WANTED: Jail / Prison Keys and locks

[Jailer]

My primary collecting interest is in "identifiable" jail and/or prison keys and related cell door locks, and I am always looking for nice pieces to add to the collection, in quantity or just nice single pieces. Please feel free to contact me with anything you might have available for sale or trade. bryantmtb@gmail.com

"Jail Key" is an often used catch-all name that many attribute to any old and large skeleton style warded lock keys. Very few of those were ever used as actual jail or prison detention keys, and even those that were are usually impossible to distinguish from the common large gate and door lock keys of the later 1800s and earlier. Most collectors of jail / prison material concentrate on those items that are readily identifiable as being used "primarily" as jail or prison locks and keys. These include such names as Folger Adam, Southern Steel, and certain other types of keys and locks by the likes of Yale, Van Dorn, Sargent Greenleaf, Pauley, Stamford, Fichet, and other less common manufacturers, as well as a myriad of independent contractors (or "installers") that had their companies identified on their products, the most common of which are stamped company identifications on Folger Adam manufactured keys.