Texas Past Master Apron Rules

[Roy Vance]

View attachment 3058

Yes sir, that is my interpretation of the statement. Thanks. And thanks for the other thing, also. A lesson learned.

 

[Roy Vance]

This has nothing to do with a PM apron, but is concerns aprons. If you are a member of Tranquility Lodge 2000 and have one of the custom aprons made, are they allowed in any other Lodge?

 

[Bill Lins]

While I know of nothing in the Law prohibiting it, as a matter of protocol I would only wear the T2K apron in another Lodge if I was there to promote T2K or on some other sort of official business regarding T2K.

 

[Bill Lins]

Although it's probably not "legal", here's one I really like.

 

[crono782]

While I know of nothing in the Law prohibiting it, as a matter of protocol I would only wear the T2K apron in another Lodge if I was there to promote T2K or on some other sort of official business regarding T2K.

What about the TLR apron? It would seem to me that the TLR apron would be slightly more proper to wear about everywhere.

 

[Mac]

I wear my TLR apron whenever I can.

 

[DaveBowman]

All my research tells me that the Past Master emblem was just the compasses open on a protractor with a radiant sun-face in the center. There is an example of that dated 1775 on the Phoenix Masonry website, and George Washington's PM jewel is like that, and that is the design of the PM jewel as shown in the first monitor by Jeremy Cross in 1819. So, when did some GLs start adding a square to the PM jewel? Did that start in the 20th century?

 

[Glen Cook]

I think you mean Jeremy Cross’ first monitor, as Webb (and in a practical sense, Pritchard) monitors were before that.

For additional history, see http://www.themasonictrowel.com/Articles/Symbolism/general_files/past_master_jewel.htm

Past Masters · What's in a Portrait? · Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library Online Exhibitions

srmmlonlineexhibitions.omeka.net

Past Master's Jewel, 1831 - Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons of the State of New York

This magnificent jewel was presented on April 12, 1831, to Worshipful Master William Cuscaden by Benevolent Lodge No. 142, New York. It is made of gold, silver and composite metal, with inlaid rhinestones and an amethyst, and with what may be a ruby at the top. Brother Cuscaden was first seen on...

nymasons.org

Not all jurisdictions mandate a form of PM jewel.

PM jewels within jurisdictions vary. https://masonicmedals.net/product-category/medals-jewels/past-masters-jewels-th453-th455/

 

[Keith C]

Interesting reawakening of a 8 year old Zombie thread.

PA is one of those limited Jurisdictions in the US where the PM's Jewel and Apron consist of a square with the 47th Problem of Euclid pendant from it. I have not seen a PM's apron or Jewel that is not identical except for Lodge Number to all the other PM aprons and jewels in PA. Just as no one wears "custom" or "different" MM aprons in Lodge. You wear the apron that the Lodge supplies. We do this to maintain the philosophy that all MMs meet "on the Level." No one has a "fancier" apron than another.

 

[DaveBowman]

I think you mean Jeremy Cross’ first monitor, as Webb (and in a practical sense, Pritchard) monitors were before that.

For additional history, see http://www.themasonictrowel.com/Articles/Symbolism/general_files/past_master_jewel.htm

Past Masters · What's in a Portrait? · Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library Online Exhibitions

srmmlonlineexhibitions.omeka.net

Past Master's Jewel, 1831 - Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons of the State of New York

This magnificent jewel was presented on April 12, 1831, to Worshipful Master William Cuscaden by Benevolent Lodge No. 142, New York. It is made of gold, silver and composite metal, with inlaid rhinestones and an amethyst, and with what may be a ruby at the top. Brother Cuscaden was first seen on...

nymasons.org

Not all jurisdictions mandate a form of PM jewel.

PM jewels within jurisdictions vary. https://masonicmedals.net/product-category/medals-jewels/past-masters-jewels-th453-th455/

Brother Cook:

Well, yes, I did mean "Jeremy Cross' first monitor."

I wrote, "... the first monitor by Jeremy Cross in 1819." At the time I wrote it, I didn't realize that it might be misread to mean that the Cross monitor was the first monitor ever. It wasn't.

But, getting back to the simple design of the Past Master's jewel, it did appear in "the first monitor by Jeremy Cross in 1819." Certainly, there were earlier monitors by Webb and Preston, but, to my knowledge, they did not show or describe a Past Master's jewel.

What I am trying to determine is, where did the Past Master's jewel come from? It may be impossible to know who first went to a silversmith and had one made. But, when was the first time that anyone published either an image or a written description of the Past Master's jewel.

I have found a description of the compasses on a "circle of 90 degrees" in the 14th Degree of the Francken MS., and a similar description of a "crownd Compas, the points extended to a Circle of 60 degrees..." in the 18th Degree of the Francken MS, which dates those descriptions to 1783. Granted, they are not Past Master's jewels, but they do consist of compasses opened on a "circle" of either 60 or 90 degrees.

Also, there is a Past Master's jewel, made of coin silver, and engraved with the date "1775," when it was presented by Dona Lodge No. 169 to "Arch. Cunningham, their P. Master." (I don't know where Dona Lodge No. 169 was. But, this jewel sold at auction in 2010 for $800, and pictures of it are shown on the Phoenix Masonry website.

My research to date shows that the original Past Master's jewel was compasses opened on a graduated segment of a circle, with a radiant sun-face in the center. About the time of the Union of 1813, the U.G.L.E. switched to the 47th Problem of Euclid on a square silver plate, suspended from a Master's square.