Milner Safe 212

roger

I have a Milner Safe 212, with the markings 180281 6008 on the front. I also have the key. I have found Thomas Milner on the web but cannot find out anything about their safes. Does anybody know how I can find out about the safe, it’s age etc.. Does Thomas Milner the company still exist ?

Alan Morgan

Milner made safes from the mid 1800s and after merging with Chatwood nearly 100 years later, safes were marked Chatwood Milner. Subsequently they were bought by Chubb in 1962. The Chubb company changed hands until becoming part of the Assa Abloy group. Assa kept the door lock side but immediately sold the safe business to Gunnebo who currently use the name on safes under licence from AssaAbloy.
I’m sure your safe will be well over seventy years old. There were some articles about Milner in Tony Beck’s Lock Collector newsletters linked elsewhere on this site.

Huntlocks

180281 relates to a safe made between 1881 and 1882.

beachdrug

I have a working milner 212 safe.
I don’t know the age of it. It is used as a drugs safe in my pharmacy. The shop is about 80 years old, but I believe that the safe originally came from a real estate agent?
After cleaning off 3 coats of paint I found I had a number stamped on the inside facing the door. 155485.
Any ideas on the age, as I want to restore it and polish up the brass plaque.

Paul Prescott

No definate information exists for Milner safes anymore, the general style etc may help, plus it’s a fairly high number (although Milners made vast numbers of safes)

Some more info or a picture might help ?

ie, the safe corners, rounded or square, if rounded - all of them or just 4 or 8 ? it all helps when it comes to dating such safes.

beachdrug

I have a photograph the quality is not good but the safe is square with rounded hinges.
Thanks Mark

Huntlocks

Your Milner 155485 was made between 1871 and 1877. Safes 121000 to 163703 were made between these dates.

I have an identical (ish) Milner but don’t have a pic at hand. I’ll post it later. I’ll Ebay it one fine day…

When you restore it I suggest you run a thin bead of decorators filler all around the internal corners. Otherwise the joints leak dust every time you open the door - very annoying.

The top hinge pin will probably be worn and allow the door to drop. It makes it difficult to open and close the door. If you run a heat gun over the back of the hinge (inside the door) the putty will melt and you can remove the hinge pin casting and re-make the pivot.

I wonder, does your safe have a timber infil in the door pan? I’ve only seen one with the timber in place.

beachdrug

No timber only galvanized iron draws that were added later. Thanks for the help I will call in a professional restorer so I can return it to its original style?

Huntlocks

Hi, Professional restorer?? Are there such people for safes?

Don’t know whether I should post these pictures now…!! I’m just a humble safe dealer - a 25 year amateur, hope you don’t disapprove too much.

Sadly I don’t see a valuable market in these hard to handle antiques. Perhaps I don’t move in the right circles, any advice gladly received.

I think the only difference between your safe and mine (apart from the shine) is the knob and the drop handle. I’ve never seen this type of drop handle on this type of Milner before so suspect it was changed a good few years ago. Yours is definitely original style.

By the way, the timber I mentioned was WITHIN the lock pan. It was used to reduce the air spaces around the lock to reduce the effect of gun powder.

I have another couple of pictures which I’ll post separately. Let me know what you think.

Richard

Ian D. Lewis

The square corner construction makes the safe pre 1890.
The No. 155485 is a key number and dates the safe between 1871 and 1877.
In 1889 Milners started prefixing Serial numbers with Letters :-

A = 1889, B = 1890 etc.

Ian

Huntlocks

So, Ian and Beach, what do you think of MY Milner? Do you think I’ve ruined it or do you think I could sell it - for real money? Anyone want to make me an offer?

Have you seen the other safe pictures I posted?

Not much banter on this site Paul…I think every one is tooooo serious. :roll:

Ian D. Lewis

Going with black for body is a safe bet (hehehe) no pun intended.
But the safe looks good and the name plate is in good condition. People tend to remove nameplates and use them for plaques, making it difficult to get a good complete safe.
I still come across Milners Strongroom doors in service at High Street Banks.
Not sure what colour there safe used to be, but based on the SRDs the bodies were almost certainly black and were you have the green might have been maroon or dark green.

Ian

NKT

It’s very handsome. Mine looked like:

You can see my Turner safe refurb on the S. Griffiths & Sons Safe thread, http://www.antique-locks.com/viewtopic.php?p=666#666

Paul Prescott

Huntlocks wrote
Not much banter on this site Paul…I think every one is tooooo serious. :roll:

R

What else would one expect from Lock Collectors - have you ever been with a group of collectors - I don’t mind admitting that they are an odd bunch …..

NKT

A good signal to noise ratio is a great thing, & now that all the chavs have the internet too it’s a rarer and rarer thing.

Whilst removing the paint from my safe, I think the bottom coat was a very dark green.

Lockforce001

I Have a milners safe that im going to be restoring but would like to know the age.any ideas as ive looked and can’t seem to find anything

Russell Stoner

Can you post a couple of pics including its serial number…Some of the Ant Lock team will have the exact production date.

Russ

Lockforce001 wrote
I Have a milners safe that im going to be restoring but would like to know the age.any ideas as ive looked and can’t seem to find anything

[unknown]

Lockforce001

Russell Stoner wrote
Can you post a couple of pics including its serial number…Some of the Ant Lock team will have the exact production date.

Russ
Withy Grove

Hello I can’t see a serial number on it anywhere,any ideas?i will post a few pictures

[unknown]

Russell Stoner

Dependent on whether it was a cash safe, its serial number was generally stamped onto the body, central position above the door. Most likely painted over.

Is the safe in original livery?
Colour of safe is an indication to strength of body (Cash rating)

Regards
Russell

Lockforce001 wrote
Hello I can’t see a serial number on it anywhere,any ideas?i will post a few pictures

[unknown]

Huw Eastwood

Also try looking to the right near the hinge carriage. The numbers can be faint if painted over many times, so you might have to clean it off and hunt around a bit to find them.