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Old brass lever key, any info?

PostPosted: Sat Oct 26, 2019 3:41 pm
by PhoneMan
I picked this key up today, large brass keys are just fascinating to me. Would this have been a jail key? I'm guessing 1800's to 1900's. I got the skeleton key below it too, as I don't see many solid brass ones.
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Re: Old brass lever key, any info?

PostPosted: Sun Oct 27, 2019 7:38 am
by GWiens2001
No idea on age, but it looks like a door key to me. I'd guess early to mid 1900s.

Gordon

Re: Old brass lever key, any info?

PostPosted: Mon Oct 28, 2019 9:29 am
by rphillips52
Sad to say, the majority of large brass keys are fakes, being easy to make and sell well enough in gift shops, interior furnishing shops, etc.
However, many of the keys seen in UK are modeled on french originals. This one appears to be for a 6lever with curtain (but no bolt thrower). It just could be from a powder magazine, or a secure store on a ship. Ships' lock were commonly brass, sometimes bronze, though keys were more often bronze. This could just be genuine —there were several makers of large ship locks.

Re: Old brass lever key, any info?

PostPosted: Fri Nov 01, 2019 7:41 pm
by PhoneMan
I think it's original, as the craftsmanship is way better than the fakes from India. It looks like the warding was hand filed, and the bitting definitely is worn in spots. You can actually see where the levers rubbed the key, so it was likely used a lot. Someone else on another site mentioned a ship's lock, so I could see that.

It's cool regardless of what it was for!