Unusual Ebay Purchase.

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mawnansmiff

Lifer
Oct 14, 2015
7,385
7,295
Sunny Cornwall, UK.
Whilst looking at a book I was interested in on Ebay I clicked on the seller's 'other items for sale' button and saw an eclectic mix of antique books and other bits of stuff that might best be described as curios.

One such item was a collection of 18 antique printing blocks with freemasonry connections. Though I have no particular interest in freemasonry, I am interested in printing.

The opening bid was £5 and there were no bids with just less than an hour to go so I tapped in a maximum bid of £15. I won and got them for £5 plus £3:20 p+p....quite a bargain I think. Not sure what I'll do with them, maybe put them on a mantelshelf.

They appear to be engraved copper rivetted onto oak blocks and must have taken an age to make. Unfortunately it's difficult to judge the actual size of the blocks so will haver to await their arrival.

block 1.jpgblock 3.jpgblock 4.jpgblock 5.jpgblock 6.jpgblock 7.jpgblock 8.jpgblock 9.jpgblock 10.jpgblock 11.jpg

Regards,

Jay.
 
Those are really quite interesting. I have often thought about joining the Mason's but I can never find a branch to join as it seems to be on the wane but maybe I didn't try hard enough. Maybe they are so secret you cannot find them rotf
My college fraternity was Masonic, and my wife was an Eastern Star, but when I would go to meet with Masons, to see about joining, it would be a room with about 6-8 80+ year old men. And, even the Eastern Stars, we watched them all being escorted in with walkers, wheelchairs, etc... If full contact fighting were involved, sure, I could so take over that place... but something tells me that membership probably involves prunes, denture care, and jello.
 

scloyd

Lifer
May 23, 2018
5,938
12,031
Is that one of yours or one of mine Scott? I don't recognise it so must be yours.

BTW I don't 'display' my old books.....I just read them then shelve them, not quite the same thing.

Regards,

Jay.
It's one of yours from the group photo. Second row, fourth from the left.
 
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Dec 3, 2021
4,792
40,296
Pennsylvania & New York
I wonder if you could work with someone with a letterpress and carefully compose an arrangement of all of the blocks locked in place, do individual passes, and print each in a different ink on one single sheet. That might be really great looking.
 
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