Post #396275 by Tipsy McStagger on Thu, Jul 24, 2008 1:43 PM

On 2008-07-24 10:51, Jason Wickedly wrote:
Revive a dead thread? Well if you insist...

So a few months back I purchased a fez at an antique market. It is a genuine Shriner's fez from the Al Malaikai Shrine in Los Angeles. I bought it with the express intent of wearing it at Tiki events. What I'd like to know from people with more knowledge on such subjects than I, is if that is kosher? Or is it the equivalent of wearing a Roman collar and not being a priest? It is in truly excellent condition, complete with the tassel pin, I'd hate to leave it sitting on a shelf. But on the other hand, I would in no way want to take anything from the hard work and diligence that the members of the Shrine do in the community. Any thoughts?

unlike the girl scouts....the shriners and masons take their fezzes seriously...i too wore a shriner vintage fez when i used to design toys for a studio downtown years ago....one day i was read the riot act by one of our vendors that warned me that if i were to be caught with it on out on the street and a mason saw and recognized that i was not indeed a fellow brother that i could get into some deep shriner doo doo and have my fez ripped from my head and taken back.....this is what i was told and whether true or not...deserves some consideration....remember, you are dealing with a secret society that goes through great pains to select worthy members for their initiations into the group...in a way it does mock them. Most of the shriner stuff you find on ebay and such is from dead shriners...they keep all their stuff throughout their lives as shriners and when they die, neither their kids nor wives (if living) want the stuff so instead of being returned back to the shriners to keep it out of circulation it ends up in the garage sale...then on ebay, etc....

..none of the above applies to plain red fezzes, new fezzes, custom fezzes, etc....only to the actual vintage and masonic fezzes ....if you really like that look..buy a red fez and some rhinestones and create your own wacky fez that when finished, will look like the old time fezzes but will be recognized as not being from any existing fraternal order like masons or shriners....