily set with brilliants and other stones. Many of the early Royal Arch jewels are beautiful in their simplicity, especially those formed by fret‑cutting, piercing, and engraving, and jewels of this kind were made by famous silversmiths, notable among them being the Thomas Harper family of Fleet Street, London, many of whose jewels, now rare and valuable, are distinguished by the letters TH,’ not to be confused with the well known T‑over‑H device that ultimately became the triple tau.
The Masonic practice of displaying medals or Jewels’ probably owes something to a sixteenth‑century Church custom of wearing medals, each bearing a religious emblem, or picture, incidentally a custom encouraged by various Popes during the nineteenth century.
Craft jewels were known as far back as 1727, when Masters and Wardens of private lodges were ordered by Grand Lodge to wear “the jewels of Masonry hanging to a white ribbon.” The approved Royal Arch jewel, the badge of the Order, incorporates the interlaced triangles and triple tau, and its early form is illustrated in the margin of the Charter of Compact, 1766. This official jewel will be considered later in this section.
Early Royal Arch jewels of the Antients’ depict an altar under a broken arch, and are known from about 1781, and include the sun in splendour on a triangular plate. The illuminated MS. of a French ritual of 1760 also shows this device, with the addition of the Ineffable Name, the triangle now including a torch extinguished by the light of the sun ‑ a most unusual idea.
The Royal Arch jewels of the Moderns’ generally are based on the Craft Master’s jewel ‑ the open compasses and segment ‑ to which are added the arch and columns. It is known that the jewels of the Three Principals were changed between the year 1796 and 1802 to bring them more closely in accord with the jewel of the old Craft Master. Thus the Principals’ jewels illustrated in a circular of Grand Chapter in 1803 and in an Abstract of Laws, 1807, have an arch with keystone supported by two columns which stand upon the lowest of three steps. As a reminder of the holder’s Craft qualification, a bold pair of compasses, with square, rests on a segment of a circle, both points of the compasses being visible. These are the jewels of the Second and Third Principals, that of the First Principal having, in addition, a sun in splendour between the compasses and the square.
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The earliest‑known P.Z. jewels were those voted by the new Grand Chapter to John Maclean, the first Z., and to James Galloway, the outgoing Z., at the anniversary feast in December 1766, these Companions having probably played a big although unknown part in forming the Chapter and gaining Lord Blayney’s indispensable help; Maclean’s jewel was in token of his being “Father and Promoter” of the Chapter.
Readers will realize that there is such a mass of material relating to Royal Arch jewels that the subject cannot be more than introduced in these pages; certainly any comprehensive treatment is out of the question. All that can be done is to mention a few of the more outstanding examples.
A First Principal’s jewel in the Wallace Heaton collection, illustrated in Plate XV, is based on the old Craft Master’s jewel, the open compasses with square and segment, one of the boldest designs known, and into it have been introduced columns, the arch with prominent keystone, and over the top of the arch the hexalpha. The sun in splendour is shown within the arch.
A fine example of a jewel inset with gems (date early eighteenth century) is that of the European traveller, Egyptologist, and Character’ Giovanni Battista Belzoni, born in Padua, North Italy, in 1778. He twice paid long visits to England, and in the Chapter of St James (in which the First Principal wears this identical jewel) he wore the jewel shown in Plate XXVIII, and which is now to be seen at the Freemasons’ Hall Museum, London. It was made by the Harper family in 1820, and its finequality stones, White’ and red, are mounted in silver. On each side of the keystone are six red stones. The interlaced triangles also are red. Belzoni on his first visit to England in 1803 was obliged by poverty to earn a living by acrobatic performances in the public street, but he was a student of mechanics, inventor of mechanical methods and appliances, and developed into a well‑known discoverer of Egyptian archxological remains. He died in the course of an expedition near Benin, North Africa, in 1823 A pierced silver jewel (date about 1780) in the custody of Leicester Masonic Hall has the triple arches and the quaint figure of a man engaged in wrenching forth the keystone of the smallest of these arches (see illustration on p. 259).
