A new Masonic from 1809

elverno

From the Grand Lodge of the Herodom in France.

This beauty is probably from Paris since it covers the entire country. It is very hard to find and is particularly
interesting to me in the use of English in the legend.

laurentyvan

A beautiful piece in very nice condition Why was english used in the legend? Were the mason's of that period primarily english speaking?

Askari

That is odd ... it certainly wouldn't happen today.

1jester

That's cool, Vern!! What's the metal?

elverno

The Masons are an interesting society. There are claims that it has existed from antiquity and there's a lot of evidence
that it started, as we know it today, about 1717 or so in Scotland. BTW here's a link to the finished page on my website. There are much larger pics available if you click on either the obverse or reverse there.

One of the branches of Masons uses the "Scottish Rite" and this medal is from that branch I suspect. In the lower portion of the obverse is a medal (on the medal) of St. Andrews. So, you get English on a French medal in the middle of a war between the two countries! And probably Napoleon, a Mason himself, thought nothing of it.

I'm awaiting shipment of the last bunch of these from the dealer I got them from.

Edited to add, it's a heavy silver medal about the size and weight of a silver dollar or 5 franc piece.

CIVITAS

Who controls the British Crown?
Who keeps the Metric System down?
We dooooo....
We dooooo....

elverno

Seriously though, in researching the Masons in re. the tokens I've been putting up, these folks have been accused of everything from baby bar-b-ques to removing the silver from liteside coinage... No evidence of any of that that I've found; secretive little devils but that's their perogative.