Masonic symbols ?

[poundcoin]

A Facebook query cropped up on an old building that latterly has been a school building.

There are a number of carvings on a wooden staircase . The photo here shows what looks like a pipe and a above it , 2 "star-like" emblems . On the other side of the post is a strange looking object , to be crude looks like an upside down sperm (with a long handle !) and above it a crescent moon . There is also a carving of a turtle . Any ideas ?

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/724/33161 ... f1d7_o.jpg

The strange object

https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3760/3235 ... d6c4_o.jpg

[NomoneyNohoney]

Isn't the first one a churchwarden pipe?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churchwarden_pipe

[djm55]

Could they both be Shillelaghs? Possibly an Irish folk-lore connection or just a signature-piece of the carver?

[poundcoin]

Thanks both . Looking at previous owners within the property going back to 1882 but can't see any Irish or church connection .
The building seems to have been originally 4 villa style properties converted into one school property .
In 1891 one of the properties was owned by a wine/spirit merchant and Mayor of the town , another was a bank manager then there were two widows "living on own means" .

[Rhyd6]

If one of the villas was owned by a wine merchant then the "spermy" carving may be something to do with wine tasting ie drawing wine from a barrel. Hope you find out what it is.

R6

[poundcoin]

Thanks again for the good suggestions .
I don't personally know the inside of the building , (it's part of a girls non-secular high school ) and so not sure if the staircase is part of the original domestic arrangement or was installed when the building was converted to a school , at the end of the 1800s .

[poundcoin]

Maybe another picture of the carvings will help , this on another side of the stair newel post .

Appears to be a chap ? holding a mallet . The more you look at it , the older it all looks . Maybe it's been recycled from an older building ,church or otherwise .

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3903/332 ... 8e5e_b.jpg

[GJHarney]

My guess would be that they are guild symbols relating to the craftsmen who made them. Those eight pointed Maltese type crosses appear almost Templar-like, which could link across with craftsman mason guilds.

The wood carver then becomes almost a self-portrait, possibly with a tobacco pipe on the picture that also shows the crosses, but it is the other side that looks the most esoteric. I thought of an early golf club at first, but the crescent moon is very significant I think, and if the thing with it isn't a woodworking tool I wonder if it is a representation of a Jewish shofar horn that is quite common in masonic symbolism? That would then link it nicely to the (new?) moon in the carving and then with Psalm 81:3 "Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day." (King James), something that is celebrated as Yom Teruah by Jews.

[poundcoin]

My guess would be that they are guild symbols relating to the craftsmen who made them. Those eight pointed Maltese type crosses appear almost Templar-like, which could link across with craftsman mason guilds.

Excellent answer GJH thanks for posting .
The "guild" idea would fit and the self portrait of the woodworker makes sense . Still not sure where the turtle fits in though .

Not too sure the strange item looks like a Jewish horn , (having googled images) , most seem to have "twirly" stems but the new moon may indicate some annual celebration .
Thanks again.

[GJHarney]

Yes,some shofar horns are curly, but equally many are not and I've seen a lot of pictures where they are the same shape as in your carving. In fact while the other side of that panel may be a smoking pipe (a churchwarden or clay pipe shape), equally that too could I think perhaps be a shofar as it would then better fit with the mason guild idea. Traditionally they are made from animal horns, and most commonly ram horns, and the ram has a link to Masonic ritual via the story of Hiram Abiff, the architect of the first (King Solomon) temple.

And Solomon may just link to a turtle image (have you posted this image?). In the original King James translation the Song of Solomon 2:12 reads "The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land". Now, later versions amend this to turtle-dove which is what was actually meant, but there may easily have been literal belief in the original turtle which given the importance of Solomon in Masonic belief and ritual may just (and I know this is a stretch) link to your carvings and allow them to all be part of the same theme.

I'm not a Mason I should add, nor do I know anyone that is, but I wonder if it would be worth your while contacting your local lodge to see if anyone would be able to give their opinion on your carvings as may have members who are very interested in Masonic history and would know a lot more than me.

[poundcoin]

Thanks again , they're not my pictures , I "borrowed" them for clarity but it's an excellent suggestion to contact the local lodge . I will pass that on .

I thought maybe that the turtle carving ( that I haven't posted) was the craftsman's signature like the chap that always left a mouse carving ( Robert Thompson ) .