Old Fashioned Skeleton Key Stainless Steel

If you ever find an old key, you might be wondering what type of lock it goes to or what kind of cardinal information technology could be. Agreement the dissimilar types of antiquarian keys and a footling flake virtually locks throughout history can help you identify what kind of key you may accept plant.

The History of Keys: Our Quest for Security

Security is a bones human need, and and then it's non surprising that locks and keys take a long and fascinating history that spans over thousands of years.

When you think about the sorts of reasons people used locks and keys, there certainly are a lot of stories ane can imagine from just a single central found.

While nosotros don't know a whole lot nearly how the very first locks and keys ever made came to be, in that location is evidence of keys and locks being used in the archeological ruins of what was once the Mesopotamia kingdom.

Nosotros've used keys for all sorts of things – to protect our homes, protect our valuables, or even to protect our deepest inner thoughts scrawled in an old diary.

Many people meet the key every bit a symbol for wisdom, knowledge, subconscious and guarded secrets or fifty-fifty protection.

Travelers frequently needed keys and locks when they went to different places, since thieves tend to target people who are unfamiliar with local cognition.

Keys take also often been lost over the years, so information technology's one of those things you might find often when you are metallic detecting.

What Are Keys Made Of?

Historically, keys have been made from all sorts of materials, including forest, although the ones you lot volition most likely notice today are made from dissimilar types of metal, such as yellow contumely, white brass (also called sometimes called nickel silver), and steel.

If you are non sure what kind of metal your key is made of, i of the easiest ways to find out is to hold a magnet to it. If the cardinal does non stick to a magnet, information technology is probable stainless steel or brass. If the key does stick to a magnet, information technology is most likely made out of steel and iron.

Note that a lot of keys are made from magnetic ferrous metals prone to rust, and so merely because it's rusty doesn't necessarily mean it is erstwhile or an antique!

Today there are also a lot of reproductions and replacement keys that mimic old fashioned central styles so this too is something to consider if you stumble across an old key and wondering its value.

The good news is the amuse and demand for old vintage keys is higher than always. In today'due south digital era, keys sometimes are not even needed. About hotels have completely bypassed traditional fundamental and lock systems and use a plastic card that looks similar a credit carte that you swipe through the slot on the door.

Identifying Key Styles Past Shape & Mutual Employ

The beginning stride in identifying a fundamental you might find is to look at the shape of the key and take annotation of any marks that might bespeak the brand or manufacturer. A lot of times you can place what a key is used for based on its shape and style.

Antiquarian Barrel Keys & Circular Keys for One-time Doors

These keys are what nigh people visualize and think of when we talk about old antique keys. Some people call them skeleton keys, but they are not always true skeleton chief keys that can open up every door in a building. {More on that in a fleck!}

Big butt keys were nearly oft used in locks for opening doors. Most of the keys were used for houses, offices, and other areas where one wanted to limit access to others.

A notable manufacturer of this style of lock is the Corbin brand, which started in 1839 and still exists today under the Corbin Russwin brand of parent visitor ASSA ABLOY.

If you find an sometime style Corbin Russwin cardinal, it very well likely may accept been used in a school, factory or hospital, since they manufactured locks and keys primarily for commercial and institutional use. Corbin also manufactured quite a scrap of master keys, and so let's talk almost that adjacent.

Skeleton Keys and Master Keys

Primary keys {aka truthful skeleton keys} are 1 blazon of key that is unremarkably associated with hotels, apartment buildings, warehouses, churches, offices and institutions considering oft times many unlike people needed different types of access to different parts of a building.

In a public building for example, the janitor may demand a key to every room to make clean, but not every worker needed to admission every single room. The janitor would accept a principal central that could open all the doors, while a worker may but have a key to his or her specific function.

Nigh main keys have the rounded barrel style and shape, but typically a principal fundamental will only piece of work in a building where all of the locks match that specific fundamental.

For case, if you lot take a master key for a edifice in New York, it is highly improbable that same chief key would open all the doors in a building in Philadelphia or Boston.

If you lot're hoping that you can buy any type of skeleton primal and information technology will open your one-time lock, this unfortunately is probably non the case…just yous can certainly attempt. You only might get lucky!

