19th century padlock from Louisiana

MKS

I am an archaeologist. We recently recovered a rusted padlock from St. Tammany Parish, which is in old British West Florida, on the north side of Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans. The lock has a flap on which is stamped “V.R.” and a small crown and the partial word “patent…” I attach a photo. The questions are: Does the V.R. imply some sort of official connection to Br Govt or is this just like a whisky maker saying “Official makers to Her Majesty…” etc? What company made the lock and when? Any information would be much appreciated.

Malcolm S.

Paul Prescott

The VR means very little, it certainly does not imply that the maker was supplying the govt or held a Royal warrant. It merely suggests that the monarch at the time of manufacture was Victoria. However a word of caution is required, some makers stamped spurious markings on their locks just to make them look more important long after the marks ceased to have relevance.

lionel1020

When I first saw the VR stamp on a padlock I assumed immediately it was a royal cypher, in particular that of Queen Victoria. Queen Victoria’s cypher was the initials VR (Victoria Regina) surmounted by the tudor crown. This cypher was used by her up until 1877 when she became Empress of India, after this date an “I” was added and her cyher became VRI (Victoria Regina Imperatrix) surmounted by the tudor crown. Our present Queen uses EIIR (Elizabeth II Regina).

As the royal cyher is used mostly on government papers, duty stamps and similar objects it was probably on the patent documentation. Following on from what Oldlock was saying “it certainly does not imply that the maker was supplying the govt or held a Royal warrant”

However it does not take a large stretch of the imagination to assume that lockmakers of that time would stamp their locks in order to legitimise or back-up their patent. This stamp is found on the locks of many different lock companies /manufacturers/ makers so they must have thought it added something to its sale-ability.
The above is just my personal opinion, I have no proofs just a bit of logic and a lot of assumptions.
Observations and comments welcomed.
Lionel