Anvil,boiler and metal the mighty metalbestos

Originally Posted by Metalbestos

And now back to the don't scrap it pics , I got this for $7 at auction just cause it's old and cool . I kinda have a eye for some stuff I have been told . I don't know .. What do you guys think


The back , looks blank ,to me . Not a mold that for sure . I haven't a clue so that's good . I do know the free mason insignia on the front

Wow .... neat find.

Back in the day most people were illiterate so symbology was used in place of writing.Children were taught from an early age what the meanings of the symbols were. The symbols were like the modern day pictograms. Today there are universal symbols for danger, radiation hazard, electrical shock hazard,women's restrooms, men's restrooms, etc. We see them all the time but we don't really notice them. Pretty kool cause they are a universal language. Doesn't matter if you are english,chinese,russian, or african. If you "get the picture" then you get the picture so to speak...

According to this link they were mass produced in the mid 1900's during the heyday of Freemasonry in America.

Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library: Trivets

Gotta wonder about it's use and the interpretation of the symbols though ..............



There's the Masonic square & compass. That's pretty universal, even nowadays.

There's the horseshoe but it's pointed down. The horse shoe was always pointed up so that your luck wouldn't run out. Doesn't make sense in this context.

Looks like a Fleur-d-lis on the bottom ?

It's definitely not OES because it doesn't have the pent symbol. It's something that a man used but for what purpose ?

It's a bit of a mystery left over from a bygone era.

LOL .... don't mind me .... i'm just a bit of a geek sometimes.