Antique butt keys are ofttimes mistaken as skeleton keys because they share a like fashion and shape. There are typically a couple of notable differences, merely unless you lot are a locksmith it can sometimes be difficult to tell.

The keys that continue with primary keys are sometimes chosen valet keys {useful for cars parked in a garage where you do non want to give the attendant access to the glove box} and are likewise sometimes called (controversially) as slave keys. This essay past Peggy Shinner on LitHub is an insightful read on that topic.

Antique Chest and Torso Keys

These keys have like rounded barrel shape and style equally the skeleton keys, but they are usually a little bit smaller than keys used for doors. These smaller versions of barrel keys were oft used to lock things like trunks and chests.

The keys you may notice of this variety very well could accept once belonged to an one-time antique steamer trunk. Once the railroads in the U.S. were built, it was very common for people to travel by rail to visit family and friends.

Vintage & Antique Suitcase Keys

While nigh people no longer pack a big trunk and breast when they go traveling, they practice usually pack a suitcase! Suitcases fabricated their appearance sometime in the late 1890's but did non really proceeds more popularity until the early 1900'south.

Suitcases were much lighter than heavy steamer trunks, and then were their locks and keys. These locks and keys were almost applied for keeping the suitcase from coming open up during travel and were not necessarily for security.

In the 1970'due south, suitcases began to shift in fashion and pattern, and today many people utilize simply bags or rolling cases. While a suitcase key you detect may be over fifty years old, these keys aren't much different in manner or shape than ones you can buy today.

Stringed Instrument Example Keys

Many musical instruments such as the violin, guitar and mandolins have locks on the hard body shell style of cases. While these locks are not exactly practical for security, they did assistance ensure that the case would stay closed while traveling, since many musicians often traveled to perform.

These keys are typically small and similar to a suitcase style of key, but tin sometimes be plant in the rounded barrel shape associated with antiquarian door keys and skeleton keys.

Vintage Auto Keys

The first car central was invented past Chrysler in 1949 as a ways to turn on the ignition of a car. Other car manufacturers such equally Ford before long followed suit and by the 1960s almost every automobile needed keys in order to be able to drive.

These early keys were pretty uncomplicated to reproduce…and the blazon of lock unfortunately was also pretty like shooting fish in a barrel for automobile thieves to work around and start a car.

In the late 1980'southward, car manufacturers began experimenting with different ways to brand cars more than hard to suspension into and steal. Chevrolet and Cadillac introduced coded keys and by the 1990s most cars came with a fob that could unlock doors and set off alarms.

While the technology and manner has changed over the years on modern car keys, one very interesting thing to call back about is is pretty soon we may no longer fifty-fifty demand them!

Many of the newer cars starting in 2017 do not even require a key to turn on, which some of us who learned to drive on older cars may never quite become used to.

One affair that makes car keys collectible is there are many people who collect dissimilar types of car memorabilia. People tend to be very loyal to their favorite kinds of cars, whether they are a "Ford Person" or a "Chevy Person".

Antique motorcar shows are a favorite summer past time for many people, and even machine dealers, mechanics and auto stores like to decorate with various erstwhile automobile themed memorabilia. For this reason, if you have old machine keys you don't want, while they may not exactly be a high value particular, at that place are certainly a lot of people who might want them!

Tubular Keys / Vending Keys

This type of cardinal is easy to identify considering information technology looks very dissimilar from other kinds of keys. Information technology usually is flat and short with a round stem shaped like a cylinder. These kinds of keys have a hollow stem that actually fits over the center post inside the lock.

While no lock is fully "thief proof", one advantage of these keys is they are harder for the average person to interruption into. The circular tubular style of the central is more than hard for thieves to choice unless they have certain tools more often than not just bachelor to licensed and registered lock smiths.

Because they are a deterrent for your average thief, these types of keys are very common for things that need to be locked in public areas. You will often encounter this fashion of these kinds of keys for high-security types of things such as fireproof safes, vending machines, coin-operated laundromats and bike locks.

Some restaurants, stores, and travel plazas even apply these styles of keys to lock up the toilet paper in public restrooms!