A jewel of unusual shape ‑ rectangular, with a curved top ‑ is shown on the opposite page. It is crowded with emblems ‑ among them Noah’s Ark, beehive, Jacob’s ladder, hand holding the serpent by its head, the plummet. It is believed to be a Royal Arch jewel, and is included as an example of the manner in which the old craftsman took joy in crowding in the emblems.
A jewel of striking design ‑ a circle interlaced with a square ‑ belonged to the eighteenth‑century Three Crowned Stars Lodge of Prague, capital of Bohemia, then part of the Austrian Empire. The square and triangle may have been of silver, the crowns of silver or gold, and the background red, the ribbon probably being blue. It is illustrated above.
The collar jewel of bold design, date about 1780, shown in Plate XXXI is unusual in that it is finished in Battersea enamel to give the effect of porcelain.
The Chapter of St George, No. 140 (founded in 1787), has a set of five jewels with red ribbons, intended to be used as collar jewels. They are identical, the device being a plain brass circle enclosing two triangles, one within the other.
Jewels of the Nine Worthies, supervising officers appointed by the Antients’ Grand Chapter, were of a strongly individual design. Earlier sections explain that these Nine Excellent Masters were given a medal emblematic of their office, the medal to be given up when the Masters left office. Alas! it was often difficult to get these medals returned, but eight of the nine are now in the Grand Lodge (7) and Worcester (1) Museums. In this jewel, again, is the device of the man levering up the keystone of the smallest of the three arches. In the ancient Greek and Roman illustrations showing building work the masons were always shown unclothed, and apparently the designer of this jewel has based himself upon those classic examples (see Plate XXXI).
A late eighteenth‑century Royal Arch jewel, pierced and engraved, a design based upon square and sector and containing familiar emblems, is shown on Plate XV.
Jewels of the Unanimity Chapter, Wakefield, as described by J. R. Rylands, were made by James Rule, a watchmaker and jeweller and an active mason in York; jewels made by him are still in the possession of the Unanimity Lodge and Chapter. The chapter jewels include two silver triangles and three Sojourners’ jewels (see Plate XXIV) and were found years ago in a box after long concealment among accumulated rubbish. The triangles are of extreme simplicity, their sides measuring 5 1/4 inches, the width of the silver being just under seven‑tenths of an inch; they are suspended from faded silk ribbons, 2 inches wide, originally perhaps of a deep purple. On one side they are inscribed “Omnipotent,” etc., and on the other “In the beginning,” etc. The Sojourners’ jewels are beautifully made of silver. The crossed sword and trowel are suspended from red silk ribbons. The swords are nearly 5 inches long and the trowels 4ｽ inches. With the three silver triangles for the Principals these jewels cost a total of ｣5 15s. 6d. in March 1799. John R. Rylands draws a possible inference from the Sojourners’ jewels that, in the Yorkshire Royal Arch in the latter half of the eighteenth century, there may have been some element similar to, if not derived from, the Scots degrees.
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A handsomely engraved silver collar jewel made in Birmingham in 1812 was in the possession at the end of the century of Lodge St Peter, Malden, Essex, but, of course, was not made for that lodge. It is of the square and‑sector type and has a figure standing on an arch stone; other figures in the design are not easily explained in relation to the Craft or Royal Arch. The jewel is nearly 31 inches wide and 41 inches deep (see image).
The Royal Arch jewel, the Jewel of the Order
Earliest authority for the design of the Royal Arch jewel is the margin of the Charter of Compact, as already stated, the design there shown very closely resembling that now in use. The device is the two triangles interlaced, and its now highly developed symbolism is explained later. In the centre space the jewel of Grand Officers carried a delta or triangle, but in the ordinary Companion’s jewel the centre was blank. This distinction appears to have disappeared somewhat quickly. A simple, attractive jewel of the year 1766, then belonging to Dr John James Rouby, of St Martin’s Lane, London, agrees with the above (see Plate VIII); its owner “passed the arch” in April 1765, and only two months later was signing the bylaws of the Excellent Grand and Royal Chapter.
