British Naval Officer's Blue & Gilt Dirk

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by Cathey

Hi Guys

As I mentioned previously the royal Naval lodge was founded in 1739. Having discussed this dirk at length with a Naval collector he reassured me that it is Naval but would have belonged to an officer who was also a member of the Naval lodge in the Georgian period.

The Guard has the typical English lion hilt common to many Naval dirks and an English rose on the cross guard.

Regards

Cathey and Rex

That makes perfect sense, as it is indeed British. It is interesting to see the groupings of Masonic allegorical symbols, and curious why the typical addition of the fouled anchor would not occur among them. It seems in most cases of naval edged weapons this invariably is present either in hilt or on blade.
My resources as noted were specifically to Masonic symbolism in American context, but I am curious about regalia of the Naval Lodge mentioned in England. I was not aware of a specific lodge for naval officers.

The best thing about weapons is how much we learn from them !