You might simply have the wrong key (did the seller make any claim that the lock was working?), but there are some Scandinavian padlocks that had ‘trap discs’ inside - the idea being that if a theif tried to pick the lock, they would trip one of the trap discs, thus blocking the lock so that even the right key will not work anymore.
I do not know if R&E ever used this technology, however.
I am sure somebody who knows more about these locks than I do will be of more assistance.
…mercurial