Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library

Masonic Tyler's Sword and Scabbard
ca. 1870
Pollard, Alford & Company
USA: Massachusetts, Boston
a: Silver-plated metal; leather; b: Silver-plated metal; leather
Gift of Masonic Temple Association, Boston, Massachusetts
80.66.1a-b

Masonic Tyler's Sword and Scabbard a: sword: silver-plated hilt with tri-lobed pommel decorated with Masonic symbols; blue painted leather wrapped grip; crossguard: decorated with symbols of craft Masonry with tri-lobed finials; blade: straight, double-edged, flat oval section, bright-etched with symbols; inscribed "Phoenician Lodge"; "Pollard/ Alford/ & Co."; b: scabbard: blue leather-covered metal with silver-plated mounts engraved with Masonic symbols.

Silver-plated cruciform hilt with a pommel in the form of a cross botonee. The hilt is nearly identical to that of Acc# 78.28 except that it has a blue leather-wrapped grip. The blue leather-covered metal scabbard has silver-plated mounts engraved with symbols of Craft Masonry. The double-edged blade, of flat oval section, is bright-etched with Masonic Craft symbols and inscribed "Phoenician Lodge." The ricasso is marked "Pollard Alford & Co. Boston." In 1830, Abner W. Pollard (d. 1886) opened a Boston clothing store in partnership with Lendell F. Tarbett, but by 1832 he was sole proprietor. In 1846, Pollard was raised a Master Mason in Mt. Lebanon Lodge, Boston and began to advertise himself as a draper and tailor dealing in Masonic regalia. Bro. Pollard became a retail agent of the Ames Sword Company, which allowed him to market their regalia swords under his own trade name. Late in his career, in 1877, he formed a partnership with Frederick Alford (d. 1916) who had been raised in Columbian Lodge in 1867. The firm was chartered on October 1, 1877, and dissolved in 1884. Phoenician Lodge of Lawrence, Massachusetts was chartered in 1871 and merged with Tuscan Lodge in 1980. For more informations, see John D. Hamilton. "Material Culture of the American Freemasons." Lexington, Mass.: Scottish Rite Masonic Museum and Library, Inc., 1994, page 156.