Suspicious Yale Padlock - "Cameo Medallion"

[timof5stars]

While browsing eBay I happened across the Yale lock shown below. My first impression was that the cameo medallion in the center is some kind of owner modification and not an original part of the lock. I certainly do not qualify as any kind of expert in Yale padlock history, but I have seen a LOT of older Yales and I've never seen a medallion formed into the circle where the Yale logo should appear. Just on marketing and branding rules alone, I have a very hard time believing Yale would ever give up the Prime real estate where its logo always appeared. Sometimes special production runs for very large customers (e.g. US Forestry) would have custom casting in this area but that was rare

But before I totally dismiss this creation, I thought maybe I should just run it past you folks here in case I've read this wrong. Also a bit odd, the seller posted 12 images but none - showed the back side of this lock. Back of the shackle yes, but not of the lock body. That always makes me wonder what I'm not supposed to be looking at. Could be completely innocent and I could have probably forgiven that but then I noticed he also posted pictures of 4 Yale keys that are completely unrelated to the lock and don't actually open the lock. This is one of my biggest pet peeves. The keys appear to be for a pin tumbler lock while (I believe) the lock shown is a double sided lever lock. Posting your "NO KEY" lock with a set of unrelated keys is done simply to generate interest by people who don't read closely. I'm a bit of a stickler about this on eBay these days (once burned, twice wiser). If you post pics of keys with your locks then I want to see at least one pic showing the key inserted in to the lock and the shackle opened. This led Tim's 8th rule of buying on eBay: No pic, no bid, no exceptions.

Anyway, what do you folks think, is this simply an owner modification made sometime after the lock sold, or have I made a horrible error in judgement and am looking at an ultra rare Yale limited production lock? While I'm getting better at identifying the fakes, the reproductions, post sale mods, fantasy locks and other such stuff, I do get it wrong on occasion. Thanks. Tim



The seller acknowledges that the medallion could have been a later modification to the lock.

Original eBay source link: http://tinyurl.com/Yale-Medallion