To commemorate the 550th anniversary of the Grant of Arms to the Worshipful Company of Masons – one of the oldest of London’s livery companies – the current Master and his wife have presented the Company with a silver statuette called ‘The Stonemason’.

It has been made by well-known silver smith and jeweller Mappin & Webb to a design produced from photographs of one of the Masons Company Yeomen, Tom Nicholls, one of the partners in London Stone Carving, a South London studio of stonecarvers who have already developed a reputation for the quality of their work that is rapidly growing.

It was King Edward IV who granted the Masons Company its arms in 1472 and the statuette to commemorate the 550th anniversary of that was unveiled by the Master, Martin Low, and presented at Lady Day Court on 22 March.

The Deputy Master, Dr Christine Rigden, formally accepted it on behalf of the Company and thanked Martin and his wife, Sue, for their generosity.

The Worshipful Company of Masons is one of the Livery Companies that still supports the trade it was established to oversee in the capital, providing help and guidance to those coming into the stone industry through its charitable trusts, which support training, among other activities. One of those it helped was Tom Nicholls.

The statuette was produced to a detailed specification developed almost a year ago to celebrate the craft of stonemasonry.

A wax model was first produced, from which a cast was made and the statuette produced. The final stage of hallmarking was carried out by the Master Mason himself at Goldsmiths’ Hall, home of another of the Livery Companies of the City of London.

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