24 
House & Garden 
THE COLLECTOR SEEKS KEYS 
Romance , History and the Work of Master Artists Are To Be Found In 
This By-way of Collecting—Those Who Scorn Not Little 
Things Find Here a Delightful Hobby 
GARDNER TEALL 
When Keys Began 
An Italian key r I ^ H ERE is 
of 19th Century nothing too 
workmanship ljttle for s0 litt le 
a creature as man, 
observed Dr. Johnson. “It is by 
studying little things that we attain 
the great art of having as little misery 
and as much happiness as possible.” 
How much misery, how much 
happiness these little old-time keys, 
which lie here before me on my study 
table, might relate! 
What a story could be told by this 
little key which once unlocked a 
jewel-box in the hand of Madame de 
Maintenon! And that one may have 
belonged to the goaler of Niort, with¬ 
in whose walls madame was born. 
With the stretch of the imagination 
proper to a real collector, may not this 
medieval bronze affair have been 
used by Bluebeard when hoarding his 
closet skeletons, or for the purpose of 
inspiring Fatima to keep up to tradi¬ 
tions? But perhaps Perrault, author 
of the tale, would have preferred this 
stubby Saracenic key as more in 
keeping with his villain’s tempera¬ 
ment, less likely to divulge the iden¬ 
tity of the suave gentleman who sug¬ 
gested this literary creation. 
The Pursuit of Little Things 
There is a fascination in collect¬ 
ing old keys that should 
not occasion the shrug¬ 
ging of shoulders at its en¬ 
thusiasts, at least when the 
pursuit is directed along 
the lines of intelligent acqui¬ 
sition. Indeed, as Fenelon 
declared, there is no real ele¬ 
vation of mind in a contempt 
of little things; it is, on the 
contrary, from too narrow 
views that we consider those 
things of little importance 
which have, in fact, such 
St. John and St. 
Peter, by Diirer, 
a painting which 
shows a key of 
D iir e r ’ s time, 
1471-1528 
extensive conse¬ 
quences. I think 
An English key 
of 19 th Century 
workmanship 
that making a col¬ 
lection of interest¬ 
ing old keys is a very sensible hobby 
indeed; the point is that the collector 
should know something about them, 
since knowing something—everything, 
when possible—about each of the ob¬ 
jects one collects is a prime requisite 
to the justification of any acquisi- 
tional excursion, whether it be in the 
realm of keys or ceramics, books or 
bonds. 
A Swiss wooden 
lock of the me¬ 
dieval period. 
Courtesy of the 
Metropolitan Mu¬ 
seum 
The history of keys and locks, like 
the history of every other useful 
thing, is replete with interest, extend¬ 
ing back as it does to very remote 
times. Certainly there is scarcely a 
more intimate object connected with 
daily routine. Someone has said that 
the key is an acknowledgment of 
man’s depravity, that if every man 
respected his neighbor’s goods and 
privacy, we should not be burdened 
with carrying keys; but it all began 
a long time ago, if Milton guessed 
aright in Paradise Lost, when Satan 
was let into the world by the Portress 
of the Gate— 
“Thus saying, from her side the fatal 
key, 
Sad instrument of all our 
woe, she took -” 
whereupon the fell entry was 
effected. 
Whether it be the famous 
key to the Bastile, now re¬ 
posing with the relics at Mt. 
Vernon, or the little instru¬ 
ment which we are continu¬ 
ally putting in the wrong 
pocket to keep the nerves 
fully exercised, the interest 
of keys is not lightly to be 
dismissed. In the Odyssey 
A late Renaissance or 17 th 
Century Baroque lock 
A lock from the late Renais¬ 
sance or 17 th Century 
A painted iron Dutch 
chest, showing the 
elaborate key plate 
and key 
