Burns's Masonic apron in auction sale

A rare Masonic apron once owned by poet Robert Burns will go on sale later this month.The white chamois leather and blue silk apron features the characteristic Masonic symbols, including a compass and square, chequered floor, three candles, an open book, arch and pillars and a sun and a moon.

It is expected to fetch between £15,000 and £25,000 at auction.

The mount on which the late-18th-century Royal Arch Masonic apron is placed is inscribed with the words Robert Burns. Masonic Apron. 1787. It will go on sale on Wednesday along with 757 other items amassed by collector Michael Bennett-Levy.

Lots in the sale include a collection of pre-Second World War television sets and a three-wheeled part-automatic Sinclair C5.

Mr Bennett-Levy, 62, said: "Throughout my life the apron hung in my grandmother's flat and, after her death, in my parents' home. When I inherited it some years ago I did some research, but could not associate it with any of the Scottish lodges to which Robert Burns belonged.

"I did nothing further until February this year when I decided to have it X-rayed. The X-ray photos showed clearly the top of an archway under the apron flap and a London Freemason instantly identified it as an 18th-century Royal Arch apron."

A spokesman for Bonhams said: "While two other Masonic aprons have previously been attributed to Robert Burns, neither of these are Royal Arch aprons." Burns first joined the Freemasons when he was inducted as an apprentice at the St David Lodge, Tarbolton, Mauchline, in 1781. By 1784 he was Depute Master and, on moving to Edinburgh in 1786, joined the St John, then Cannongate Lodges, where he was elected poet laureate.