Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library

Match Holder with Masonic Symbols
1867-1901
Taylor Tunnicliff & Co.
England
Stoneware, paint
overall 3"h x 3-1/2"dia.
Gift of Linda and George Smith in Honor of John w. Blake, 33°
2017.042.3

Match Holder with Masonic Symbols. Off-white, sphere-shaped stoneware match holder features three repeating square and compass emblems around its sides, each encircled by a decorative border in shiny blue paint. Circular hinge of compasses bears flower design, and there are floral-like scrolls along its arms as well as those of the square; border encircling emblem features a repeating triangle pattern, the outer ones with a fine grid pattern and the inner ones empty. A cylinder-shaped hole, 1-1/2" in diameter and 1-1/4" deep, is at its center; the rim of its opening is painted with a blue stripe, and the inside of the hole is glazed and shiny. Body is of matte, unglazed ceramic. Flat bottom is 2" in diameter and features a stamped maker's mark in blue paint: a five-point crown atop an oval with the overlapping initials, "T", "T", and "C" inside, with an inverted V shape under the C and four short perpendicular marks around the edge of the oval.