Help me identify an old safe.

the acorn hinge pin helps... I dont have my book handy but that I think says a brand. handle is odd... got the combo?

--Shiva--

herring marvin hall

thats what was in my mind as well..

--Shiva--

Thanks for the quick response. Is there a source available on the internet that could explain the correct way to enter a combination and also tell me how many numbers are in the combination. There is paperwork in filing cabinets all over this building and I am hoping to stumble across the combination. It would help if I knew how many numbers I was looking for.

Thanks, Ed

--Shiva--

Virtual all safes are either three or (less commonly) four numbers. Obviously, each of those numbers may be more than one digit.

If it's three then the most common sequence would be: Turn the dial left

Note that if folk are even slightly clueful, almost ANY number in the building may be the combo. They may have recorded it as phone number, a zip code, a customer number, a price, you-name-it. What they emphatically should *NOT* have done is write it down as "SAFE COMBINATION" or in the obvious 23-35-17 sort of sequence.

(Actually, they shouldn't have written it down at all, but folks often ignore that advice. I usually recommend that, if they absolutely must put it on paper, they not only mask it as some other kind of number but apply some additional encoding -- add or subtract a modifier that they'll remember -- so that even if someone figures out what it is they still can't use it without that unrecorded piece of additional information.)

If that doesn't work then reverse the sequence.

This is however most likely how they did it if they did it at all. Most likely in close proximity to the safe in question.

A very good idea, but not something most people do on their own.

Ed:

That safe looks very cool...

Needs some clean-up though (it looks kinda like it was salvaged off the Titanic)...

If I was in your shoes I would find a locksmith in the area who has experience working with safes and pay that person to open it for you...

Trying to find a combination written down somewhere it pointless... Do you even know when the last time the safe was used ???

Pay someone to open it for you -- you can have the combination reset and the lock itself serviced... Cleaning up the exterior of the safe would probably be good too if you are planning to sell it...

Evan

Yeah, I scraped off lots of old paint and rust looking for any identification marks...

Well, I'm not actually "trying" to find the combination, but I figured I might stumble across it. There are many paper records that I'm gonna go through just because I'm a curious person.

I can guarantee it's been longer than 10 years since it's been used!

I think I agree about paying someone, I wouldn't want to ruin it. I'm going to keep it, just so I can say I have it. It will be nice to store some important documents in and I imagine the price for opening it is comparable to the price of one of those decent fire proof safes.

If anyone has any recommendations for a locksmith in the SW PA area, please let me know. Thanks for all of the responses so far.

Ed

--------Thanks, I did notice many more results when searching in that order. I tried it a couple of ways after the original poster mentioned the name.

ED

--Shiva--

That's reasonable - and as part of the pride, you might look at restoring the original "look".

It is important to distinguish between "safe" (in the sense of a box that is hard to get into) and "fire proof" (protection from elevated temperatures).

Your safe won't provide much fire protection. The inexpensive "fire proof (gag)safes" (I'd call them "containers" not "safes".) won't provide much protection against entry.

You can mix and match by, e.g., putting a fire proof container inside your safe.

SOMETIMES HATE spell checkers...

HHM !!! --Shiva--