Before you look any further, you should note the provenance of this item and some of the other very rare Mason stuff we are listing this week. Two of the things we are listing in our other auctions, came from 1916 and are in as close to pristine as can reasonable be expected. This was in the same estate, but I do not know if this predates 1916 or if this one belonged to somebody else. The artwork on the inside of this fez is definitely late 1800s. There was a note inside one of the books we are selling which came from the man's grandaughter. In that note, she says that all of this stuff belonged to her grandpa. Since he died in 1916,  all of this stuff would date to that time or before.

There are two other fez's I am selling that did not come from this lot. Please do not think they belonged to this man. The only other hat we are selling from his estate is his 32nd degree hat.

In this auction, you are bidding on the hat or fez seen in the pictures. It is very old.  The hat is a size 7 1/8 and was made by the M.C. LiLLEY & Co., Columbus, Ohio. What is unusual about this fez is that it also comes with its original storage bag. Both are in very nice condition. Because this man died shortly after being initiated into a new lodge (this one?), we believe this hat may be either new or almost new.