Bantok House, Bantok Park, Wolverhampton. Prices Lock Collection
THE BRITISH MUSEUM. Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG 0207 636 1555
BIRMINGHAM. CITY MUSEUM Department of Science and Industry CHAMBERLAIN SQUARE, Birmingham, B3 3DH 0121 235 4215
Includes only a very small number of locks, nineteenth century and modern, by local manufacturers, including Edwin Cotterill (lock patentee) of Birmingham.
BRISTOL. BLAISE CASTLE HOUSE MUSEUM (Bristol Corporation) Henbury Road, Bristol BS10 7QS 0117 9506 789
Approximately 35 locks and lock plates, circa 200 keys, mainly from fifteenth to nineteenth centuries, English and German.
CASTLETON (DERBYSHIRE). THE DOUGLAS MUSEUM S33 8WG 01433 620 678 (now in Buxton)
Privately owned collection of mechanical models and inventions acquired and constructed by the late Randolph Douglas (1859 â 1956) a professional model maker. Douglas was especially fascinated by lock mechanisms and the collection, entitled 'The House of Wonders', includes a working model of a miniature safe and several cases of locks and keys; model of the Egyptian lock, Roman examples, medieval and nineteenth century patent inventions. A short article on the museum appeared in Derbyshire Countryside 24(3) April â May 1949, 22, 31.
EDINBURGH. NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ANTIQUITIES OF SCOTLAND The Castle, Chambers Street, EH1 1JF 0131 225 7534
Approximately 300 locks and keys, from the twelfth or thirteenth centuries, and several Roman and Viking examples. Almost entirely Scottish.
EDINBURGH. THE ROYAL SCOTTISH MUSEUM. The Castle, Chambers Street, EH1 1JF 0131 247 4219 Department of Art and Archaeology.
Approximately 50 locks, some circa eighteenth or nineteenth centuries, but mostly seventeenth â eighteenth century. About 60 keys, circa fifteenth to nineteenth centuries, but mainly seventeenth. English, French, German and Italian.
GLOUCESTER. CITY MUSEUM. Folk life Collection
Eight locks, rim (including spring action) English; seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. Three padlocks, circa seventeenth century. 150 miscellaneous keys (including items for cellars, safes, wine barrel taps); set of 11 skeleton keys; circa 35 medieval keys; few Roman examples; rest are from fifteenth to nineteenth centuries.
HEREFORD. CITY MUSEUM Broad Street HR4 9AU 01432 364 691
Three eighteenth century door locks, six padlocks, all English circa 1750 â 1900. One Spanish lock, sixteenth century. Keys: a few Roman and Medieval, sixteenth to eighteenth centuries; large quantity of nineteenth century keys.
LONDON, GUILDHALL MUSEUM
Circa 180 Roman keys and 200 medieval â post medieval keys. 100 locks and padlocks, mainly fragmentary.
LONDON. THE LONDON MUSEUM, 150 London Wall, EC2Y 5HN 02076003699
Important collection (circa 70) of medieval keys from doors, chests, caskets, padlocks; latch keys or iron and bronze, divided into nine types (see Medieval Catalogue, item ..) Circa 40 roman keys, divided approximately into two groups â tumbler and spring operated lever mechanism. (See Catalogue â London in Roman Times, item 292)
LONDON. SCIENCE MUSEUM Exhibition Road,SW7 2DD 0207 942 4302
The new Lock and Fastenings Gallery, opened in late 1972, contains a fine representative collection of locks, with particular emphasis on mechanisms and security. The wall cases contain panels showing the whole history of locks from ancient Egyptian examples to modern magnetic locks and springless detainer mechanisms such as the Finnish 'Abloy' type. Other locks include those by Barron, Bramah, Chubb detector, Parson's (balance lever), Yale and combination locks.
There are also full size reconstructions of a shop window similar to that in Piccadilly occupied by Bramah and Company, lock makers, in the mid nineteenth century and a locksmith's work shop such as would have been used by a Willenhall craftsman in the last century. A list of photographic negatives of the collection was made available in April 1973.
LONDON. VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM. Cromwell Road, SW7 2RL 0207 938 8500
Department of Metalwork
The national collection of fine and applied art of all periods, countries and styles, and as with other objects, the collection of keys and locks is too extensive to enumerate. Photographs are available from a master file of negatives and the collector is frequently quoted and illustrated in books and articles dealing with the antique and artistic aspect of locks and keys.
