Object Number 1952.0011

Object Name

Door handle (Thumb latch)

Category

Metals

Credit Line/Donor

Gift of Henry Francis du Pont

Place of Origin

Vergennes, Addison, Vermont, New England, United States, North America

Origin Notes

Probably Vergennes, Vermont.

Date

1820

Mark or Signature or Inscription or Label

1. Inscription; Front of the upper plate, at center; "1820" stamped incuse.

Subjects

Masonic imagery

Materials

Iron

Techniques

Wrought

Dimensions (inches)

18.701 (H) , 5.827 (W) , 1.693 (D)

Dimensions (centimeters)

47.5 (H) , 14.8 (W) , 4.3 (D)

Object Description

Web - 08/31/2017

This thumb latch, part of a door handle now missing its thumbpiece and latch bar, once hung on the front door of a Freemasons's lodge in Vergennes, Vermont. Carefully engraved symbols include stylized acacia trees, a compass and square, and an all-seeing eye in a sunburst. The thumb latch is dated 1820, the year when the expanding lodge relocated within town. It likely was made by a local blacksmith with wrought iron produced by the Monkton Ironworks Company in Vergennes.

Bibliography and Bibliographic Notes

[Book] Ames, Kenneth L. 1977 Beyond Necessity: Art in the Folk Tradition.
• Published on p. 16, fig. 2; p.115, cat. no. 89.
[Book] Fennimore, Donald L. 2004 Iron at Winterthur.
• Published: pp. 136-137, cat. no. 58.