York Rite & Knight Templar Watch FOBs

These were very popular Knight Templar Watch FOBs worn around the turn of the century (1900 - 1920).   It identified a Freemason that was also a Knight Templar in the York Rite Degrees of Freemasonry.   Around the Knight Templars Blood-Red Passion Cross and Crown is inscribed the motto "In Hoc Signo Vinces" the Latin for "By this sign thou shall conquer."    The fobs in the above arch pattern bear the "Keystone" with the letters K.S.H.T.W.S.S.T. their meaning is esoteric and cannot be explained here.  York Rite Masons remember the order of the lettering by this cute little verse, "King Solomon Had Twelve Wives Some Say Twenty".  The Keystone is placed in the center of an arch which preserves the others in their places, and secures firmness and stability to the arch.  It was the custom of Operative Masons to engrave their mark in the center of the keystone and a tradition that is still carried forward to this day.

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