Scarce Hand-Engraved Silver Masonic "Senior Deacons" Folding Square and Compass tin farmhouse I’ve considered a few old

I’ve considered a few old forged iron snakes and snake-shaped trivets—blacksmith whimsies of sorts— but this is the first that completely jumped out and bit me

with this nice intersection of the red ring around him and the black ring of the postmark stamp just to the left

which is happily accompanied by satisfying clicks

and the hand-written two-sided cards--accounting for every month and possibility for how the dates fall--are easily removed

with a cloth cord

Scarce Hand-Engraved Silver Masonic "Senior Deacons" Folding Square and Compass tin farmhouse I’ve considered a few oldQuite a lovely and smart looking thing, this hand engraved silver square and compass tool would have been made for a Masonic "Senior Deacon." Through a little research I've learned it would have been carried by the Senior Deacon when guiding candidates through the rituals associated with attaining their masonic degrees. (Specifically, I've read, the compass would symbolically I presume! be used to "pierce their naked left breast," or the square