Skip to content
Title:
Past First Principal's jewel presented to E. Comp. May E. Cook. P.Z. (Order of Women Freemasons), 1929.
Object name(s):
Jewels; Jewel, Order of Women Freemasons, Royal Arch Freemasonry
Brief description:
Hanging device: Eastern crown in silver gilt metal and relief with inset coloured paste on a triangle in silver gilt metal and on a sunburst in silver gilt metal. The design is framed within a circular band of silver gilt metal with fine ridge design and polished trim. There is a presentation inscription on the reverse.
Collection:
Museum of Freemasonry
Acquisition method:
Purchase
Associated concept:
Jewels--Order of Women Freemasons--England
Associated concept:
Order of Women Freemasons England Jewels
Associated person:
Cook, May E., Former owner
Comments:
The First Principal of a Royal Arch Chapter is known as 'Zerubbabel' and for this reason many Past First Principal's jewels refer to 'PZ' for ‘Past Zerubbabel’ or 'MEZ' for Most Excellent Zerubbabel.
Comments:
In 1902 freemasonry for women came to England from France in the form of mixed lodges (Co-Masonry). But in 1908 a break away by some Co-Masons formed a new order who wanted to practice freemasonry along the same lines as the male United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE). 'The Honourable Fraternity of Antient Masonry' was established and its first Grand Master was a man but since 1912 all the Grand Masters have been women. This new order at first accepted men and women but in the 1920s it was decided to restrict members to women only and visitors could no longer be men. Another Masonic order for women broke away in 1913 and was called 'The Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasonry' (HFAF). To avoid confusion in the names “Order of Women Freemasons” (OWF) was added to the title of the 'The Honourable Fraternity of Antient Masonry' in 1958 and is the name they are known by today.
Content - description:
Eastern crown, Sunburst
Dimension:
H: n/a W: n/a D: 5 Dia: 35 Wt: n/a
Entry date:
14/12/2009
Inscription content:
'T H B'
Inscription content:
Sterling silver, London, lowercase o, 1929
Inscription type:
Hallmark
Inscription content:
POSITION: Reverse of hanging device TEXT: 'E. COMP. MAY E. COOK P.Z.' METHOD: Engraved (hand) SCRIPT TYPE: Block LANGUAGE: English TRANSLATION: n/a NOTE: n/a
Object name:
Jewels; Jewel, Order of Women Freemasons, Royal Arch Freemasonry
Object number:
M2009/3558
Object production date:
1929
Object production place:
England
Reproduction format:
Digital image
Technique:
Cast metal
Technique:
Engraved (hand)

Persistent shareable link for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/77c01f12-752e-3181-a890-7745a39df7bb

Use licence for this record: CC BY

Attribution for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/77c01f12-752e-3181-a890-7745a39df7bb, Museum of Freemasonry, CC BY

Is there a problem with this record? Give feedback.

Sign up to our newsletter

Follow the latest MDS developments every two months with our newsletter.

Unsubscribe any time. See our privacy notice.

Back to top