"Late 16 / Early 17th Cty, Small Oak & Iron Safe Chest With Its Key & Secret Locking System"
Haute EpoqueSmall ligth / blond oak chest: light, and iron fittings, handles and hinges, with its locks and original key.
Around 1600 (late 15th or early 17th cty)
Very nice original used patina.
The trunk is completely laced with hand-forged nails.
The "secret" opening system is complex with a double security system:
*the key is used to unlock the jaw of the central lock,
*and the ring of the left padlock must be turned to the right in order to unlock the opening movement of the lid.
(I tried to take pictures of the open and closed lock elements in the same photos); You have to activate the 2 mechanisms successively in this order to allow the trunk to be opened.
Condition: the wood is gulled and eaten (xylophagous) in places but hard in all places, the hinges worn on the bottom (please check photos) but perfectly solid. The small, very heavy chest may have been used on a boat, which would explain its current condition (salt).
Above all, the elements of the mechanism are specillaly still perfectly functional some 450 years later!!!
The wood is very solid and the trunk robust.
All the elements are original, like its key. This one is bent (original default?) and off-centered, the axis of the key not being aligned with its grip ring, but works perfectly
Dimensions
56cm length*
30cm width /depth and
*30cm height
For more photos, possible request by simple e-mail to fabien.siegfried@yahoo.com
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