Newbie with Old Safe Questions

IveRunAmuck

Hi, my name is Marnie from Reno, NV. My husband and I bought a house last April and it came with a large old safe. The house is 58 years old, I think the safe is older? House may have been built around it, it seems to large to be in the bedroom that it is in, now. It has a working lock and we have the combination. How old do you think it is? Do these old safes have a date somewhere on it or is it a matter of really knowing what one is looking at?[URL=“http://”]http://
I’m trying to share photos via photobucket.. coping and pasting link, keeps saying invalid link… what am I doing wrong??

IveRunAmuck

Figured it out… but they are huge. Sorry.
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wylk

The handle on the door seems to have a number, what is the complete number? If it’s a Mosler safe, that was usually a date code.

The lock looks far newer than the safe so it’s very likely a replacement.

IveRunAmuck

wylk wrote
The handle on the door seems to have a number, what is the complete number? If it’s a Mosler safe, that was usually a date code.

The lock looks far newer than the safe so it’s very likely a replacement.

It looks like the numbers are 485 then below on the same.know is the number 6.

[unknown]

IveRunAmuck

Is there a website that would help me figure this out?

wylk

Yes, the web site is right here 🙂-:

http://www.antique-locks.com/showthread.php/770-Small-Mosler-Safe

IveRunAmuck

wylk wrote
Yes, the web site is right here 🙂-:

http://www.antique-locks.com/showthread.php/770-Small-Mosler-Safe

Thank you. I went to that thread, but nothing matches what I see… I assume the numbers on the handle are what I need to look for, yes? 4856 is what I see… 485 are together, the 6 is sorta separate. Would I look elsewhere on the safe?

[unknown]

wylk

I see two main possibilities.

First, your safe might not be a Mosler; I’m no expert at spotting them unless the name is painted on. Numbering the handle was not common, but I believe there is at least one other maker who did this, and I’m not aware of any numbering records aside from Mosler’s (and I can’t remember the other maker).

Second, the entire number may not be visible. I can’t tell for sure, but might the paint be hiding something?

IveRunAmuck

wylk wrote
I see two main possibilities.

First, your safe might not be a Mosler; I’m no expert at spotting them unless the name is painted on. Numbering the handle was not common, but I believe there is at least one other maker who did this, and I’m not aware of any numbering records aside from Mosler’s (and I can’t remember the other maker).

Second, the entire number may not be visible. I can’t tell for sure, but might the paint be hiding something?

Yah I rubbed off some of the tarnish, that’s all the numbers on there. They are stamped into it. I’ve looked and can’t find any other numbers, any lettering, anything at all. I can’t exactly move it to see the back. LOL

[unknown]

Brian Smith

From the artwork, this one looks kind of like a MacNeal Urban. The original dial would have had letters instead of numbers. A lot of people swapped them just for the novelty of it.

BPS