The Royal Arch jewel may be worn in a Craft lodge under the authority of Grand Lodge Regulation No. 241. It was not specifically referred to in the Craft Constitutions immediately following the Craft Union, but in 1841 the permission given in those Constitutions to wear certain jewels in lodge was extended to such “as shall appertain to or be consistent with those degrees which are recognized and acknowledged by and under the controul of the Grand Lodge.” In 1853 came an addition to the above, the wording being “under the controul of Grand Lodge being part of Pure and Antient Masonry.” In 1884 the word “controul” was omitted, possibly because its use may have been interpreted as prohibiting the wearing of a Royal Arch jewel in a Craft lodge. Instead there were substituted words which are still retained in Grand Lodge Rule No. 241, here given in full:
“No Masonic jewel, medal, device, or emblem shall be worn in the Grand Lodge, or any subordinate Lodge, unless it appertains to, or is consistent with, those degrees which are recognised and acknowledged by the Grand Lodge in the preliminary declaration to these Rules, as part of pure Antient Masonry, and has been approved or allowed by the Grand Master.“
It will be seen that Grand Chapter Regulation No. 84, as follows, is closely modelled on the above:
No Masonic jewel, medal, device or emblem shall be worn in the Grand Chapter or any private Chapter unless it appertains to, or is consistent with, an order or degree recognised and acknowledged by the Grand Lodge or the Grand Chapter as part of pure Antient Masonry, and has been approved or allowed by the First Grand Principal.
The Symbolism of the Royal Arch Jewel
The symbolism of the interlaced triangles has been explained in a previous section, but there has developed in relation to the Royal Arch jewel embodying that device some highly specialized symbolism, and the author is particularly indebted to G. S. Shepherd‑Jones, who has offered in an address (1951) a comprehensive explanation of it. The address cannot be quoted at length, but here following it is possible to give some of its author’s salient points: The interlaced triangles portray the duality of masonry and its comprehensive teaching, covering the twofold nature of man, spiritual and material. On the jewel is a sun, but a sun within a triangle, representing an emblem of the Deity. Enclosing the interlaced triangles are two concentric circles, the inner one denoting the Deity and His Omnipresence, and the outer one eternity.
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At the bottom of the jewel, outside the two concentric circles, is a small circle, again an emblem of eternity, and within that circle is the triple tau, the badge of a Royal Arch mason and representing the completion of a Candidate’s spiritual journey in masonry. On the reverse of the jewel, between the two concentric circles, is a double triad in Latin: Deo, Regi, Fratribus; Honor, Fidelitas, Benevolentia.
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The remaining inscription on the reverse is on the interlaced triangles, and is again a double triad. On the first triangle is “Concord, Truth, Peace,” and on the second “Wisdom, Strength, Beauty,” this second triad alluding, says the author quoted, not to the wisdom of KS., the strength of K.H., and the beautifying hand of H.AB. but to the “Omniscience, Omnipotence and Omnipresence” of the Deity.
Turning now to the obverse of the jewel, the wording on the scroll is seen to be complete: Nil nisi clavis deest (“Nothing is wanting but the key”). There is a somewhat similar meaning in the inscription between the two concentric circles: Si talia jungere possis sit tibi scire satin (” If thou canst understand what follows thou knowest enough”). On the interlaced triangles of the obverse we again have a double triad, but the triad on the second triangle is not yet complete. The triangle with the apex pointing upward is the spiritual triangle, and the inscription on the base is “We have found,” which is repeated in Greek and again in Latin on the sides of the triangle. On the triangle with the apex pointing downward the base is left blank, and on the two sides are Cultor Dei; Civis Mundi. When the Companion’s name has been engraved in the blank space, then the triad on that triangle will be completed, and will read, “A.B.; Cultor Dei; Civis Mundi.” By this endorsement the holder of the jewel acknowledges that he is a “worshipper (or reverencer) of God, a citizen of the world”; at the same time he subscribes to the wording on the spiritual triangle, “We have found.” The Companion who has found the Word should be able to appreciate the meaning of the inscription between the concentric circles, If thou canst understand this thou knowest enough,” for the WORD, the will of God, comprises ail the tenets, precepts, and principles of freemasonry, everything that masonry teaches. It will be appreciated that this explanation owes much to the individual interpretation of its author, G. S. Shepherd‑Jones.
