Well! That's Different!

Daft Bat

Daft Bat

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Not only does my friend Tim collect silhouettes, but he can also be interested in other weird and wonderful historical things.

Attached are photographs of a horn beaker.
He says: "I know the gang like a different challenge so I was wondering if they can help me on this one. Horn beaker , early 19th century...possibly a marriage but what does it all mean ?"

Over to you, super sleuths! ;)
 

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It looks like one of them could have been English and the other Scottish..hence the lion and unicorn. The hand with the heart in the palm could be, love, charity, faith or could be the IOOF. The unicorn with the sword or cross through it is a bit scary and there is a coffin as well. The downward crossed swords symbolise the end of a conflict or honouring someone who died in battle. I just googled the descriptions of the symbols.
My take is that the Scottish partner died in battle….:nailbiting: Hence the sword through the unicorn.:ghost:
Is the other side, St Michael and Lady Justice? She is holding a set of scales.
 
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Second look and the lion and unicorn look to be a very naive attempt at the UK coat of arms. Seems there is a crown there and the attempt at a face. On the back looks like a scull and cross bones. I first thought, looking at the initials that it might be William Wallace (especially with the head down the bottom) :nailbiting: but I have no idea who the other initials would belong to. Also read that St Michael the Archangel and Lady Justice very rarely appear together. It’s very intriguing to say the least. Shame I have a big day tomorrow, otherwise I would love to get into it more.
 
I've never seen anything quite like that before.

As an aside, there's a modern-day horn carver in the village of Lawers in Perthshire, Scotland. He's been there donkey's years. I wonder if someone like that might have knowledge about the history of these things, if a genuine enthusiast? (He has a website).

ETA I agree with Sue. There's a certain naivety about the carvings. (Looking at the horse...).
 
Friendship, Love and Truth as engraved on the cup is the motto of OOF various fraternal organisations. Along with the budded rod held by the Angel, the heart in hand and probably other symbols on it. If you have a look at the side of the second image you can just glimpse a beehive and bees. On the other side of the beehive, 1st image, seems to be a bird (dove?) Another symbol of Odd Fellows Fraternities. Also The Daughters of Rebekah had similar symbols.
 
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Archie's Mum said:
Friendship, Love and Truth as engraved on the cup is the motto of OOF various fraternal organisations. Along with the budded rod held by the Angel, the heart in hand and probably other symbols on it. If you have a look at the side of the second image you can just glimpse a beehive and bees. On the other side of the beehive, 1st image, seems to be a bird (dove?) Another symbol of Odd Fellows Fraternities. Also The Daughters of Rebekah had similar symbols.
Click to expand...
Thank you - have passed this on to Tim. :)
 
I told you that I hadn’t finished. AI tells me that the lion and unicorn are back on to each other as it signifies the struggle over the crown. But which struggle are we looking at. Could this be the emblem of a particular Scottish Odd Fellow society? I will say though, that the drawing between the two sets of initials looks like Cookie Monster.
 
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