That’s no typo. I never even knew this model, obviously an early counterpart to the well-known #1500 model, existed until the brass-case lock below with original box and combination tag appeared on eBay recently (I bought it). The “HARDENED” mark and 5-digit serial number reminded me of an early Master “Champ” with its original combination tag that I had passed on before, and I then discovered was a #100 with (now I have discovered) nickel-silver case, so now I own both locks.
Attached are photos of both #100 padlocks, plus my early steel-case #1500 with its original box and combination tag for comparison.
This #100 model is similar to the #1500, except for having a 4-number combination instead of a 3-number combination (this must be the model that the adjustable shackle #210 and 217 padlocks were derived from, but why did they not thus use the model numbers 110 and 117 for those locks instead?), as well as the shackle being stamped “HARDENED”, while early #1500 locks from around the same era have unmarked shackles.
Both of my #100 padlocks’ combination tags have hand-written combination numbers, while the #1500 has a double combination tag with machine-stamped combination numbers. I only have the small combination tag for each of the two #100 padlocks, but it seems that they may have originally had double combination tags like the #1500. The brass-case #100 has a light-orange tag, while the other #100 with the nickel-silver case has a dark-green tag.
Note that the box to the brass-case #100 (which advertises a nickel-silver case; perhaps Master didn’t update the box right away) has the early Master Lock slogan “World’s Largest Exclusive Padlock Manufacturers”, which I previously thought had been succeeded by the later slogan “World’s Leading Padlock Manufacturer” (see the box to the early steel-case #1500) around the early 1930s, but now it seems that the slogan change may have been a little later than that. Also note that the color scheme of the #100’s box matches the early Master “Champ” store display shown in the “About Us” section of Master Lock’s website.
This raises some questions. Are there Master #100’s out there with steel cases? Are there early #1500’s with nickel-silver cases? Did the earliest #1500’s have combination tags with hand-written combination numbers? The aforementioned “About Us” section of Master Lock’s website says that they introduced their first combination lock, the #1500, in 1935. But this #100 with its original box makes me wonder: which came first, the #100 or #1500, or were they both introduced at the same time? It’s likely that only patient watching for more of these early Master combination padlocks and documentation for the same will reveal the answers.
See photos. Any comments/information are appreciated.