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The jewel, of the Order is worn pendent from a narrow ribbon on the left breast‑white for Companions, crimson for Principals, Present and Past, of private chapters, tricoloured (dark blue, crimson, and light blue) for all other Excellent Companions, including Grand Officers. (Purple is the true Royal Arch colour, but, by long‑established usage, dark blue takes its place in regalia.) The jewels of all the Three Grand Principals are the open compasses, their points touching interlaced triangles; a crown within the compasses distinguishes the jewel of the First, the all‑seeing eye the Second, and the V.S.L. the Third Grand Principal.
Chains or collars are worn strictly in accordance with Grand Chapter Regulations, and must have appended to them in every case the jewel appropriate to the office or rank to which they relate.
For the official and closely detailed regulations relating to jewels the reader should consult the Regulations of Supreme Grand Chapter, these including engravings of the authorized jewels.
What might appear to be a prefigurement of the R.A. jewel was produced in 1630 (136 years earlier than the Charter of Compact) when Jacob (Jacques) Callot, a famous French etcher, engraved his portrait of a well‑known physician and made it the centre‑piece of an hexalpha. He inserted Greek letters on the arms of the geometrical device and surrounded it with a circle, actually the serpent devouring its own tail (see p. 230). The illustration herewith suggests the irresistible but superficial resemblance between Callot’s design and the R.A. jewel.
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Irish Jewels
Irish Royal Arch jewels include some of the most informative and pictorial of late eighteenth‑century examples.
IMG (A: Reverse with Royal Arch and obverse with Craft emblems. B: With Craft, Royal Arch, and Templar emblems)
Many of them are of a quite distinctive design and crowded with emblems, thirty or so of which may sometimes be found on the two sides of a jewel measuring not more than 1 1/2 inches by 2 1/4 inches. Very typical are the two jewels here shown; they are oval and of silver, carrying on the obverse Craft symbols and on the reverse Royal Arch symbols, these, most curiously, including the 47th Proposition of Euclid, an allusion to the owner’s qualification as a Past Master. The first jewel is dated about 1800 and the second five years later. The two belonged to Thomas Livingston, who became a member of Lodge 673 in 1799. He took both Royal Arch and Templar Degrees, so he bought himself a second jewel, and although the approximate date of purchase is 1805, the jewel had been made about ten to twenty years earlier. We get the same feeling in a more elaborate jewel, which was the property of a member of Lodge 410 (see below). The military figure on the right‑hand side may cause a moment’s wonder and perhaps a moment’s smile. He is the medallion‑engraver’s idea of a mason Sojourner working with trowel in hand and sword at side. The knight in armour, the helmet, and the armed fist all suggest a military lodge. Above the helmet will be noted “I.H.S.,” a Christian symbol (see p. 236).
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A Warden’s silver collar jewel made in the form of a level is most unusual in its design and ornamentation. It belonged to a member of Lodge Ballygawley, Co. Tyrone, No. 679, Ireland, warranted in 1788, so the jewel is probably of the late eighteenth century. On the broken arch sit two Sojourners, who have lowered their companion into the vault, which contains a central cubical stone. On the left is an ark, an indication that degrees other than Craft and Royal Arch were practised.
The Breastplate
The High Priest of some old chapters, when he happened to be Third Principal, wore a breastplate. In a very few chapters to‑day he still does so, and a breastplate is part of the official Scottish regalia, the Third Grand Principal wearing a breastplate closely resembling the description given in Exodus xxviii, 15‑30, a description so precise that a craftsman has no difficulty in following it. Both the Old and New Testaments speak of “the breastplate of righteousness,” and the New Testament refers to it also as “the breastplate of faith and love.” The High Priest, in Biblical days, wore this rich piece of embroidery, the work of cunning workmen, about io inches square and “of gold, of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine twined linen . . . four square … doubled,” a span both in length and breadth. On it were mounted in gold settings four rows of precious stones, all different, twelve stones in all, and upon each stone was engraved the name of a tribe of Israel. Two chains of “wreathen work of pure gold” were attached by means of golden rings. For strength and to make it possible for it to receive the Urim and the Thummin the breastplate was of double thickness, actually a kind of bag or purse. It was called the badge of judgment inasmuch as Aaron was told to bear the names of the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart “when he goeth in before the Lord.” We are told that in those early days the High Priest had an oracular manner of consulting God. He wore his robes and the pectoral or breastplate containing the Urim and Thummin, of the nature of which oddly named things we know just nothing. Urim is believed to represent light and excellence, Thummin perfection and completion, and there are several Biblical references to them, but of their physical nature, if they had any, we know nothing whatever.