LONDON. THE WALLACE COLLECTION Manchester Square, W1M 6BN 0207 9350687
Small collection of European keys, sixteenth to seventeenth centuries, one sixteenth century Italian lock.
NOTTINGHAM. CASTLE MUSEUM Castle Place NG1 6EL 01159 153 700
Small collection of seventeenth and eighteenth century keys (Thompson collection) mainly English, but a few European items.
SALISBURY. SALISBURY AND SOUTH WILTSHIRE MUSEUM
65 Wyndham House, The Close SP1 2EN 01722 332151
Possess one of the largest and most important collections of medieval keys, discovered during drainage operations at Salisbury about 1850 or 1860. Thirteenth to seventeenth centuries. Item 310 gives a full description of the collections.
SHEFFIELD. CITY MUSEUM Weston Park, Western Bank Ind Est. S10 2TP 01142 768 588
Miscellaneous collection of medieval keys, English and European locks and keys, seventeenth to nineteenth centuries.
STAFFORD. MUSEUM OF STAFFORDSHIRE LIFE, SHUGBOROUGH, Nr GREAT HAYWOOD
Small collection only, mainly nineteenth century; circa 24 keys, 3 locks presented by John Mattox and Son, lock makers of Wednesbury and discovered in the locality. No catalogue available.
WILLENHALL. PUBLIC LOCK MUSEUM (Now renamed the Locksmith's House)
54 New Road, WV13 2DA 01902 634 542
Originally opened in March 1962, by the then Willenhall Urban District Council, and reorganised in other premises in 1972 by Walsall County Borough Council Libraries and Museums Staff, being officially reopened again in November 1972. Separate cases showing examples of locks by Barron, Bramah, Chubb and Yale, models of a lock maker's forge and the wooden pin tumbler Egyptian lock; brass rim locks from St Giles Vicarage, renovated by Josiah Parkes Limited, locks by Carpenter and Tildesley, one of the oldest firms in Willenhall; examples donated by C Spencer Esquire, and Herbert Spencer (a craftsman locksmith); prison and other patent locks by J T Dancer of Wednesfield (circa 1920 -â1936). Working model of a modern pin tumbler cylinder lock by Josiah Parkes Limited. Also extensive library.
From 1 May 2003 management of The Lock Museum was taken over by the Black Country Museum Trust and is open on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 12 - 4p.m. Admission prices are £2.50 for adults and £1.50 for children and concessions. Costumed demonstrators are on hand to offer visitors the opportunity to experience the living and working conditions of the Hodsons, who were a typical Willenhall lock-making family at the turn of the twentieth century. Curriculum targeted educational programmes are being developed and are available for booking by schools.
For further information: Black Country Living Museum.
Telephone: 0121 557 9643 and press 0 to speak to the operator
Ann Key, Senior Demonstrator, The Locksmith's House.
Telephone: 01902 634542
WILLENHALL, JOSIAH PARKES AND SONS LIMITED MUSEUM Wood Street, 01902 366911
Important large private collection owned by one of the country's leading lock manufacturers. Mainly English and European, sixteenth to nineteenth centuries; working model of wooden pin tumbler lock. Many items illustrate the detailed workmanship and intricate mechanisms, eg the 'box of wards' type of lock. Most of the collection is included in a catalogue of the museum published in 1955 (item 190). Current locks in production are also on display. Collection seems to have disappeared and the only hint is that it might be in Scotland. The paper archives are goung to a museum soon.
WORCESTER. CITY MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY Friar Street 01905 722349
Small collection of locks on loan from Snowshill Manor, Worcestershire; English, seventeenth century. Undocumented and unclassified collection of keys owned by the Museum itself.
WORCESTER. SNOWSHILL MANOR (The National Trust) Broadway WR12 7JU 01386 858 340
Fairly large collection of locks and keys, late seventeenth to early eighteenth centuries, but entirely unlabelled and unclassified.
YORK. CASTLE MUSEUM Market Place, Eaasingwold YO61 3AD 01904 653 611
General collection of about 220 keys and 3 locks, displayed in the gallery containing domestic bygones. The keys, mainly sixteenth to late nineteenth centuries, include examples from a church door (seventeenth century), chests and coffers (sixteenth to eighteenth centuries), ceremonial keys, double bitted skeleton keys, keys with split stems, Georgian and Victorian door keys.
