Locks from India

rajtp

I got these locks from a friend who recently visited a rural place in India (Rajasthan). Rajasthan is rich in palaces and history and the lock seller claimed that his family has preserved these locks for 300 years and they’re completely genuine. I don’t know if it’s the truth or not but can one look at these pictures and find out?

I’m looking to find out the dollar value of these things (not necessarily sell them at this point). Can anybody help?

Thank you

Paul Prescott

They could have been made yesterday, and that is the problem with all this type of thing, they are making them today with the same tools and techniques as a 100 years ago.

So unless they are really find quality (which these are not) then the value is very low.

rajtp

Thanks for your response.
These locks may not be of good quality but if they’re over 200 years old, wouldn’t they carry some value?

Paul Prescott

rajtp wrote
but if they’re over 200 years old, wouldn’t they carry some value?

Yes, but as I said above how can anyone tell just how old they are ?? Therein lies the problem with this type of lock, it’s impossible to tell for sure …

Just have a look on ebay etc at any one time, there are usually a number of ‘ primative ’ locks of one kind or another - all brand new and they can look 100’s of years old too ..

rajtp

Got it. Please tolerate my ignorance about the antique lock trade.

Similar to the jewelery business where there are experts who can tell if a diamond is genuine or fake, are there experts in this field who can estimate the age of a lock?

NKT

Yes, there are, but since the maximum value is so low, there is little point in doing forensic testing to find out - they are worth £5 to £15 if new, and twice that if fairly old. Utterly not worth doing an isotopic analysis to find out if it was fired 2 years ago by cow dung or 150 years ago by cow dung.

Also, if these locks are so rare and treasured that he and his family looked after them for 300 years, why is he suddenly selling them to you?