Antique Masonic Keystone Ring
A strange set of letters on an old ring turned one of Doug's first finds of the day into a mystery we had to solve right there in the field.
DogTag Doug holds up the antique Masonic ring moments after uncovering it.
We had taken a road trip up to Massachusetts for a few days of metal detecting, with three colonial houses lined up to hunt during the trip.
Doug, Charley and I were joined by Green Mountain Metal Detecting's Brad Martin and our host for the trip, Erik the Cape Codfather.
Our first property was a beautiful old house dating well back into the 1700s, and we had barely gotten started. Brad and I were detecting the front yard, Erik was working along the side of the house, and Doug and Charley had made their way into the backyard.
Then suddenly we heard Doug yelling.
He had something good.
A MYSTERY IN THE HOLE
We all stopped what we were doing and made our way into the backyard to see what he had found.
Lying beside Doug's freshly dug hole was a large copper-colored ring. The band was substantial, but what really caught our attention was the oversized keystone-shaped face.
The Masonic ring moments after Doug pulled it from the ground, still covered in dirt.
Doug gently wiped away some of the dirt and letters started appearing around the face of the ring.
H T W S S T K S
They didn't appear to spell anything, and none of us knew what they meant.
The mysterious letters HTWSSTKS began to appear after some of the dirt was removed.
So for the moment, detecting stopped.
Phones came out, and all of us started researching the strange letters right there in the field.
Eventually, we had our answer.
A MASONIC KEYSTONE
The keystone and letters HTWSSTKS are associated with the Mark Master Mason degree in Freemasonry. The letters form a Masonic mnemonic commonly interpreted as “Hiram, Tyrian, Widow's Son, Sent to King Solomon,” a reference to the Masonic tradition surrounding Hiram and the building of King Solomon's Temple.
The keystone itself is an important symbol within the Mark Master tradition. Mark Master Masons historically selected a personal mark, similar to the distinctive marks craftsmen used to identify their work, and the keystone became closely associated with the degree. Rings, medals, and other pieces of Masonic jewelry were sometimes decorated with the keystone and symbols connected with it.
Doug hadn't just found an old ring.
He had found a antique piece of Masonic history.
And then the story got even better.
When we looked further into the history of the property, we learned that one of the home's owners during the 1800s had been a prominent ship captain and a Mason.
We can't know for certain that the ring belonged to him, but it sure added even more excitement to the find, if there wasn’t enough already, and suddenly finding it in the yard made a lot more sense.
Amazing finds like this can happen almost anywhere, in this case it was hundreds of miles from home. But other times it can literally be in your own backyard. And with a little luck and some patience, you might just bring something incredible like this right back to the surface.
WATCH THE HUNT
Watch the full hunt below, or jump to 2:13 to see Doug uncover this antique Masonic ring.
