RABM wroteHi There. I was wondering if anyone could provide any info on a Chatwood safe that I’ve come across whilst helping my parents move house. From the wording on the lock plate, it seems to be a “Times Universal Safe”?. Inner dimensions of the box are approx 19″ × 12″. The embossed lettering on the internal top of the door reads “THE TIMES UNIVERSAL No1 LIST1” followed by some faint serial(?) code which I believe reads “6189”. I’d love to get some info on when it was manufactured, plus a rough idea of its value.
Here are some pictures:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]20724[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]20727[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]20728[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]20729[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]20726[/ATTACH]
Many Thanks
Richard
Your Chatwood was made approximately in 1860. Marked as a List1 makes it the lowest quality the Company manufactured and in fact this title List 1 was shortly afterwards conferred to their top opening chests and renamed as the List2.
The size 1 originally measured 24″× 18″ ×18″, The body plates could be ¼“ wrought iron plate and the door probably ⅜” thick. (Subject to your confirmation).
The wording on the escutcheon and on the inside of the door - Times Universal - is a mystery. At a guess Chatwood may have made these safes for an agent or distributor as was prevalent at the time as his company was newly formed and unknown.
As for value - nothing purely as a safe but the escutcheon might be a rarity, the Phoenix suggesting it’s fire resistant qualities as was commonly used at the time.
[unknown]
