Help with padlock identification please

[Dean Nickel]

Can you get better pictures of the key pipe and key head? This might help a bit.

[MStoddard]

I have a better picture of the key pipe on hand, somehow I didn't think to take one of the top of it and will do so as soon as I get back to the lab.

[Chris Belcher]

I believe that this lock is from the time of William IV. If you look carefully at what appears to be a 'V' , you should notice that the 'V' is somewhat wrong and there is a faint line that forms the missing leg of 'W' Also, the line of stamping is way off centre compared to the crown. If you imagine that the 'V' is a 'W' then the line centralizes. Also, going from what I see in the pictures above, I believe that there was a deliberate attempt to remove or partially remove the 'W'.

[MStoddard]

That could be an interesting possibility as the site is dating to the 1820s-1830s through other means. Was there ever a practice of manufacturers altering existing locks during the transitions between monarchs? I had thought that side may just be due to excessive wear and that the straight lines from top left to bottom right were perhaps just how it was originally but if that were the case then the lines themselves would likely be worn away as well.

[Chris Belcher]

This might have been an attempt at deception. Trying to make a lock seem newer than it was.
If you look at the 'R' , it looks to have been over stamped. I would think that, as it was a poor deception, the lock was discarded with its key.

---------- Post added at 10:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:13 PM ----------

This could be a case of deception. If you look at the 'R', it appears to be over stamped also. The seller may have been trying to make the lock appear newer than it was by altering the Monarch. Then, having messed it up , thrown it away with it's key.

[MStoddard]

The lock was found within a marginalized household in Connecticut which makes this option unlikely. It could be that it was given to or sold to them after an attempt at modification as the original owner now found it worthless. Given that it was found in the United States I do not think the owners of the house it was found in would have attempted modification in an effort to increase its value. Sorry that I can not go into more detail on the circumstances of its finding, I had to request permission to post it online and part of that permission being granted was not providing specific details.

[Chris Belcher]

That is very interesting. Some prominant people who lived in Conneticut at the time, seem to have been very involved in the politcal scene in New York.. This style of padlock was also used on ballot boxes. A ballot box disappeared in Statton Island around the same time. Although found destroyed.
Conspiracy theory?:)