19th C. Farrier's Certificate

My niece, Georgia, is a horse-shoer, more properly known as a Farrier. She attended Alfred University in upstate New York and was on their equestrian team. She loves horses. She also majored in art, specifically in Glass. This involved blowing and casting hot glass. In the process, she found that she liked to work with very hot materials. It seems logical, therefore, that she should pound hot iron when adjusting horse shoes. She has melded her two great loves into one vocation.

When my wife and I were out in the Boston area visiting her and our in-laws, we could see how important this aspect of her life was. I happened to have, at home, a 19th century Farrier's Certificate sent to a man who lived in Rockford, Illinois after being certified in the U.K. by the Worshipful Company of Farriers (Farriers Guild). It is dated around 1897 and I picked it up in an antique shop, since one of my many hobbies was blacksmithing and working with metal at the time.

I felt that she, of all people, might enjoy having this antique, so I set about removing it from the awful frame I had put it into 30 years ago and designed a lovely, archival, proper framing treatment for it.