Fabricated our 5,000th Past Master jewel this month.

The first Past Master jewel STL Masons ever fabricated was presented in June 1978, at the installation of the outgoing Worshipful Master of St. Louis Missouri Lodge No. 1. Traditional square-and-quadrant design, gold-plated brass, personalized with lodge name and year. It cost $47 at the time.

This month we fabricated our 5,000th. It went to W. Bro. Jackson, outgoing Worshipful Master of Cedar Creek Lodge No. 342 in central Missouri. Cedar Creek has been a customer of ours since 1990 (they were our first out-of-state account before Missouri and Illinois had both authorized us). W. Bro. Jackson served two consecutive years as Worshipful Master; the jewel is engraved with his name and both years.

Loretta engraved the plate herself as a nod to the milestone. Standard practice is that our engraving partner does the final personalization, but for #5,000 Loretta made an exception.

The math is what it is. 5,000 jewels in 47 years works out to about 106 per year. In the first decade we fabricated fewer than 20 per year (the operation was small and served only a handful of lodges). In recent years we have averaged 250 to 350 per year, driven by nationwide shipping and expanded Grand Lodge coverage.

The classic design has not changed. Square-and-quadrant, the Euclidean 47th Problem, room for lodge name at the top and officer name plus year at the bottom. Gold-plated brass remains the most common finish; gold-filled and sterling silver are second and third. Solid gold jewels remain rare (perhaps 15 to 20 per year) and typically go to lodges celebrating a significant milestone or presenting to a lodge officer of long standing.

Congratulations to W. Bro. Jackson and to Cedar Creek Lodge No. 342.