Padlock Keys

The earliest known course of padlocks were used in the Roman Era, dating quondam effectually 300 – 400 BC, although early forms of them take likewise been found in ancient Prc.

A padlock is frequently used in situations where one needs portability, and so these were a popular lock used by merchants who traveled the trade routes.

When you consider how far and oftentimes these merchants traveled, it is not surprising how chop-chop these types of locks and keys fabricated their way around the entire world!

The padlock consists of three parts: the body, the shackle, and the locking mechanism itself. Padlocks have been used to baby-sit trunks, chests, containers, sheds, barns, gates, and more.

They can be cut off if absolutely necessary, just that typically requires tools or creature force entry that would draw attending or exit evidence that could lead to catching the thief.

Smaller, lite-duty padlocks were often used for things such as cabinets, furniture doors and small chests and wooden boxes. These padlocks are non considered to exist loftier security, but did offering some protection confronting people who might be snooping or kids who did not want to get in trouble for taking something.

Diary/Novelty Keys

If you lot always detect a overnice adorable key, it most probable came from either a diary or small decorative box. These styles of keys are mostly only for show and not very practical for any sort of security.

Typically these keys are VERY modest, and some replications may not have e'er belonged to any sort of working lock – they are but for decorative apply.

You lot tin also sometimes find novelty padlocks and keys that were sometimes created and used for protecting diaries or jewelry boxes.

I personally like to use these types of keys as unique charms for bracelets, keychains, crafts, assemblage art, miniatures, and dioramas. There are a lot of fun ways they can be used!

Clock Keys & Watch Winders

Some other type of old vintage key yous may sometimes see are clock keys and watch winders. These keys were used to wind the gears inside old watches and clocks.

You tin can detect these types of keys that once belonged to railroad vehicle clocks, antique clocks, pocket watches, and even music boxes. Sometimes you lot'll find keys that belonged to old miniatures and collectible toys that have small engines fabricated by Meccano Motors.

Brands & Manufacturers of Different Keys Through History

Now that we understand a good flake about the different kinds of keys, it's also helpful to take a little bit of familiarity with the unlike brands and manufacturers throughout history.

Locksmithing every bit a career and merchandise truly boomed in the mid 1800's, and once the Industrial Revolution began many more companies emerged.

Hither are some common manufacturers for different lock brands and keys:

Crouch & Fitzgerald
Corbin Hawkeye
Everlasting
Excelsior
Hartmann
Long
Milwaukee
Presto
Star
Wheary
Yale {Also known every bit Yale & Towne}

Keys would also often have different companies and brands stamped on them, depending on what the company made.

For example, Ford and GMC have their logos engraved on a lot of the older model motorcar keys. Samsonite, a company well known for suitcases and luggage also ofttimes had their make stamped on the key.

What Are Onetime Keys Worth? Are Former Keys Worth Anything?

The last question a lot of people enquire is whether or non sometime antique keys are worth anything. The answer is – maybe, information technology depends.

Here are the factors to consider when we value onetime keys:

Historic period: Generally speaking, the older something is the more potential value information technology might have. Ancient keys that are over 500 years old certainly exercise fetch a nice amount, although they are not by and large like shooting fish in a barrel to observe and also practise non have a huge market.

Condition: Status is another important factor to consider with antique and vintage keys. If the central is significantly rusty or is broken, it is probably meliorate suited for craft projects than selling as an antique item.

Cloth: Some other thing to consider is what the central is made of. Precious metals such as aureate and silvery are going to fetch far more than a primal made of ferrous iron. Contumely keys are common, but are as well worth slightly more than the ones made out of iron.

The best way to cheque whether your cardinal is made of a precious metal is to take a magnet to information technology. If the magnet sticks to the key, it is fabricated from ferrous metals and therefore not worth very much.

I hope this guide to the unlike types of vintage and antique keys is useful for you in identifying old keys and their value. If you lot've been wondering if erstwhile keys are worth anything or whether they are something to collect, the answer is yes!

Practice you have any interesting vintage keys in your collection or demand help identifying an former key? Share your thoughts and ask questions in the comments section below – we're happy to hear from you!