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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
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    Cyberspace
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    Country: Australia

    Default Strange Milner ..

    Anyone ever seen another one with solid bronze hinges before ? I don't think it was made for a ship as the keylocks are conventional not bronze. The combination lock controls a shutter over the keyholes + blocks the boltwork. The safe has 4 way boltwork. The door plate is nearly 2" thick (3 steps).

    Any suggestions as to a model appreciated ....... Although it was probably a special.

    Click image for larger version. 

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  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
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    Aberdeenshire
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    Country: Great Britain

    Default Strange Milner indeed.

    You are probably correct in thinking that this is a special - but a special what?
    The locking - apart from the combination shutter lock - is identical in outward appearance to the old List 5 which had 3 triple-stump external fantail locks - usually mastered. The body thickness was one inch and an eighth and the door one inch and a half, a sandwich with half an inch drill resisting plate in the middle.

    The illustrations are of a second generation List 5, now fitted with round bolts. This was a 3-way boltwork system, as 4-way would have been thought unnecessary considering the massive 'knuckle' hinges.

    12 Corner bent bodies came very late to Milners, with these banded models continuing until about the 1920's I believe. The lighter safes such as the List 2 came in with 4 corner bent bodies in 1902, and 12 corner bent in 1915.

    The hinges are the big mystery. Still attached to the side and in three sections like the 'knuckle' type. These old hinges were difficult to maintain and lubricate. Maybe non-ferrous intended for a climate prone to corrosion ? Could be vault door hinges.

    No numbers visible on the body. Any elsewhere - keys maybe?

    Very interesting.

    Click image for larger version. 

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  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
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    Country: Australia

    Default

    Thanks for the info. No original keys and the boltwork is not currently in the safe so no numbers as yet. The locks look like standard ones though (not the triple stump). So maybe a list 4 variant. No interlocking wedges between the door and frame either.

    Some engine turning evident on the backplates of the locks but not a glass panel in the back of the door. I'm woundering if maybe an exhibition safe of some kind. I'll post more pictures as it is put back together.

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