Hall Chest Vault

[bighammer]

My grandparents had a heavy (brass?) "trunk" type vault in their house that had an antique padlock on the front of it. It also had a secret hidden keyhole on the lid of the trunk that had to be exposed and unlocked to open the lid. I have no idea of the origin of it and wish I (or a family member still had it. (no clue who ended up with it-- Probably sold) Wish I had pictures of it, as a kid, it seemed very cool.

I was just curious if anybody had seen anything like that or what it would be called, etc.

[Russell Stoner]

Any chance of a photo, this will help to ID your trunk.

Regards
Russell
Withy Grove (Leeds) Ltd
t: 044 (0)113 2721441
www.wgsafesonline.com

My grandparents had a heavy (brass?) "trunk" type vault in their house that had an antique padlock on the front of it. It also had a secret hidden keyhole on the lid of the trunk that had to be exposed and unlocked to open the lid. I have no idea of the origin of it and wish I (or a family member still had it. (no clue who ended up with it-- Probably sold) Wish I had pictures of it, as a kid, it seemed very cool.

I was just curious if anybody had seen anything like that or what it would be called, etc.

[bighammer]

I don't have any photos, unfortunately. It was like a big treasure chest and had bold rivets and banding around it. If you moved one of the rivet heads sideways, a hatch would flip open revealing the secret key lock. The antique padlock on the front clasp also hat to be opened and removed, but was more of a decorative accessory.

[Doug MacQueen]

Somewhere I do have pictures of a Hall chest but your description sounds like a hob or knob nail chest were typical before the Hall's (Aetna Safe) were known in Pittsburgh. It is possible the father Edward Hall made this style earlier in his carreer and that would be a great find. Look at the safes at the antique safe collecter's site. He has several hob nail safes. Doug