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If you arrived here from Phoenixmasonry.org, thank you for visiting!
Feel free to browse the rest of Rainbow.org as well.
Before we get to the Gallery's Table of Contents, I'd like to share some background, and the reason I have established this memorabilia display.Note: These items are not for sale. If you are looking to purchase new IORG related jewelry and items, please check out my Where to Find Rainbow Girls Merchandise page. I have info on Supreme Assembly, the Stange Company, and several others!
One of the first things I remember discovering about Rainbow (besides the fact that we had to wear dresses -- horrible thought for the tomboy I used to be) was the jewelry, and other items. My friend showed me her pins, her teacup, and items that were her mother's from when she was in Rainbow. My dad told me that I could wear a special ring with the emblem of our Order, like the Masonic ring he wore that was his father's, or the Eastern Star ring my grandmother wore, which she said would be mine when I joined Eastern Star. On the night of my Initiation into Rainbow, I had on the charm bracelet that my godmother, a Past Grand Worthy Associate Advisor in CA, had given to me as a gift.
I have always been proud of the awards and pins I earned throughout my years in Rainbow. I had a "brag rag" filled with my officer pins, my merit and attendance bars, etc., which reached well over two feet long! It was a great ice-breaker when I visited other Assemblies. ("Oh my gosh, six years perfect attendance?" "You've really been all these offices?"). Please don't get me wrong; I'm not being vain. Many years of work and dedication earned me those pins!
Want to know something embarassing? My Grand Cross came from a pawn shop. No, no, don't get up in arms! I did get the honor of Master of the Grand Cross of Color. But, shame of shames, my Grand Cross got lost when I was 18. I tore up the house looking for it, to no avail. I wore my dad's Grand Cross to meetings for a while, because I didn't want anyone to know I lost mine. Then, by chance, I was at a jewelry store looking for neat costume jewelry, and the owners pulled out a cigar box full of things they had recently bought, and in there was a Grand Cross. Naturally I bought it, and that's the one I wear today.
That's what got me started collecting Rainbow items. I don't have a huge collection, but I always keep my eye out for things. I try and "rescue" orphaned Grand Crosses and Rituals, and I'll purchase Rainbow jewelry and pins that have a history, or are aesthetically pleasing to me. I also like other vintage items, like postcards, photos, and paperwork, or unusual items with the Rainbow emblem.
The purpose of this gallery is to display items from the different periods in our Order's history, and to show the difference between "then" and "now". My collection will be donated in its entirety to the Supreme Temple in McAlester, Oklahoma upon my death (hopefully MANY years from now!). It sounds morbid, but do you realize how much Masonic jewelry gets destroyed every year? The pendants, medals, rings, and other beautiful items are sold in bulk to jewelers, who chop them up and melt them down to reuse. Diamonds and other stones are removed and used elsewhere, or are left in a box of findings. A lot of Rainbow jewelry goes unrecognized, even by those who save Masonic emblems. I never want that to happen to my family's Masonic jewelry, to my personal jewelry and treasures, or to anything else I've collected. I also wouldn't want them sold online or at estate sales, which, sadly, is where I come across most of my items.
I will gladly consider donations of Rainbow-related items. No, this is not a ploy to get items to resell. I wish to protect these emblems from the scrap-heap, and in the process share the beauty of Rainbow's fraternal jewelry and collectables with the rest of our Masonic family, and all others who may be interested. If you have a memento of Rainbow, that you know your family wouldn't be interested in having or appreciating, and you have no friend who is in Rainbow that you would pass it down to, no fraternal jewelry-collecting friend or local Masonic Temple that would be interested in having and displaying your items, please consider contacting me.
Now, on with the show and the pictures! The gallery became too large to have on just one page, so I have separated it into several groupings, which are linked below. Please feel free to browse through these sections, and click on the thumbnail pictures to display the full-sized images. I have tried to include all known info about the items.Please note: the image files displayed on this site are the intellectual property of the owner of rainbow.org, and are copyrighted. Do not copy, save, print, alter, link to, or otherwise make use of these image files. Thank you.
Page 1 - My personal Rainbow items
Added two pins and a necklace to Other Masonic jewelry & collectables on 08-05-01
Added a book, a ritual, and a Grand Cross card to Books, Papers & more on 08-05-01
Added 2 member pins and 2 merit bar sets to Member & Officer Jewelry on 08-05-01
Added EIGHTEEN items to Rainbow Girls Collectables on 08-05-01
Please note: My memorabilia gallery is not meant as an advertisement or endorsement for any manufacturer or retailer I may have mentioned. I am merely displaying my own personal items, along with those I've acquired in the past few years, and I've decided to give information on where Rainbow fraternal jewelry and items can be purchased, so that I won't be bombarded with email asking "Where can I get...?".
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