In the minutes of the Lodge Consecration meeting on 9th December 1909, this appeared: ‘The W.M. announced that the M.W. the G.M. had granted permission to the members of the lodge to wear a founder’s jewel.
He therefore moved that the design as prepared by W.Bro. S.W. be adopted. Seconded by P. Luckie. The design was passed around for the inspection of the members and the motion was duly carried.’
The Senior Warden was W.Bro Stanley Milroy and it had been mentioned in the minutes of a meeting prior to the Lodge consecration that his designs for the Lodge badge and the ‘United Masters jewel’ had been approved by the prospective Founders on the 20th November 1909.
The fact that the design had been sent to the Grand Master for approval before the lodge itself approved it could mean that the ‘United Masters jewel’ was the Founder’s jewel, agreed by them in advance of the Consecration.
At a meeting on the 4th February, the first following the Consecration, the minutes said: ‘The W.M. announced that the Jewel was now ready, and was obtainable from W.Bro. Page. who had made a splendid reproduction of the design.’
On the back of the some of the Founder’s jewels in the Lodge collection is the manufacturer’s stamped mark ‘C.M.P.’ in a rectangle. This was W.Bro Charles M. Page, one of the 124 Founders. A few in the Lodge Museum are also stamped ‘silver’ but most have no such mark so are unlikely to be silver.
Perhaps the Founders, who probably paid for their own jewel, were given a choice of silver or not. There would obviously be a difference in price. Some of the jewels in the collection are engraved with the Founder’s name.
The top bar has ‘Founder’. The attachment to the ribbon has ‘United Masters Lodge’ around the outside, ‘No.167 N.Z.’ across the middle and ‘1909’ at the bottom.
The pendant is hollow and quite large and heavy for a breast jewel. The implement held by the hand is a small axe, as the largest portion is in front of the handle and the head is pointed in the direction of it’s movement as an axe would be used.
The main construction material in NZ in the early days as well as now, is wood. Thus the axe would be more widely used than a mason’s gavel or maul.
Many lodge jewels which I have seen, have the lodge badge or a substantial part of it making up the founder’s jewel as well as the Past Master’s jewel. For United Masters Lodge the only part of the Lodge Badge in the Founder’s jewel is the arm holding the axe.
In heraldic terms it is a right arm ‘couped’, that is cut from the body, just above the point at which the workman’s long sleeve has been rolled up and ’embowed’ that is bent at the elbow.
This is very indicative of the long sleeved shirts rolled to above the elbow by workmen in the early 1900s. The emblems depicting England, Ireland, Scotland and NZ, are the rose, shamrock, thistle and fern, whereas in the Lodge badge they are the tower, arm, cross and stars.