Identify this safe

Hans

Hi,

recently I became in possession of this safe, its a Bramah lock with four combination dials. I have done some work on it: cleaning, painting, making keys ect… On the inside of the lever lock i found an inscription ‘AV PARIS 38’.
Anyone familiar with this?

Zipper

Hi Hans,

I see you have a very beautiful safe there. Did you ever think about selling it? Please let me know if you’re intrested!

Kind regards

Roger.

Hans

Zipper wrote
Hi Hans,

I see you have a very beautiful safe there. Did you ever think about selling it? Please let me know if you’re intrested!

Kind regards

Roger.

Hi Roger,

I have no plans for selling this safe, but I’m glad that you like it so much. I want to know more about this type of safe and I hope someone can give me more information about it. By the way, I’m from Belgium. Where are you from?

Greetings,

Hans.

Paul Prescott

Beautiful restoration job you’ve done there Hans. I used to own something similar - the maker was ‘ Petit Jean ’ (Little John ??) made in Paris.

I am puzzled by that plate on the inside of the door, it seems very crude for a makers plate being stamped out with letter stamps - I am thinking it could be the name of the supplier (shop / retailer) or perhaps the owner ???

Hans

oldlock wrote
Beautiful restoration job you’ve done there Hans. I used to own something similar - the maker was ‘ Petit Jean ’ (Little John ??) made in Paris.

I am puzzled by that plate on the inside of the door, it seems very crude for a makers plate being stamped out with letter stamps - I am thinking it could be the name of the supplier (shop / retailer) or perhaps the owner ???

Thanks for your reaction Old Lock.

Your right, ‘Camiel Bello’ is probably the name of an earlier owner. ‘Gent’ is a very nice and important city in Belgium and ‘Groendreef 108’ is the address. I asked for information by sending an e-mail to the municipality but still got no answer. Maybe I should visit the address en ask there, but I assume that the person could died a long time ago. If I get more information about it I’ll let you know.

Greetings,

Hans.

ps. I learned a lot already, just by reading comments on this site. Very interesting!

Tom Gordon

Although the key mechanism is similar to a Bramah, it is not likely to be made by them.

Hans

I got some interesting information…

Bello Camillus Augustinus was born on 8 january 1859. He was a locksmith from 1884 until 1920. He married on 28 april 1881 with Van Damme Maria Theresia (born on 12 december 1859) . He lived at ‘Groendreef 108, Gent’ between 3 june 1888 until 7 november 1900. He lived his hole life in Gent on different locations. He and his wife had also a little chicken factory. He died at home on 23 january 1942 around 3 am during WWII. His wife died also in Gent on 10 may 1952.

His Father Bello Antonius (a mechanician) was born in Gent on 5 february 1809 and died in Gent on 27 april 1897.

I got this detailed information from the city Gent.

Just wanted to share this with you guys…

Greetings,

Hans.

Paul Prescott

Thats interesting, although I doubt he actually made the safe, more likely he was the retailer / supplier and placed his own name upon the safe when it was sold ?

Suzzie Belcher

This is a very long shot…. is it possible that your safe and the safe in this link are connected?
http://www.antique-luxury-safes.com/en/safes/lsc-2006117-antique-belgium-safe/
Quote: This beautiful wonder was made by Mathijs Declerck in Brussels in 1870.