Concordia Lodge No. 67 

Fluted Pitcher

This beautiful blue and gold decorated fluted pitcher was made to commemorate the 118th Anniversary of Concordia Lodge No. 67 F. & A.M. of Philadelphia, Pa. The scene on the front pictures the workman at King Solomons Temple.   The story of the broken column was first illustrated by Amos Doolittle in the "true Masonic Chart" by Jeremy Cross, published in 1819. 

The account is long, rambling and at times not too clear. Abstracted, the salient parts are as follows. Cross found or sensed what he considered a deficiency in the Third Degree which had to be filled in order to effect his purposes. He consulted a former Mayor of New Haven, who at the time was one of his most intimate friends. Even after working together for a week, they did not hit upon any symbol which would be sufficiently simple and yet answer the purpose. Then a Copper-plate engraver, also a brother, was called in. The number of hieroglyphics which had be this time accumulated was immense. Some were too large, some too small, some too complicated, requiring too much explanation and many were not adapted to the subject.    Finally, the copper-plate engraver said, "Brother Cross, when great men die, they generally have a monument." "That's right!" cried Cross; "I never thought of that!"  He visited the burying-ground in New Haven.    At last he got an idea and told his friends that he had the foundation of what he wanted. He said that while in New York City he had seen a monument in the southwest corner of Trinity Church yard erected over Commodore Lawrence, a great man who fell in battle. It was a large marble pillar, broken off. The broken part had been taken away, but the capital was lying at the base. He wanted that pillar for the foundation of his new emblem, but intended to bring in the other part, leaving it resting against the base. This his friends assented to, but more was wanted. They felt that some inscription should be on the column. after a length discussion they decided upon an open book to be placed upon the broken pillar. There should of course be some reader of the book!     Hence the emblem of innocence-a beautiful virgin-who should weep over the memory of the deceased while she read of his heroic deeds from the book before her.

The monument erected to the memory of Commodore Lawrence was placed in the southwest corner of Trinity Churchyard in 1813, after the fight between the frigates Chesapeake and Shannon, in which battle Lawrence fell.    As described, it was a beautiful marble pillar, broken off, with a part of the capital laid at its base.  lt remained until 1844-5 at which time Trinity Church was rebuilt.   When finished, the corporation of the Church took away the old and dilapidated Lawrence monument and erected a new one in a different form, placing it in the front of the yard on Broadway, at the lower entrance of the Church.   When Cross visited the new monument, he expressed great disappointment at the change, saying "it was not half as good as the one they took away!"

  This pitcher was made by the Thos. Maddock's Sons, Co., of Trenton, N.J. and measures 11 1/8 inches tall and approx. 4 inches in diameter at the base.  It also names the three principal officers of the Lodge in 1913 on the reverse.

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