I’ve been buying and collecting padlocks for over 40 years now and I thought I could tell a fake a mile away, well this past week I got duped big time. I’m making this post to make you all aware of the latest fake/counterfeit lock on the market. The lock in question is a Good Luck horseshoe padlock that was origionally made by the Slaymaker lock company. I picked this up on ebay and the seller never claimed that it was an origional or 100 years old or any other missleading statement, only that it was an old working lock with an origional working key. The pictures on the listing weren’t real close up or highly detailed, which didn’t help, but at the time I never suspected it to be a fake. Upon receipt of my lock, I started to have second thoughts. This lock looks like it was brand new. There was absolutely no nicks, dents, or scratches on it anywhere!
It is a very good copy of the Slaymaker version, however there are a few telltale signs that are different. 1st thing is the finish on the whole lock. It has a sanded finish, that you can plainly see up close. 2nd is the keyhole barrell that the key slides into. On a true origional Slaymaker the barrell is dimpled in, where as this lock the face is flat. 3rd is a casting flaw in the circle around the keyhole. On the fake there is a glob of brass extending into the circle and on the fake at the open end of the horseshoe there is a diagonal line cast into it. To confirm my suspicions I did a search on previous sales of this lock on ebay and found several locks sold lately from several different sellers. The thing was all the locks looked identical with the same casting flaws and identical keys. Somebody went to a lot of work to reproduce this lock and actually did a fantastic job, however it’s still a fake/counterfeit and not worth near what a origional antique version is worth. Buyer beware!! Mark
