Old Victor Safe & Lock Co. combination safe that is lock

[turbine]

My friend at work purchased a house a few years ago and in the attic is a large (approx 3ft square) Victor Safe & Lock Co. combination safe. The previouse owners said the safe was there when they bought the house.

We are getting more curuios every day as to whether or not this safe has anything in it. It looks to be about 100 years old. It has something about an award in 1902 in St. Louis on the front. We have inquired about having a professional open the safe, but they want $250-$300 to open it, and another $200 to fix it after they get into it. I guess they are planning on drilling it??

Since this is an old safe can it be opened by a couple of amatuers like us with a stethoscope? We are fortunate enough to be able to get it x-rayed for free, hopefully be able to see if there is something inside. Can an x-ray be used to help in opening the safe? Does anyone have any information on the history of this company.

TIA

[Varjeal]

Honestly, I think your best bet would be to do some price shopping. I'm not sure what country/area you are from, but that price sounds a bit high. I would ask if that quote they offered is a "maximum". In other words, that price they gave you is probably intentionally high to cover themselves for most possibilities.

If possible, can you also post pictures, especially of the dial and ring, and a picture of the safe door itself.

I always get excited when I hear about these type of safes cause you never know what you'll find in 'em. I once opened a safe for a family whose grandfather died, and the safe contained approximately 10,000 in margarine containers.

Good luck, and keep us posted.

[Chucklz]

From the owner of a safe thats about 20 years older than yours, ask the technicians you talk to to NOT drill your safe. You may find that its worth a considerable bit more than what you find in it.

[randmguy]

Turbine, you might try contacting technical schools in your area. If they have a locksmith or safe technician course most of the instructors would love to see a antique like that just to show their students examples of how the state of the art compares to something like that. I had an instructor who lived to try his hand at things like that. He once spent a weekend hand manipulating an antique (mid 1800's) Victor for a Catholic orphanage.

Another off the wall idea is that the orphanage held a sort of raffle where you could guess the combination of the safe for $1. The deal was any winning combo got $500 and if none matched then they drew names for the prize. It was just strange enough that they made about $4000 and change.

[turbine]

Thanks for the replys. We are going to shop around for some more quotes on getting the safe opened without drilling. We are located in east central Illinois near Terre Haute, Indiana if anybody knows a good place in the area. We hope to be able to get our x-ray next week and we will try to post a picture the x-ray. Here are some pictures of the safe. Does anybody have anymore information on this thing? Can a novice manipulate it?

Thanks!