For the wealthy in Britian & the Empire at the turn of the 19th Century Bramah (and other makers) offered their keys made of solid gold, such keys were usually master keys, made to pass all the locks on an entire estate and as such would have been very rarely used - their owners being rich enough to employ staff to deal with the mundane matters of locks, however for their personal safe or should an emergency arise they would have a key and this is an example of one.
