Unusual safe/vault images

I thought I'd start a thread on unusual imagery of safes and vaults. For example, adapting "stock images" in strange ways.

Here's an example from ATR Aircraft (http://www.atraircraft.com) trying to get across the notion that their planes will make you money. From my perspective, I see an airplane that won't get off the ground.

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Another odd example is a stock vault image modified to represent financial issues of the new agricultural product in Colorado (http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/mo...-business.html):

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Another one, not quite as weird. This is often seen with articles about the security of cloud computing.

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Somebody photoshopped an image from Shorty's Urban Market (Lexington, KY) to suggest a giant spider crawling out. Why? Who knows!

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A little less unusual, vaults are/were used for advertising. This group of images looks like the same door was used.

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The middle image is not an ad (it's part of an artist's collage) but it looks like the Blatz image was photoshopped. The Seagram's door looks very similar but photographed from a slightly different angle and with the bolts retracted. I believe the door is a Mosler.

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Originally Posted by wylk

I thought I'd start a thread on unusual imagery of safes and vaults. For example, adapting "stock images" in strange ways.


Another odd example is a stock vault image modified to represent financial issues of the new agricultural product in Colorado (http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/mo...-business.html):

Attachment 11705

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Looks like somebody's stash of 'grass' being kept securely.

Another "like money in the bank" advertisement, this time from Hughes Aircraft, electronics division, in 1962:

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It's hard to say much about the vault door itself. It's right handed and uses two horizontal pressure bars, common on Mosler and Diebold doors and possibly others.

Back on February 8, 2013, there was a discussion of the vault used in the film "The Pelican Brief" (in the thread "Safes & Vaults versus Hollywood"). I believe this is the former Riggs National Bank in Washington, DC (1503 and 1505 Pennsylvania Avenue NW). Here's an odd joint project between eBay and the USPS from 2007:

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It looks like they photoshopped in the clothing and did a fairly decent job.

Another vault image except it's become common for old banks to turn into a restaurant. I can't tell much about the door except "The First" can be seen on the inner ring, probably the beginning of "The First National Bank" but that's a guess. I don't recognize it from other collected images. This ad is from 1980.

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This one is from an article about artwork being stored in vaults in Switzerland. So of course the drawing is very artsy. A triple-round-door vault with an art museum inside. And each door is different.

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A square image meant to evoke old vinyl records, with a vault full of vinyl records:

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This is based on a fairly common stock image that was also used for the "cloud computing" image posted earlier:

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The layout of the locks, time lock, and boltwork seem to be a reasonable approximation of Diebold doors though the gearing is a bit suspect. It also looks like a computer-generated scene.

Another fashion statement, Van Heusen garments in a safe deposit vault. They also make the point that matching underwear might be important to you. It's a little odd to see a vault door with no visible locking mechanism.

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Here's a sort of pulp-fiction illustration from 1968 by Mort Kunstler. Not particularly noteworthy until you start looking at it.

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First, notice that the door seems to be opening in the wrong direction, the boltwork seems to be facing outward. No wonder the policeman was able to open it.

Second, it looks like there are about 26-30 locking bolts, an unusually large number.

Third, cash and gold bars are piled on the floor of what appears to be a safe-deposit vault which would at least inconvenience customers (if not tempt them).

Fourth, they made a hole in the ceiling and are dangling by ropes to avoid setting off an alarm. But making the hole was OK? Would there be no sound or motion alarms?

Hey, it's visual fiction. At least it's entertaining.

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Originally Posted by wylk

Here's a sort of pulp-fiction illustration from 1968 by Mort Kunstler. Not particularly noteworthy until you start looking at it.

Attachment 15164

First, notice that the door seems to be opening in the wrong direction, the boltwork seems to be facing outward. No wonder the policeman was able to open it.

Second, it looks like there are about 26-30 locking bolts, an unusually large number.

Third, cash and gold bars are piled on the floor of what appears to be a safe-deposit vault which would at least inconvenience customers (if not tempt them).

Fourth, they made a hole in the ceiling and are dangling by ropes to avoid setting off an alarm. But making the hole was OK? Would there be no sound or motion alarms?

Hey, it's visual fiction. At least it's entertaining.

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Extremely entertaining in that it raises more questions than it will ever answer!

Like why didn't they break in through the nearby ceiling vent, which by design necessity must offer easier access than the hole they elected to make in the solid ceiling?

Also, should they grab as many bundles of notes as they can carry, or as many gold bars? Obviously that does rely on us knowing or being able to estimate a few things. Such as the price of gold at the time, the denomination of the notes, etc...

Just noticed as well that the man on the top of the vault is literally dangling the hanging woman from his bare hand. He must be exceptionally strong, or she extremely light, otherwise his hand must have become painfully and inextricably trapped...

