I believe that the number 87549 is a Milner number dating approximately to 1877.
Milner initially used Hobbs & Co. to make the locks for their safes from the late 1850’s until the early1880’s, an arrangement which ended when Hobbs Hart started manufacturing their own safes in competition. Milner then set up their own lockmaking department.
The lock conforms to Milner’s patent of 1854 for gunpowder resistance by reducing all the free space within the casing by use of a solid iron block casting and a brass collar with restricted movement for the key.
For external recognition purposes the escutcheon had a keyway configuration of ‘five to six’ wheras the subsequent Milner manufactured locks had the appearance of ‘five to seven’.
