1878 Masonic Walking Stick

I found a neat item today. A piece of Masonic Folk Art. This one is worth a look. There are lots of pictures supplied. It looks like a piece suitable for a museum. A bit pricey for anyone looking for a working walking stick but if you are looking for a distinguished look for your entry into the lodge room next month, perhaps this is the item you need.

Antique Violin from 1878 inlayed with Masonic Symbols

Today I found this item by looking at my own blog. Funny perhaps but on the left hand column up near the top I have the most popular items in eBay with "masonic" in the title kept auto-updated. Even if I'm away it will keep my readers kept in the loop. A good reason to check back.
Back to topic, today I looked and saw an unusual violin in the top three. I thought to myself, "Why a violin?" I was soon rewarded with a violin from the late 1800's inlayed with the square and compass and a few other masonic symbols. It is a real piece of art. The wood itself is bird's eye. Pretty spectacular.
It might not be in the best shape but from my point of view, if you collect masonic items and have any interest in violins, it will probably be the best one you will ever see from this time period, if not the only one.

Antique Violin with Masonic Inlay - click here -

1862 Newspaper on eBay with interesting Masonic article

Great item today... I think it is a great read. Sure to intrigue many readers. It speaks of publishing the masonic ritual word-for-word. I'm sure this was quite an issue in the mid-1800's. The seller of the newspaper has scanned the article for our reading pleasure. You will have to skip through the article on the Mormon ball to get to the masonic article, however both are interesting. This seller specializes in many antique papers. I've snooped around his items before and found lots of interesting articles, such as reference to the War of 1812, WWII, the Revolution and even Pirates. I like these type of items because you can see how the news was reported at that time and it provides a different perspective than reading about it in text books and reference websites.

Take a look and let me warn you that reading these old papers can be a bit addictive.

Click here to go directly to the eBay item

Interesting Ballot box... on eBay

Hello Brethren and readers,

Today I have an item that presents a few questions. It is a ballot box with glass sides from a Masonic Lodge in the US. The ballot box is stated as being from the 1800's in the listing. To add to the mystery is a newspaper clipping on the bottom of the box with details of the officers of the lodge at that time. They are from Lotus Lodge. (In the eBay listing you can see the photo of the clipping and read it.)

So my questions are:
Is this really a ballot box? In my jurisdiction the ballot box is closed to keep the balloting secret. Could this have been for another purpose?
Does anyone know anytihng about Lotus Lodge? Is the lodge still operating? I can assume the ballot box or whatever it is is here because the lodge went into darkness but I'd be interested to find out.

So brethren let's do some research and see if we can get to the bottom of this Masonic Mystery. Comment here on anything you find out or your opinion on the box.

Here is the link to the listing:
Click here to see the ebay listing with photos