Antique Collections?

[WhiteHat]

I'm thinking of starting up a collection of antique locks - there's often quite a few available on ebay. Mostly just for the "Cool" factor, and partially because I love history.

one's that I'm looking at are:
chinese combination lock:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... Track=true

Chinese dragon lock - very early design with the spring metal inside.. quite cool.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... Track=true

Does anyone here have a collection themselves?

[Exodus5000]

The brass mortice lock reminds me of a contraption called a "Cryptex" I read about in "The Da Vinci Code." I'll reiterate some of it here - maybe someone could acctually make one too.

The lock was a cylyndrical device with a hollow center to hold messages, It had 5 lettered dials that would turn and the tumblers inside would line up. It works much like a bicycle lock in the sense that you align the dials in the proper proportion and the lock opens. You would then pull the collumn apart and read your message. The ingenious part about this device is that you couldn't just smash the device to get at what is inside. The note inside the Cryptex was written on Papyrus. Along side the note was a glass vial full of vinegar. If the cryptex was brute forced the glass broke spilling vinegar on the papyrus note and disolved it.

As far as I know the cryptex was ussually made of marble. Maybe someone has the skill and time to make one.

[seahawk]

My house locks are antiques

[MrB]

The brass mortice lock reminds me of a contraption called a "Cryptex" I read about in "The Da Vinci Code."

By the way, The Da Vinci Code is fiction.

I have a hard time believing that vinegar dissolves papyrus or paper so quickly that you can't read what's on it. Also you could break open the thing under water. Or you could cut it open very gently so as not to disturb the contents.

I find it very amusing how it is often assumed that three thousand years ago people must somehow have been ignorant fools.

[logosys]

I'm thinking of starting up a collection of antique locks - there's often quite a few available on ebay. Mostly just for the "Cool" factor, and partially because I love history.

one's that I'm looking at are:
chinese combination lock:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... Track=true

Chinese dragon lock - very early design with the spring metal inside.. quite cool.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... Track=true

Does anyone here have a collection themselves?

I like the one where you shove the key up the dragon's ass...

[scrapheap]

While vinegar might not disolve papyrus if the message was written on some rice paper then that would definatly not like any liquid getting on it.

I am very tempted to have a go at making one just for the sake of it, of course I would not make it out of marble as suggested because that is expensive and hard to work with. Prehaps I will use some kind of wood.

[Exodus5000]

I never said that a cryptex wasn't without it's flaws, or that it was even regularly used. Im only guessing, but even while the book is fiction i would'nt be surprised if a cryptex is a real device. And the scarcity of it's use (only by leo da vinci apparently) would make it so that no one would really know about the vinegar inside. Of course you could use more fragile papers and a more destructive liquid as well. Maybe even just a glass vial full of ink to stain the paper.

So while your criticisms are valid, maybe they're just a bit too hasty.
Also if you do make one scrapheap, definately post pictures.

[MrB]

Exodus:

Sorry, evidently not enough smileys in my post.

I'm afraid the Da Vinci Code is a pet peeve of mine. I found it flawed, riddled with cliches and weak plotlines, certainly far short of classic status; and yet it has been made into a "best seller". A typical example of publishers pushing mediocre work with saturation marketing to boost sales, and never mind the quality.

On top of that I have seen with amazement how many follow-on books have now been published to analyse, comment on, and debunk the "facts" contained within it. What is it with people, that they take an inconsequential work of fiction so seriously?

"Only in America." Can I say that without offending anyone?

[oldlock]

Most of the ' antique locks ' on ebay are modern crap.

There are various antique lock websites on the net such as :

www.lockcollectors.com
www.antique-locks.com

etc

Paul