What's new

Masonic symbols? Help me here?

Hi guys are these Masonic symbols? Also an ID on the maker would be cool, but it looks tough. Thank you!
CB3F3427-C7D5-4002-A530-9F7FD7DB7934.jpeg

6502A257-C563-4454-877A-C711E7608C52.jpeg
9260EDFE-BA94-4A22-9BA8-356EBA6EE5D0.jpeg
 
I don't believe any are Masonic in nature.
The maker may be Fenny as its the only one I have seen with the outline around the name like that.
 
I wish I could help!

But until somebody does, my reading would be:

"By the light of the moon, the tipsy acorn graduated from kite flying school and went fishing down by the train tracks."

I see somebody else is posting before me, so I'm sure the answer is there 😄

It's a cool looking razor and kind of fun to have the mystique of the symbols. Hope it shaves great!
 
There is a ladder, sun, moon, stars, and an eye in the freemasons symbols. But they do not look like what is on that razor. Oh, and a potpourri pot. I believe there is also a trowel. So that kite COULD be a trowel. But like I said, the symbols are possibly of the right objects but not the right "symbols". I would very much like to see some explain what all that means. It has to be something of significance and not just random doodling.
 
I think someone got creative with some fine blasting sand and tape(or polish wand), and a jewelers' airgun. The outer edge of the matte finish does not have any sort of layered border, i.e., you don't see polish broken by matte bars, with some kind of scrolling at the corners, and given the stamping, which looks early 1900s, I would say the etching was not factory done. I could be wrong...
 

Old Hippie

Somewhere between 61 and dead
Not Masonic to my eye -- at least not North American Mason. Some of our global brethren use somewhat different symbology.

That said, in the approximate vintage of this razor there were many active fraternal organizations. Some of them were professional brotherhoods, others religious or political in nature, still others what we call "service" organizations dedicated to helping in their communities.

One speculation is that the razor was decorated with the symbols of a rather small group -- one without huge resources to hire a high-quality artist. Such a thing might be a useful keepsake for a member, though one suspects the group, whatever its principles, has by now gone extinct.

To which I should add, in response to the post by @Luecke2326 below, a Google image search might help. (Got lucky and was still in the "edit window.")

O.H.
 
Last edited:
Not Masonic to my eye -- at least not North American Mason. Some of our global brethren use somewhat different symbology.

That said, in the approximate vintage of this razor there were many active fraternal organizations. Some of them were professional brotherhoods, others religious or political in nature, still others what we call "service" organizations dedicated to helping in their communities.

One speculation is that the razor was decorated with the symbols of a rather small group -- one without huge resources to hire a high-quality artist. Such a thing might be a useful keepsake for a member, though one suspects the group, whatever its principles, has by now gone extinct.

O.H.
This is a well thought out idea. I appreciate it, thank you
 

Old Hippie

Somewhere between 61 and dead
Hi guys are these Masonic symbols? Also an ID on the maker would be cool, but it looks tough. Thank you!
View attachment 1228279

Did a little quick looking. I may be wrong about whether it's Masonic. I found some evidence that it could be.

According to the website <goldencompasses.org>, they could be as follows:

Starting at the razor toe, the first symbol is a moon surrounded by seven stars. This is a Masonic symbol in which the seven stars represent the Pleiades and remind us that the heavens are all around us as part of creation.

The pick-like image doesn't seem to pop up, but it could be included in the general use of real-world ("operative") tools and skills to also represent philosophical ("speculative") Masonic concepts.

The trowel image harks to the use of the trowel to represent firmly setting the stones of our characters into the edifice of our selves.

The lidded pot may be the "Pot of Incense" which represents our spiritual worth and advancement.

The final figure is a bit of a puzzle. The ladder is used as a metaphor for the work of "climbing into the Light." I'm unsure about the caduceus figure there. It may represent just that -- or it may be part of the metaphor of the ladder, which is sometimes portrayed as a spiral staircase.

Of course, other fraternal organizations (and college/university fraternities, which is another possibility given the crudeness of the images) used much the same symbology for their own reasons. Which, finally, suggests that if it IS Masonic, it may not be the "Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Freemasonry" that we usually think of. It may be from the "Prince Hall" tradition, which until fairly recently was a banned order, being formed and supported by African Americans. Some Grand Lodge councils, such as Oregon's, have opened relations with Prince Hall bodies. I think that's a good thing!

O.H.

So you might have a real piece of history there
 
since all have put their thoughts in i will chime in.

yes, all but one look like regular known symbols to me. will inquire about the mystery one tonight out of sheer curiosity.

I will say there some symbols present that I wouldn't have expected. equally, there are a couple absent that is surprising as well.

the hat i wear when visiting my friends.
20210225_175933.jpg

camo
 

Old Hippie

Somewhere between 61 and dead
The interesting thing is that a lot of fraternal organizations used pretty much the same symbols though their rituals diverged a bit more. (Though not all that much, considering the same symbols and similar interpretations.) Up through the 1960s anyway in North America there were so many groups, from the Masons to little groups that formed just for fun. I can imagine the Hibernian Order of Cheapskates would use the same moon and sun symbols.

Because men (and women, too) tended to belong to more than one organization or "attendant bodies" within an organization there was some crossover in the "secret" symbols they used. At the same time, however, a person who belonged to only one or a few of the attendant bodies might not be well versed in the exact meanings of symbols used by a body of which they were not a member.

Freemasonry, for instance has the first three "degrees" in common for all Masons, but after that they can move on to the York Rite, the Scottish Rite, Royal Arch, Tall Cedars of Lebanon, Commandery, Shrine et-almost-endless-cetera. Women are involved in the Eastern Star; youth in DeMolay and young women in Job's Daughters. I've noticed in the last 30 years that many of the traditional symbols aren't used nearly as often as they were formerly. The reason, I imagine, is that the fraternity's "branding" is that it is "Not a secret society, but a society with secrets."

Anyway. Back to your regularly-scheduled shaving!

O.H.
 
I think someone got creative with some fine blasting sand and tape(or polish wand), and a jewelers' airgun. The outer edge of the matte finish does not have any sort of layered border, i.e., you don't see polish broken by matte bars, with some kind of scrolling at the corners, and given the stamping, which looks early 1900s, I would say the etching was not factory done. I could be wrong...
I have seen this pattern before on worn down blades and it was applied no differently.
 
Top Bottom