Rare Certificates.

Grand Lodges . Having produced a bold and very distinctive plate , it retained it in use until the present year , doubtless thinking it very unbecoming of England and Ireland to make so many changes in design during the same period .

Some of us ma } 7 have preferred retaining the old form for the sake of sentiment , but if a change had to be made , it would be difficult to suggest anything more dignified and adapted to its

purpose than this form , elaborated by a Committee of which Dr . George Dickson , a distinguished Past Master of " The Lodge of Edinburgh ( Mary ' s Chapel ) ,

No . i "—the oldest lodge in the world!—was the guiding spirit . Here , again , the illustration needs no further description . The seal of the Grand Lodge of Scotland is

stamped , in the national green colour , at the foot , and the autograph of the present able Grand Sec , David Reid , is on the middle of the three steps of the pavement . No . 6 is possibly the

handsomest certificate ever issued . Indeed , it is quite unfitted for the proper use of a certificate—that is to say , not ( o be framed and hung on the wall , but kept in

the apron case , and ready for presentation , if required , whenever visiting another lodge . For this reason , and because of the cost of production , it was not long in

THE NEW M . M . CERTIFICATE OF THE GRAND LODGE OF SCOTLAND .

use . It emanates from the . S 7 . John ' s Grand Lodge of Hungary , which was founded on January 30 th , 1870 , and in 1886 united with the Grand Orient of Hungary to form the

present Symbolic Grand Lodge . I his was not the first form of certificate of the St . John ' s Grand Lodge , but came into use about 1880 , and continued for a little while after the Union in 1886 , with the alteration of inscription

in top panels , and replacing the background of Die same with gold , instead of light blue , as the only difference . On a chocolate background , ( he design is

beautifully elaborated in gold and colours , the seal of the private lodge being added in the space at the bottom . The photograph is so exquisitely

clear that a description is superfluous . The two inscriptions are in Hungarian and German , and the certificate is granted to Bro . Stephen Ho , of the

Lodge St . Stephen , in Budapest , and dated January 25 th , 1881 .

lhese are only a few instances of the seemingly endless varieties of Masonic certificates . Until I began to collect them a good many years ago , I had no idea of

their scope , and now that I have amassed over thirteen hundred specimens , all with some variation of plate , wording , or autographs , I

still occasionally come across something entirel y new in style or detail which makes the hobb y of perennial interest and pleasure .

If I can ever find the time , I hope to complete a work on the whole subject which has SD long occupied my thoughts .

MAI . CKIiTlFIIWrr , ( IF THE FOHMKI ! NT . JOHN'S GRAND LODGE OF HUNGARY .