July 
19 2 0 
2 .? 
A collection of 16 th and 18 th Cen¬ 
tury European keys. From the 
Metropolitan Museum 
Homer mentions what seems to have 
been a simple appliance composed 
of a leathern thong inserted through 
a hole in the door, an attached 
ring or hook serving to unlock 
an inner bolt when this flexible 
“key” was so manipulated. Some¬ 
how the operation suggests fishing 
without bait, exciting perhaps as a 
pastime, but not very apt to get one 
anywhere when returning late from 
the Trieterica. I am inclined to 
think that Homer’s device drove the 
multitude to thinking up something 
more certain, something more like 
the key - shaped bronze fragment 
which Dr. Schliemann, the famous 
archaeologist, discovered at the site 
of Troy, and which may have given 
The intricate workmanship on these 
keys justifies the collector’s enthu¬ 
siasm 
access to some Trojan treasure-trove 
long centuries ago. 
China seems to possess a blanket 
priority on all devices, and so it is 
that we must respect her claim to the 
invention of locks and keys, examples 
of which are still extant and appar¬ 
ently in as good working order as 
they were in the cradle-days of the 
celestial domain. Egyptian locks 
four thousand years old have been 
discovered, locks having keys with 
pins upon them corresponding to the 
retaining pegs of the lock cavity, the 
key being inserted into the bolt end. 
Such devices came into use in remote 
parts of Europe at a later period. 
The Romans improved the Egyptian 
(Continued on page 56) 
A 17 th Cen¬ 
tury lock and 
key 
An example 
of Baroque 
design in late 
R e n a i s - 
sance locks 
Locksmiths of the \tsth and Vlth Century delighted not 
atone in the design of their work but in the intricacy of its 
mechanism. An example is this iron German chest, the top 
lid bearing a complicated system of levers and springs to 
operate the three locks 
A lock of or¬ 
nate design of 
typical \1t h 
Century 
workmanship 
jgSjss&ef 
A lock and 
key of the 
Vlth Century 
The Last 
Judgment is 
depicted in 
this triptych 
iron lock of 
the French 
Gothic period 
