Padlocks: Ketch and Missouri Pacific

[Pointman]

I found these two lock on two separate days. I would like to know a little about them to include their age and possibly what they are worth. Also, any information on how to clean and preserve them would be nice.

Thank you.

[oldbiscuit]

Well, I can tell you that the Ketch was made for Simmons Hardware co. They made this lock with a brass or a steel shackle. from the looks of yours, I would say yours has the steel shackle. In good shape with a working key, yours would have been worth around $50-$100. however in the condition yours is in, it really has no value. Age would be from around the early 1900's- 1930's. The other lock would be from about the same era.It to has a low value with the condition it's in. As far as preservation, on something that rusty, I like to use a electrolis tank to remove the rust. Electrolis will remove only the rust and leave a pitted metal surface, but it won't remove any non rusted metal. The only draw back to electrolis is it will not remove rust from the insides of the lock as it is a direct line from the rusted object to the sacrificial anode. Neither lock is rare, although all locks are getting harder to find. These do show up on ebay and in shops. Mark