I’m sorry RichTee, but only just having registered I had not read your posting regarding the Defiance safe until this week.
If I’m not too late I have some background information for you.
Defiance safes were not made by John Tann Ltd, the patentees of the ‘Reliance’ lock in 1843, and the oldest safemaker in Britain. They were in fact made by another member of the Tann family, Robert, who, in 1913 registered R. Tann’s ‘Defiance’ Safe & Lock Co.Ltd at London Fields Station, Hackney. Robert Tann had in fact been making safes for some time before this, and in the 1905 London Trades Directory under the heading of Safe Makers, his entry warns potential customers to “beware of spurious imitations”. Cheek!
In 1917 Robert sold the ‘goodwill’ of his company to John Tann for £235.
The products of the Robert Tann company, although solid enough, were in no way comparable with those of John Tann. Any serial numbers will be relatively meaningless as no records appear to have been kept unlike those of the major safemakers.
As for the safe illustrated, it appears to be made of quite heavy plates of a square rather than bent body form which suggests that it was made just before the turn of the century. Although considered to be of moderate resistance to burglary in its day, it has little such potential now although it will most likely give quite a good account of itself against fire. This assumes that the body does not sound hollow when tapped which it would if the fire-resisting compound had leaked out over the years.
Better late than never I suppose.
Safeman.