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Originally Posted by Arcade Al

Also, should they grab as many bundles of notes as they can carry, or as many gold bars? Obviously that does rely on us knowing or being able to estimate a few things. Such as the price of gold at the time, the denomination of the notes, etc...

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In 1968 I believe the US was still on the gold standard at $32 per ounce. Assuming 20-pound bars that would be $10,240 per bar. If the bundles are 200 notes (just a guess) of $50 each that's essentially the break-even point. Bonus if they are $100 notes, plus each bundle weighs a whole lot less than the bars and are more easily spent (unless the serial numbers are recorded which could complicate things).

Right now the spot price of gold is $1,260 per ounce so a 20-pound bar would be $403,200. A bundle of $100 notes would still be $20,000 which tips things in favor of the gold assuming you can manage the weight and "spend" the bars successfully.

This one is unusual but in a positive way:

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It's a hand-painted mural on a curved wall. I can't find too much at fault with the door. More at http://in-art.co.uk/gallery/murals-i...reception-hall and he does custom murals.

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Originally Posted by Arcade Al

Extremely entertaining in that it raises more questions than it will ever answer!

Like why didn't they break in through the nearby ceiling vent, which by design necessity must offer easier access than the hole they elected to make in the solid ceiling?

Also, should they grab as many bundles of notes as they can carry, or as many gold bars? Obviously that does rely on us knowing or being able to estimate a few things. Such as the price of gold at the time, the denomination of the notes, etc...

Just noticed as well that the man on the top of the vault is literally dangling the hanging woman from his bare hand. He must be exceptionally strong, or she extremely light, otherwise his hand must have become painfully and inextricably trapped...

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Also the bullion bars are upside down. Almost always in movies and pictures the mock bullion is stacked with the wide part of the bars at the bottom. TRy picking one up which is stacked like that! The reason they are that shape is to have the broad part at the top so you can lift them.

Here is a publicity print for an 1896 play "The War of Wealth" written by Charles Turner Dazey. The bank's cashier has been locked in the vault which cannot be opened due to the time locks. The bank owner frees the cashier by blowing it open. See http://ultimatehistoryproject.com/up...of_wealth_.pdf for a summary of the play.

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No doubt the depiction of this was exciting and dramatic for the audience. But I wouldn't want to be that close to an actual explosion. And it looks like it's being blown from the inside? Probably a case of artistic license winning over realism.

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Originally Posted by wylk

Another odd example is a stock vault image modified to represent financial issues of the new agricultural product in Colorado (http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/mo...-business.html):

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This has turned out to be a little more Deja vu than I expected. News stories from around July 22 2016 indicate a marijuana grow operation in Ohio was conducted in a room protected by a bank vault door. I only found one image (from a news video) and it looks more like a gun-safe door than what you'd find in a bank. Authorities broke in via the wall instead.

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Descriptions include http://local12.com/news/local/adams-...ssive-pot-grow and http://www.wmur.com/news/sophisticat...-door/41032792.

I'm not sure I see the point of having a vault door that opens to the outside where bundles of cash are piled in the sunlight. I'm sure the artist had something in mind. At least it's pretty.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by wylk

Here's a sort of pulp-fiction illustration from 1968 by Mort Kunstler. Not particularly noteworthy until you start looking at it.

Attachment 15164

First, notice that the door seems to be opening in the wrong direction, the boltwork seems to be facing outward. No wonder the policeman was able to open it.

Second, it looks like there are about 26-30 locking bolts, an unusually large number.

Third, cash and gold bars are piled on the floor of what appears to be a safe-deposit vault which would at least inconvenience customers (if not tempt them).

Hey, it's visual fiction. At least it's entertaining.

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Don't worry about tempting customers — those gold ingots must be fake!! Stacked like that (as fake ones always are, looks neater) real gold bars are impossible to pick up. hat is why they are made that shape, real ones are so heavy the wedge profile allows one to get fingers around to grip. (Sadly, I have not been lifting gold ingots, only bronze ones, but they are still quite heavy and quite valuable.)

Now I see that Chubby already made the point.

I just noticed that the gold bars and cash are piled in front of the safe deposit boxes. Pity the poor customer whose box is behind all that.

A 1991 advertisement for the Suzuki GS500E --

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The door looks somewhat like a vault door except the hinges are way too small and there aren't any visible locks. There also seems to be a vent and the floor looks like the wire mesh used before pouring concrete. This looks like it's either a prop or maybe the door to something like an electrical vault.

A shoe store in Bangkok includes a room resembling the interior of a safe deposit vault. The boxes contain shoes and the far wall mimics the inside face of a vault door. I think the person who did this made a reasonable-looking door and worked from a picture of a real one.

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A 1961 advertisement for Amplex, maker of powder-metal parts, ran this add including a safe deposit vault with a Diebold (I think) door --

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