Restoration of a Diebold Banker's safe style "E"

Jerzy · 2016-04-08T17:59:46+00:00

I recently acquired a Diebold safe with a time-lock door and two small combination vaults inside. I presume the safe dates from about the 1890’s. All mechanical components including the triple timer, work perfectly. The exterior is obviously quite aged but the original pin-striping and gold leaf is still quite beautiful. My question is: is restoration generally recommended, or is the original patina a more desirable look to collectors, and for general value.

Huntlocks

Looking good. Do you know how much it weighs? It looks v heavy.

I admire your neat workshop!

Huw Eastwood

Great update- it’s coming along beautifully. Clear to see a lot of work is going into it. If the paint was too far gone then you obviously had little choice and made the right decision. It will be interesting to see how close the artists can match the appearance of the original artwork-looking forward to seeing that. Keep the updates coming!

BTW, Love the boltwork, could happily sit with a beer and stare at that for ages.

Jerzy

The weight of this thing is nearly 3000lbs. Before I could do any work on it I had to buy some special “roll a lifts” to be able to maneuver it around the workshop. Then transportation requires special equipment too.

Doug MacQueen

Jerzy, since you are going all out on that Diebold, you might consider changing the finials to this style. Most of the chests have the simple finials like yours, but a few I’ve seen have these unusual but much nicer ones. They may have been made for only a short time, I don’t for sure. They surely dress up the safe big time. I have a sample one if you are interested. Doug

Jerzy

I am indeed interested, but I have already committed to re plating the originals. Do you replicate these, or do you have access to some originals?

Jerzy

Lettering and shadowing to go, but progress so far. Very talented artist.

Jerzy

Nearly finished. Just the top vault door hinges need work. Thought some of you would like these pictures. When cleaning and reassembling all the moving parts, I was constantly amazed by the level of detail and craftsmanship even in areas that would never be seen. Certainly beats modern mass production.
I have not yet re-nickle plated the shinny parts, but may do in the future.

Timothy

Nice job after doing all that work. Just wish I has money to buy some old safe but don’t have any place to put these safe. Now it look like that safe going to cost more money of what you pay before that..Timothy..

Jerzy

I hope that the value of the safe has gone up to equal the effort put in. This was a labor of love however. Now the safe sits as a piece of artwork, although still useful, in a prominent part of my living room.

bighammer

Beautiful work! I have to ask, what kinds of things did you have to do for moving and parking a 3000 pound safe in a living room? I would think that kind of weight could ruin flooring materials, or cause some settling or sagging in framing.

Jerzy

To move this safe I had to buy a set of “Scarnes Rol a lifts”. These are known in the safe moving and heavy machinery moving business. Also, I particularly needed the type with 4 wheels,on each side, to spread the load. I am lucky in that the floor on which this safe resides is very well laid porcelain tiles, on concrete slab. Ceramic tile, or any natural stone would have required some kind of plate - steel or aluminum to spread the load.

vgillett

I have a variety of antique bankers safes and have been “with a lot of effort” pushing them into, and throughout my house.
I just purchased a set of Rol a lifts M4 to make my job a bit easier but they have the single casters, not having the dual casters will that still make it easier to move 3000lbs safes.
Thanks
Vic

Jerzy

Without a doubt. The double wheels simply protect the tiles a little without needing steel or aluminum plates to roll on. Of course, if you have carpet or wood flooring, you would still need some kind of hard plating under the casters, especially with weights approaching 3000lbs.

00247

The safe looks great, Jerzy! PM sent on some details.

Jerzy

Thanks 00247, I tried to reply to your PM, but something went wrong and now I can’t find it, so I’ll try again here.
I took the top vault door to a well respected auto paint store, that specializes in antique cars and there they matched the paint color that was under a hinge. They took into account some oxydation, and we came up with the color. I don’t know what the base color was, but we chose minimum metallic effect, to try and remain as authentic as possible. Also, against some recommendations, I decided to go with acrylic lacquer, which is more stable as a base for gold leaf and some pinstriping paints. In other words, you can paint enamel over lacquer, but not the other way around. Authenticity was my big thing, down to the original blemishes and imperfections. I really didn’t want it to be too shiny with a modern urathane paint look.

OnTheFence

Leave it the way it is. In my opinion, and that’s all it is… an opinion, nothing is more hideous than over-restoration of anything. Age… patina …and wear are lovely, and many people where I am pay faux finishers a ton of money to replicate the kind of surface that you have.
At the end of the day, when you try to sell anything to a true collector… be it an antique chair, a clock, a painting… 99% of the time, restoration of surface detracts from value. Something to consider even if you were planning on keeping it.

Jerzy

Well, On the fence, your opinion is as valid as anyone’s , but I don’t think you read this thread in i’ts entirety. The whole point of this thread, in my case anyway, was the quest for absolute authenticity. A well restored antique is always more desirable than the same object in a damaged and abused condition. Try playing a damaged Stradivarius, this is a no brainer, you would restore it.

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