Old cast iron door lock.

erjmccarthy

I came across this while on a job sight in NH… Found it in a rusted bucket in the bottom of a collapsed barn… I know the barn was built in the early 1800’s. I was wondering what it was used for and what it would be worth… The metal tag on the side says “W. Hall&CO BOSTON” with the number 13 on the left side and the number 28 on the bottom… Thank you in advance for all you help… Demensions are 7″L, 4″w, 1.25″ thick…

Eric.

Dean Nickel

It looks like a surface mortice lock. No handle shown so that reduces the price a bit as the lock isn’t complete. Now the information on the lock company will help you the most. This will tell you when it could have been made. This lock may or maynot be from that building you found it in as it wasn’t found on the door of that building. Locks have been know to be “Harvested” from other buildings and set aside for projects and never get used. If you open the case you should take a picture of the insides. This will help us help you ID the age of this lock as well.

erjmccarthy

Thanks for the reply. I wouldn’t know where to begin to open this. I assume the plate that is inset comes out somehow, the other side is flat. Looks to be a two piece cast. The rust isn’t really that bad but it seams to have fused the casing together as one. I wouldn’t want to ruin it trying to get it apart. It wieghs 5.4 lbs just for some more info….

Dean Nickel

Sorry, I thought there were screws on the other side like so many lock cases. This sounds like that this is one of those that are made and then sealed. This still leaves the info on the lock company.

By the method it might have been made I am leaning to a date sometime between 1880s-1930s. Cast iron was big in that time frame. Sealed lock cases were also was another thing that was big in the first half of the 1900s.

erjmccarthy

I believe it is sealed then. I cleaned up a side where it is inset and there is no seam. The actual piece the door handle goes through and the piece that would latch to a door jam has turned green from corrosion. Would those pieces be copper? As for the lock company, I can not find anything on it. I’m sure if I keep at I will find something. Thank you Halflock for all your help…..

Doug MacQueen

I believe you have found a lock made by William Hall of Boston. I don’t know how long the company existed but he was a famous safe lock maker in the mid 1800’s. He has several patent safe locks to his name, the most famous being the “Grasshopper” key lock used on Silas Herring safes in the 1850’s. I made a key for a Wm Hall lock from the 1840’s a couple years ago. In the safe world, a bronze lock was usually a better grade than cast iron but in passage or man doors usually bronze indicates marine use, but that is not necessarily the situation here. I would contact the Lock Museum in Terryville Conn. to see what input they may have. Doug