Tuesday, August 21, 2018
That's not a pyramid, it's a furnace!
The Vintage.es tumblr page shows sets of 20 or so related historical pictures. I got pulled into the tumblr by Ida Lupino but found something more substantial.
A set of old banknotes includes an early version of the supposedly Masonic or CFR or Martian or whatever "pyramid". The caption agrees with the normal idea: "The design of continental dollars was not much different from colonial banknotes. But it was on them appeared an unfinished pyramid, which you can contemplate on the back of the dollar bill."
Wrong! The picture is IMMEDIATELY OBVIOUS. It's not a pyramid at all. It's a perfectly clear drawing of a stone blast furnace, common from Pennsylvania to Virginia in the 1700s. It would be instantly understood as a symbol of industry and wealth. Google "stone blast furnace Pennsylvania" if you doubt it.
Was the cyclops-pyramid a stylized version of the furnace that took on a weird life of its own? Or did the Masons (who were unquestionably strong in the early government) decide to transform the furnace into their mystical lunacy?
Labels: Answered better than asked
¶ 9:24 AM
