Find of a lifetime

Robert Sorgmann

Greenie
May 5, 2020
11
37
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Best find I have ever dug. I know it's gold it weighs around 14.3 grams. It has a name at the bottom of it. I hear it's an award given to high ranking Masons. It is from around late 1800s from what I understand.
 

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ARC

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Aug 19, 2014
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Tarpon Springs
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Antique-Masonic-Knights-Templar-14k-Gold-pic-1A-2048_10.10-bf198b87-f.jpg


 

Red-Coat

Gold Member
Dec 23, 2019
5,241
16,423
Surrey, UK
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Very nice indeed, and much better quality than the example ARC pictured. More in the territory of this one (note the price is a jeweller’s selling price and converted to £sterling from a US vendor).

Order of the Temple.jpg

It’s a Masonic ‘jewel’ – Order of the Temple (Knights Templar), but that doesn’t particularly imply that it’s an award to someone high ranking. It might have been worn round the neck or used as a fob, with entitlement to wear it just based on a minimum term of service and often by invitation only. It might nevertheless have been owned by someone prominent, given that the back shows he had more than one membership.

The legends are a little blurry, but as far as I can see the branches are: Clarksville Chapter No. 3, which is a Royal Arch Masons group in Tennessee; Commandery No. 8, which is a Knights Templar lodge within the Clarksville Chapter; and Bowling Green No. 73, a Free and Accepted Mason’s lodge chartered through the Grand Lodge of Kentucky.

You said there’s a name at the bottom, but you’ve excluded it from the picture. That’s really the only way you’re going to reliably date it (unless there is a helpful maker mark) since those organisations date back to at least 1822, but still operate today.

Incidentally, it’s not unusual for Masonic lodges to have cross-connections with members in more than one of them. For example, in 1900, Clarksville Lodge No. 89 in conjunction with Clarksville Chapter No. 3, Royal Arch Masons, and Clarksville Commandery No. 8, Knights Templar, pooled their resources and built a Temple at Third and Commerce Streets in Clarksville.
 

Last edited:
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Robert Sorgmann

Greenie
May 5, 2020
11
37
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Very nice indeed, and much better quality than the example ARC pictured. More in the territory of this one (note the price is a jeweller’s selling price and converted to £sterling from a US vendor).

View attachment 2045616

It’s a Masonic ‘jewel’ – Order of the Temple (Knights Templar), but that doesn’t particularly imply that it’s an award to someone high ranking. It might have been worn round the neck or used as a fob, with entitlement to wear it just based on a minimum term of service and often by invitation only. It might nevertheless have been owned by someone prominent, given that the back shows he had more than one membership.

The legends are a little blurry, but as far as I can see the branches are: Clarksville Chapter No. 3, which is a Royal Arch Masons group in Tennessee; Commandery No. 8, which is a Knights Templar lodge within the Clarksville Chapter; and Bowling Green No. 73, a Free and Accepted Mason’s lodge chartered through the Grand Lodge of Kentucky.

You said there’s a name at the bottom, but you’ve excluded it from the picture. That’s really the only way you’re going to reliably date it (unless there is a helpful maker mark) since those organisations date back to at least 1822, but still operate today.

Incidentally, it’s not unusual for Masonic lodges to have cross-connections with members in more than one of them. For example, in 1900, Clarksville Lodge No. 89 in conjunction with Clarksville Chapter No. 3, Royal Arch Masons, and Clarksville Commandery No. 8, Knights Templar, pooled their resources and built a Temple at Third and Commerce Streets in Clarksville.
Wow thanks for all the Info. I am going to chapter 73 and ask about who owned it.
 

Gare

Gold Member
Dec 30, 2012
7,429
13,994
Canton Ohio Area
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Presently using Deus 2's & have Minelabs, Nokta's Tesoro's DEus's Have them all . Have WAY to many need to get rid of some
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Fantastic find :) CONGRATS !!!
 

Chilli

Hero Member
Feb 10, 2022
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Best find I have ever dug. I know it's gold it weighs around 14.3 grams. It has a name at the bottom of it. I hear it's an award given to high ranking Masons. It is from around late 1800s from what I understand.
Great find there!
 

Gare

Gold Member
Dec 30, 2012
7,429
13,994
Canton Ohio Area
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
2
Detector(s) used
Presently using Deus 2's & have Minelabs, Nokta's Tesoro's DEus's Have them all . Have WAY to many need to get rid of some
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Please keep us posted on it's outcome :)
 

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