Ultimate & One-off Freestanding Safes

[Cepasaccus]

I have been recently at an opening of an oversized Wertheim grade V CD safe. About 2.2m high and 1.1m wide with a weight of nearly 2.6 tonnes. It astonished me how much the safe suppressed sound transmission.

[Adrian Weber]

Somehow I am surprised but on the other hand not surprised again that you only mentioned British manufacturers

What about other manufacturers such as the German ones? I know that both Bode Panzer and Pohlschröder produced safes that were exciptional. I also know about free standing safes that feature a Kromer Differential Lock (Garny) or even a Bode Panze Tangential. Not even to mention the Arnheim safes with their unique locking mechanisms.

Hope you reconsider even if some of the mentioned above were mass produced.

[Huw Eastwood]

Wow.........what's all that about Adrian..... think you may have slightly misunderstood or not thoroughly read all of this one- these are the only ones that I know of- that's why I'm asking you guys!

That's why I put "There must be many others from all those European and American manufacturers, so it'd be great to hear what you guys can add from around the world" at the end.

I'm convinced there must be some amazing examples out there from Arnheim, Garny and Wertheim, Scandinavian examples from the likes of Rosengrens and Kaso, and any of the big manufacturers in the USA- Mosler and Diebold etc. Not to mention Russian and Japanese manufacturers that we still never hear of in Europe. I'd be amazed to find that none of these hadn't come up with something that was way above their normal production safes.

That's exactly why I'm asking everyone to hopefully get some world-wide input.
And, with your VdS knowledge and interest in Garny and S J Arnheim, I was in fact, hoping you'd come up with a few more!

BTW you'll upset our French buddies implying that Fichet are British......

[Adrian Weber]

I must have misunderstood you sorry Max

Yes, Fichet is French, ooopps

I will show a picture of an old Garny safe this evening, it is from a book and I have no idea where the safe is now. A good friend and safe collector from my area has some very interesting safes but most of them are not reachable at this very moment. Maybe I can convince him to do a video on them someday! (Hopefully I can, for the sake of history)

[wylk]

Definitely a one-off, how about the Mosler safe that was built to hold the US constitution, bill of rights, and declaration of independence? It opened at the top and a pantograph would raise/lower the display case. It may no longer be in use, somewhere I read that security was completely revamped after 9/11. Mosler also built a model of it which was shown at various places; where is that model now?

[Huw Eastwood]

yep- thanks wylk that's a true one-off and got to be worthy of mention. In a similar class as the Koh-I-Noor diamond cage/safe I would say, as it's a safe/system designed to display and then lower the contents into a sort of top opening safe or chest- not a true free standing safe as such, but a one-off masterpiece that's made to protect something as priceless as the US constitution has to get a mention

I'm hoping that if it has been laid-up redundant for some time, that it's being well preserved or even better, on display somewhere in one of the big museums. Same with the Koh-I-Noor cage, I would hope they're still around as realistically they're both far more important and prestigious than the manufacturers 'ultimate' offerings I'm seeking here.

I'm still thinking that Mosler or one of the big US manufacturers must have made a no-holds barred monster at some time or other? the development of the cast cannonballs and the Corliss types led to some massive examples. Whereas Britain only saw a couple of round door safes, the US seemed to follow on the style into more recent times with the round door money chests. I'm convinced there's got be something- round or rectangular, that was made thicker and heavier than the rest

[safeman]

What would George Price have to say about this embellishment?

It's certainly not a worthy candidate in the security stakes but it might help get things started.

You're right about the Tann Diamond date. I remember one having been attacked at Holborn Circus in Oct.1978.

They had problems with their oxy-acetylene and had to revert to a disc cutter but got absolutely nowhere.

You are also absolutely correct regarding the Insurance Underwriter's requirement for splitting the risk.

Pleased to hear you are enjoying the Price Catalogue.

[WinterG]

Here is another engraving of an antique safe Arnheim.

[wylk]

Definitely a one-off, how about the Mosler safe that was built to hold the US constitution, bill of rights, and declaration of independence? It opened at the top and a pantograph would raise/lower the display case. It may no longer be in use, somewhere I read that security was completely revamped after 9/11. Mosler also built a model of it which was shown at various places; where is that model now?

I found an image on eBay of this safe. Note, it does stretch the normal distinction between a safe and a vault but I agree with Mosler's calling it a safe.

[Safeone]

Agree that the Chubb Sovereign is a beast of a safe ( QZ prefix era ) but the Chubb Financier also had / has the 150k cash rating. Think the financier had a WZ prefix if I recall correctly.