Old key safe from my Grandma's house

[Greg Sebring]

When my Grandma passed on back in 1985, One of the items that came to me was the old safe she kept in the basement. I always was impressed with it since I was a small boy. She had an old Michigan basement (dirt floor with field stone foundation). She kept the key on a pantry shelf in what would now be an antique Hills Bros coffee can which I still have somewhere. When it came time for me to move the safe I had to hire a wrecker to winch it out of the basement and carry it on the boom over to my house. This safe is MUCH HEAVIER than anything the same size today. I have painted it basically to stop the oxidation after sanding it good. The key mechanism works good. My question to anyone familiar with old safes would be how old would you guess it to be and have you ever heard of the company on the name plate?

The story behind the safe was it originally belonged to a merchant in the small rural berg of Macon, Michigan. The store caught fire and the safe fell through the floor...breaking one of the pull out handles from the left side. This was approximately 100 years ago I'm guessing. I don't know how my grandparents ended up with it.

Anyone have any opinions or comments on it?

Greg

[Greg Sebring]

Here are some pix of the key that opens it.....

[Greg Sebring]

Just a followup,...

I googled "Salamander safe" and found my exact safe. It is approximately 150 years old.

[oldlock]

Nice little safe. The lock may be quite interesting, should you ever have occassion to take the door apart pictures of the lock would be good.

Salamander safe is rather a general term, and tending to be applied to lots of different fire resisting safes at that time.

[Tom Gordon]

1842 to 1854 I believe