Can anyone identify this type of key..?

konasky

Hi..I’m new member konasky. I’m hoping you gentlemen can help me identify this key (See attached photo..) I bought it several years ago from a lady online. When I asked if she knew anything about the key’s history, she told me she had recently moved into a largeish house, which apparently had previously been a home for retired vicars… and had found the key in a leaky, dilapidated old shed in the garden there. ( So it’s possibly a type of church door key..?) It was very heavily encrusted with rust amongst other things..and took quite a while to carefully clean up enough to display in my collection…although you can see how heavily pitted it had become. I have been collecting old keys for some years now..but have yet to come across another key that looks remotely like it..so any information/suggestions at all from anyone as to it’s age/type/origins etc..would be most welcome indeed …cheers and good hunting. k.

Huw Eastwood

Hello konasky, not sure what went wrong with your photos, it might be you need to resize them smaller if they are excessively large
https://www.antique-locks.com/showthread.php/3328-How-to-upload-images-to-your-posts

konasky

konasky here again…Re previous email THIS is the image I’ve been trying to upload without much success..!! Hope someone will know something about this unusual key…!! Thanks for your patience gents..!!

konasky

Huw Eastwood wrote
Hello konasky, not sure what went wrong with your photos, it might be you need to resize them smaller if they are excessively large
https://www.antique-locks.com/showthread.php/3328-How-to-upload-images-to-your-posts

Cheers Huw got it sorted now..reduced the size ’cos it was huge..

[unknown]

Richard Phillips

This pointed key is reminiscent of Norman door keys, say circa 12C or 13C.
However, it looks more like a modern ?19C copy. During the 19C many old country churches were in a parlous state of disrepair, and there was a vigorous movement to renovate churches, because there were then many parsons with private means. Many churches had ‘church door stock locks’ newly fitted, and some still had original locks. As the original keys were often of brass or bronze, making a new replica key in iron would have been a sympathetic renovation.
This having been found in a home for retired clergy would fit.

konasky

chubbbramah wrote
This pointed key is reminiscent of Norman door keys, say circa 12C or 13C.
However, it looks more like a modern ?19C copy. During the 19C many old country churches were in a parlous state of disrepair, and there was a vigorous movement to renovate churches, because there were then many parsons with private means. Many churches had ‘church door stock locks’ newly fitted, and some still had original locks. As the original keys were often of brass or bronze, making a new replica key in iron would have been a sympathetic renovation.
This having been found in a home for retired clergy would fit.

Many thanks Chubbbramah, for your knowledgable reply to my query about this unusual key. Despite other comments elsewhere to the contrary..the condition in which I received it, plus my collector’s instinct has always led me to believe that it was definitely a true working key and indeed, one with some history…which you have certainly explained to my satisfaction.With the greatest appreciation, konasky.

[unknown]

Richard Phillips

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monk_sneaking_a_drink.jpg

This picture is probably known to many lock collectors. It comes from a 13C French MS Li Livres dou Santé which is now in the British Library, Sloane MS 2435
http://searcharchives.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?tabs=detailsTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=IAMS040-002114802&indx=1&recIds=IAMS040-002114802&recIdxs=0&elementId=0&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=&dscnt=2&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BL%29&frbg=&tab=local&dstmp=1581445994752&srt=rank&mode=Basic&dum=true&fromLogin=true&vl(freeText0)=%22Sloane%20MS%202435%22&vid=IAMS_VU2

The diligent cellarer is testing the stored wine, and is holding keys with long pointed pins, his being for single-sided door or press locks. (Ancient wine did not keep as well as modern wine. Before being put into glass bottles, modern wine is sterilized by the addition of sulphur dioxide. Ancient wine, stored in casks, was at risk of being converted into vinegar (literally, ‘sour wine’) by the vinegar flies that haunt wine cellars. Hence the need to test stocks periodically. One might add that we have Christian monks to thank for many advances in brewing, winemaking, and production of distilled spirits, as well as beekeeping and candle-making; and advances in agriculture, healthcare, and the provision of public education (long before the State hijacked the word ‘public’ to mean ‘state’).)

There are still some Norman churches in Britain, some with original doors surviving, but original Norman keys remaining in service are scarce. There are a few later Medieval keys still in existence, though still few in service; more are in museums.