Past Illustrious Grand Masters Jewel

This jewel was presented to Past Thrice Illustrious Grand Master Alexander B. Daniels who served his Council of Royal and Select Masters representing King Solomon.  The other presiding officers of the Council are Illustrious Hiram of Tyre, Principal Conductor of the Works, representing Hiram Abif; Master of the Exchequer, Master of Finances, Captain of the Guards, Conductor of the Council and Steward.  Their place of meeting is called the Council Chamber, and represents the private apartment of King Solomon, in which he is said to have met for consultation with his two colleagues during the construction of the Temple.   Candidates who receive this Degree are said to be," honored with the Degree of Royal Master."    Its symbolic colors are black and red -- the former significant of grief, and the latter of martyrdom, and both referring to the chief builder of the Temple.  The events recorded in this Degree, looking at them in a legendary point of view, must have occurred at the building of the first Temple, and during that brief period of time after the death of the builder which is embraced between the discovery of his body and its "Masonic interment."  In all of the initiations into the mysteries of the ancient world, there was, as it is well known to scholars, a legend of the violent death of some distinguished personage, to whose memory the particular mystery was consecrated, of the concealment of the body, and of its subsequent discovery.  That part of the initiation which referred to the concealment of the body was called the Aphanism, from a Greek verb which signifies to conceal, and that part which referred to the subsequent finding was called the euresis, from another Greek verb which signifies to discover.  It is impossible to avoid seeing the coincidences between the system of initiation and that practiced in the Freemasonry of the Third Degree.  But the ancient initiation was not terminated by the euresis or discovery. Up to that point, the ceremonies had been funereal and lugubrious in their character.  But now they were changed from wailing to to rejoicing.  Other ceremonies were performed by which the restoration of the personage to life, or his apotheosis or change to immortality, was represented, and then came the autopsy or illumination of the neophyte, when he was invested with a full knowledge of all the religious doctrines which it was the object of the ancient mysteries to teach -- when, in a word, he was instructed in Divine Truth.

Below is the Jewelry Catalog Page from 1922-23

Prices in this catalog represent the value of money in 1922-23... for gold that was about $21.00 per ounce.  Today, the value of gold is approx. $280.00 per ounce, so multiply the above listed catalog prices by at least 10 times to get a feel for what the current market value would be.

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