Herring-Hall Marvin Safe Co.

[legendre]

Hey folks, new member.

This seems like a good first question, as it's something that I've wondered for some time. I have here a strongbox / safe, it's painted gloss black, and has the letters "US" painted on it, in gold leaf. Measures about 26 x 19 x 19. The box is very heavy, made of single-thickness plate steel, bolstered with double-thickness plate on all corners / edges, and also in the form of straps on the faces.

It takes a key about 3" long, flat metal, about 5/16 high with a series of square cuts made into it, near the tip. A warded lock of sorts? When opened, the keylock retracts a thick brass bolt, which then allows a steel live bolt mechanism to move, under torque of the bolt handle, which is just below the keyway. The keyway also has a spring-loaded door that covers the keyhole.

On the inside, next to the lock mechanism, is written "Herring Hall Marvin Safe Company" and I believe the year is 1943.

I've been told a couple different stories but I'd like to hear what you all know about it.

[Squelchtone]

[Edit: Moved from Ask beginner lockpicking questions to This Old Safe]

Welcome to the forum, you know they say a picture is worth 1000 words, could you share some photos as well so we can see what youre talking about? Upload them to your favorite image hosting site such as http://imgur.com or http://photobucket.com and copy/paste the links to the photos in your reply here.

Cant wait to see this thing,
Squelchtone

[Squelchtone]

https://nerp.net/~legendre/locks/safe_01.jpg

https://nerp.net/~legendre/locks/safe_02.jpg

https://nerp.net/~legendre/locks/safe_03.jpg

https://nerp.net/~legendre/locks/safe_04.jpg

https://nerp.net/~legendre/locks/safe_05.jpg

https://nerp.net/~legendre/locks/safe_06.jpg

[legendre]

Please excuse the large pics. I somehow expected the forum software to compress them.. Also, the date is 1941 - not 1943, as I'd previously stated.

Now what I've heard about this box... Is that it was originally a Wells Fargo strongbox aka "gold chest", most likely made in the late 19th century. Let's call it ca. 1890, just as a common point of reference. After the Wells service ended, many of these boxes were taken out of service and placed in storage, in the early 20th century.

The boxes sat in storage until the advent of either WWI, WWII - or both. At those times, they were purchased by the Fed, sent to Herring-Hall Marvin for refurbishment, and finally put into use by the army as field pay boxes, and so forth.

There is some old newspaper in the bottom, which I believe dates from the mid-late 1940s. And again, the year 1941 is clearly marked on the underside of the lid, adjacent to the lock mechanism.

ETA - Actual size is 24" (w) x 15" (h) x 15" (d)

ETA2 - Gotta love those 3/4" chrome-moly live bolts!!

[Squelchtone]

I think you may get more answers from the folks at antique-locks.com forum.

During war efforts many companies made things to the same specifications. While one may have been made by HHM, another may have been made by Mosler such as this one, take a look: http://forum.ktr.nl/index.php?topic=2949.0

Very cool field safe man! How did you come to be the owner of one of these? Here's one that sold on ebay for $500 http://www.ebay.com/itm/281784619152

Squelchtone

[legendre]

"Safe, Field, Key-Lock", eh? Thanks for searching that up..

Interesting photos, but man.. I have to say, that re-paint job makes me shudder. I can only hope the original finish was +so+ gone as to actually justify taking such destructive measures! Mine is no beauty queen, but at least it seems to have a largely original finish.. which is also odd, being that it's black with gold markings, rather than OD with black markings.

There are a number of common features between mine and the one in the photo, including the.. what do you call that? It's a pair of loops, for attaching a wax / crimp seal? They're on the front seam of the lid, left of the handle.

The safe was a gift from my future ex-wife, almost 25 years ago. She bought it off a mutual friend.

BTW, not only am I old enough to recognize your avatar image - but I even have a vinyl copy of it sitting on the record rack, along with the rest of the Tangerine Dream. =P

[legendre]

Pardon this.. can no longer edit my last post.

Just took a look at the box in the eBay link. While it seems to have more surface corrosion - yes, that one looks very much like the specimen we're discussing. In all these years, it's the closest example I've ever seen. Mine is painted white on the inside as well, btw.

I'm still curious, as regards the Wells Fargo angle, and this is mostly due to an advertisement I saw in Shotgun News, well over a decade ago. Some advertiser (could have been SARCO) had come up with a lot of milsurp strongboxes, very similar to these, offered in various grades at various prices. In the advert, it was claimed that these were ex-Wells Fargo gold chests, purchased surplus by the guv and refurbished for use as pay boxes in one or both of the world wars.

But what to make of that black paint, with metallic gold 'US' in a fancy serif font? That's more like WWI (or Civil War) than WW2, for sure.

[Squelchtone]

BTW, not only am I old enough to recognize your avatar image - but I even have a vinyl copy of it sitting on the record rack, along with the rest of the Tangerine Dream. =P

great, yet another thing I need to buy on ebay! Listening to Tangerine Dream has led me down a road to all sorts of other good music. you should give Blackmill "rain" and Tycho "awake" a listen

Nice to meet another fan,
Squelchtone

Update: just purchased it: http://www.ebay.com/itm/181784497667