IRONBRIDGE GORGE At IRONBRIDGE Wharfage Steps, Ironbridge, Telford 01952 433 522
Lowe & Fletcher shop
BLACKCOUNTRY MUSEUM, Tipton Road DUDLEY DY1 4SQ
Have a locksmiths shop â but probably in storage
BROOKING COLLECTION OF ARCHITECTURAL DETAIL
University Of Greenwich Oakfield Lane, Dartford, Kent 08183319897 0208 331 9897
Museum of doors,windows, architectural ironmongery - open by appointment, free
Hotel Liberal Bruant, 1 Rue De La Perle Paris. Opening some days but never August or weekends - The Bricard Lock Collection
Galleries Of Justice, Shire Hall, High Pavement, Nottingham. 01159520555
Prison, court, police station, handcuff display and library by appointment.
Hanns Schell Collection, Graz, Austria
Cast iron collection,wrought iron objects,lock plates,door knockers and other metal fittings hanns.schell.collection@gmx.at 0316/71 56 56 DW 38
ALOA Collection, 3003 Live Oak Street, Dallas, Texas 214-827-1701
Simple but interesting collection of Keycutting machines, Code cutting machines, car locks, safe locks, safe plates, furniture, padlocks,restraints, library, keys, ancient...
Safe Collection Florida
Personal collection -details soon
Zhao Jin Zhi's Golden Key Museum, Shanghai by Jon Millington
Shanghai is not, perhaps, the most obvious city in which to look for a museum of keys, but a short walk from the railway station to the south east will take you to just such a place. It is located in the Everbright City Commercial Building on the corner of Tianmuxi Lu (meaning road) and Meiyuan Lu, opposite the East China Hotel. Once inside the building, don't be put off by the shoe sellers on the first three floors but take the escalator or lift to the fourth floor (which the Chinese call the fifth) where you will find, among the stamp dealers, the museum (tel: 63542597) in stall No. 501. It's open Monday to Friday from 1.30pm to 6pm, but these times might vary.
The museum consists of two small rooms full of interesting old keys and one or two early padlocks. They are all attractively set out in glass-topped showcases with some labelling in English. The earliest key exhibited is Roman and would have been worn on a finger. Not quite so old, but nevertheless thought to be the earliest Chinese key, is one made in the Tang dynasty in 731. Also on show are what the museum's founder, Zhao Jin Zhi, claims are the largest and smallest working keys in the world. The largest weighs two kilograms and is over 30 cm long, while the smallest is inscribed on a piece of hair and has to be viewed through a magnifying glass. One of the wall-mounted displays represents a giant key made from 1666 pin tumbler keys; others show smaller groups of keys in artistic arrangements. Also exhibited are examples of Zhao's calligraphy in which he has incorporated key motifs into the Chinese characters.
How did Zhao become a key collector? His late father sometimes traded in waste metals and would occasionally come across interesting keys which Zhao inherited. Over the years he has added to these, and in 1988 set up a small museum which took up one room of his two room flat. Five years later he moved the museum, now much enlarged, to a new restaurant in Pudong, a rapidly developing modern suburb in east Shanghai. The opening ceremony took place in November 1993. Then, in October 1997, the museum moved again to its present home in the Everbright Building at 188 Tianmuxi Lu. Here Zhao, who claims to be one of the world's ten greatest collectors, can show some of the 15,000 keys he has amassed over the past forty years.
It was just by chance that I discovered the Golden Key Museum, so called because the first part of Zhao's given name, Jin Zhi, means gold. Early in November I took a two-day break from teaching English to PhD students at one of the universities in Hangzhou and visited Shanghai, about 120 miles away. In the Peace Hotel I picked up a copy of the Shanghai Star, published twice weekly by the China Daily, and, turning to the back page, was surprised to find a half page article 'Collector unlocks his trove of keys'. This was about Zhao Jin Zhi, a retired clerk aged 56, and his museum. As my knowledge of Mandarin is non-existent, finding the museum proved very hard, but eventually I succeeded, and was shown round by the manager of the building as Zhao wasn't there. On a subsequent visit to Shanghai Zhao himself gave me a conducted tour, after a Chinese friend had made an appointment for me to meet him.
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