Evidence that the jewelled breastplate had a vogue in ancient religious observances is provided by an historical statement that Julius Caesar dedicated to a goddess‑the Mother of Living Creatures‑a costly breastplate studded with pearls that had been obtained from British freshwater streams.
We know of many Masonic breastplates. Minutes of Sanquhar Kilwinning Lodge, No. 194, Dumfriesshire, of January 1757, say that “The Breastplate or long Square Medell with all the Jewells belonging to a Lodge engraven upon a manteling engraven about it, and silverised was made a present of by James Boyle, Sen., to the Lodge.” It is thought that this breastplate of hammered copper, convex and measuring 4 inches by G inches, is still worn by the Master of the Lodge.
Made in 1777 is a breastplate forming part of the regalia of the Lodge of Unanimity, Wakefield, and illustrated in Plate XXIV. It is a small rectangular pad, about 4 inches deep, of dark blue velvet, on which are mounted twelve coloured bosses, the whole being suspended from a blue and‑white‑striped ribbon. The jewels or bosses are oval, faceted, and on brass mountings, and are arranged in the following order:
White Purple Green
Red Yellow Red
Blue Purple Blue
Yellow Green White
In Sincerity Chapter, No. 600, Bradford, the Third Principal wears at Installation meetings a breastplate about io inches square containing twelve precious stones, on each of which is a Hebrew inscription. The stones are il inches by J inch. The chapter possesses a set of crowns, and on that of the Third Principal (it might be called a mitre) there is, on the front, an appropriate inscription in Hebrew; that officer wears the breastplate suspended from the neck by a golden cord and tied round the body by a red ribbon from the lower corners. The stones are arranged in four rows of three each, and each stone is set in a gilt mounting which is engraved with a Hebrew word.
The British Chapter, Cape Town, owns a brass breastplate presented in 1830, the year following its consecration. In the Royal Cumberland Chapter, No. 41, Bath, dating back to 1782, the Third Principal wears at all meetings a breastplate measuring about G inches by 9 inches and containing three rows of four (imitation) gems. “An elegant Breastplate set in gold” was presented to the De Lambton Chapter, Sunderland, in 1825 “for the M.E.Z. to wear when in office”; in those days each of the three principal officers of that chapter wore a crown, the Z. having a breastplate in addition. The J. wears a breastplate in the Bristol chapters and in the Chapter of St James, No. 2, London.
The Shamir Legend
From the engraved jewels of the breastplate to one of the most extraordinary legends related in connexion with Solomon’s Temple may seem a long journey. Every freemason knows of the tradition that in the building of that Temple no iron tool was used. Around this tradition grew up a very curious myth (possibly having an Egyptian or Babylonian origin) to the effect that the stones were shaped by the agency of an insect, a worm, commonly called Shamir. A Masonic ritual of the eighteenth century embodied questions and answers relating to “the wonderful properties of that noble insect” which cut and shaped Solomon’s sacred utensils, holy vessels, etc. Readers wishing to look into the matter should see an article, “The Legend of the Shamir,” by Dr W. Wynn Westcott, in Miscel lanea Latomorum, vol. xxviii. Probably shamir or schamir is a corrupted form of the Greek word smiris, meaning “emery,” and the word has been spelled in many ways ‑ thumare, thamir, shamur, and so on. The superstition was that the worm, shamir, was placed on the stone where the cut was to be made and, to and behold! the stone parted exactly as required. In the course of time the same legend was adopted to explain the engraving or cutting of the inscriptions on the breastplate stones, the method of engraving the hard gems being a mystery to the common people. Out of the myth arises by implication the idea that Solomon’s masons may have used emery in working and surfacing their stones and that the ancient gem workers were also acquainted with its abrasive properties. In support it must be remembered that from time immemorial emery was exported from Cape Emery, in the island of Naxos, in the ﾆgean Sea, a short sailing distance from Palestine.