Gold Bramah key concealed in Locket

Paul Prescott

I have recently acquired another Gold Bramah key, this one being concealed in a gold ‘bean’ shaped locket.

Here the key is shown folded into it’s case.

Here the key is shown unfolded from the case.

The key is engraved internally -

No 2819
FINDER REWARDED
BRAMAH & Co, 100 New Bond St.

The markings with the company name Bramah & Co would suggest a date of prior to 1901. The serial number is entered in Bramahs records as being issued in 1878, although this key could be a later issue against a previous pattern.

Here is an excerpt from a Bramah Catalogue (circa 1929 - 1934) Showing the price of keys of this type being 6 pounds, 8 shilling and sixpence, being the equivalent in todays money of approximately 300 pounds, quite a sum for a key.

Here is the new key together with my other; larger (unique to the best of my knowledge) Gold cruciform key.

My thanks to Jeremy Bramah for researching the serial number.

amazing01

That is REALLY cool! :o I never knew that those were made…..I have seen the cross keys, but not the bean! Now I gotta find one! LOL! Thanks for sharing!!!!

Cheers, Mike D_C/

Paul Prescott

The cross keys are usually the size of the bean key, and used for jewel boxes etc. I assume thats the size you have seen ?

amazing01

I have only seen them in pictures so I am not sure how big they were.

I don’t find too many Bramah keys in my area of the world……I found a few tiny 5 sliders a couple of years ago but my buddy Richard Bruno talked me out of them in a hurry. I have 2 interesting Bramah keys in my collection at the moment……here are some photos of them and the thing it they go to:

The keys are about 7 inches long and have the Joseph Bramah signature on the bows…..they are VERY cool! The device that they go to is a copy of the Houdini Mirror Cuffs; they weigh about 4 pounds and are one of the crown jewels of my restraint collection.

I really like the Bramah stuff; I was very intriqued by the story of their locks and how they put them to the test back in the day. Great old world craftsmanship!!!!

Cheers, Mike D_C/