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New to the forum and would like to get some info on this lock. Its an old brass Yale lock and has one key. Needed some oil. I picked it up at a flea market for 7 bucks. Works good now but what are all the 4s stamped on this lock? Could it be some place that had several locks and needed to be numbered for what gate or door ect? What model is this? If I polished up the brass does it hurt the value? Thanks for any help to a newby.

Don't know model but you may find it at link. Key appears to be a Y1
http://www.angelfire.com/biz/toysoldier ... locks.html

It's as good looking as my wife No.1; and she was truly beautiful...

Holy crap, I don't know what impresses me more: That massive page full of Yales, or the fact that it's an honest to God 1990's Angelfire homepage. I thought those things died a decade or more ago.

To the OP: Finding padlocks with numbers stamped on them is pretty common; any customer that orders more than two or three locks keyed differently is going to need some way of matching keys to locks. A lock marked with just one digit like the one you've got there implies a very small system. Larger and more complex master keyed systems will usually have a more complex nomenclature that describes their place in a master suite, for example xx.yy.zz or AB/CD/xy or whatever.

As to polishing it...a lot of collectors like an aged patina and if you're thinking of selling this you're best not to try to tidy it up. Same goes for the oil actually - most folks would prefer a graunchy lock to one that has a lot of oil.

Sorry I can't help with the model or date - Yale's aren't my thing.

Best wishes,

Michael.