c.1-200 CE Ancient Roman bronze tumbler lock bolt, discovered in North Lincolnshire (left) and c.100-300 CE Ancient Roman bronze ring-key for a tumbler lock, discovered in UK (right).

c.1500s Swiss hand-forged wrought iron door closing lever/key.

c.1600s Swiss hand-forged iron door key.

1600-1700s French or Swiss hand-forged wrought iron door key.

c.1700s Italian large hand-forged wrought iron door key.

c.1700s Swiss hand-forged iron warded chest lock and key. This old lock features an interesting locking mechanism – rather than throwing a bolt, the key when turned opens two metal pincers, and then closes them when released.

c.1700s Swiss or French hand-forged wrought iron locking bolt.

1700s French hand-made warded cabinet lock with double-bolted mechanism, made of iron, steel and brass, and steel key. The key and keyhole are shaped like a four-leaf clover – a security feature to prevent keys of the wrong shape from being inserted into the mechanism. Two throws (two full turns of the key) are required to fully lock this mechanism with the two bolts.

1700s French hand-made warded cabinet lock, made of iron, steel and brass.

1700s French hand-forged door key.

c. late 1700s-early 1800s French wrought iron ‘trick’ padlock. The padlock’s keyway is protected by a spring-loaded iron cover, which only releases when a small protruding bit of metal to the right of the keyway is pushed upwards. In an era long before power tools, this ‘secret’ method of accessing the keyway acted as a security measure to delay lockpicking-type attacks.

c.1800s English iron warded chest lock and key. It bears the initials ‘V.R.’ – Latin for Victoria Regina – indicating it was made during Queen Victoria’s reign (1837-1901).

c.1800s wrought iron warded padlock, likely made in Western Europe. The key cover is missing, revealing the spoked keyhole: a security feature to prevent unauthorised keys (and other instruments) from being inserted into the keyway.

1800s French front door key.

c.1800s English iron warded lock and kidney-bow warded key, from a strongbox. Previously part of the family collection of prominent London locksmiths, Tower Security (1938-2011).

c.1843 Abraham Thompson iron screw padlock, made in England. This padlock works by inserting the key and turning it clockwise, which screws it into place. The user then pulls on the key to activate the spring-loaded mechanism that releases the shackle.

c.1800s collection of French steel warded & lever security safe keys.

c.1850 English kidney-bow warded strongbox key. This iron key is for a Victorian-era strongbox used to store high value items, such as gold or silver, and has intricate hand-made cuts that fit into the complex warded lock of the box. It was in the family collection of prominent London locksmiths, Tower Security (1938-2011), until 2025.

c.1850-80s Abraham Thompson iron warded padlock, made in England. While Abraham Thompson’s locks were made in Willenham, England, this one – like many – were exported to the US for use on the railways and at industrial sites.

c.1850-90s Italian double-ended warded iron key.

c.1870 Barron’s iron and brass 2-lever tumbler improved padlock, made in England.

c.1870s ‘improved hand-made’ iron and brass warded padlock, likely made in Great Britain.

c.1870s wrought iron and brass ‘trick’ padlock, made in the USA. This padlock features a fake keyhole, with the genuine one hidden, as a very basic form of protective deception.

c.1870s Langebear & Co. solid brass warded padlock, made in Birmingham, UK.

c.1870s Sargent & Co iron and brass smokehouse spring-action padlock, made in USA.

c.1880 Chubb & Sons miniature 4-lever brass padlock, made in England. This rare and tiny padlock was purpose-made for J. H. Steward Ltd of London.

c.1880s Barron’s patent warded & lever padlock, made in England. This lock was designed for high-security applications: with intricate warding, multiple levers, three protective layers of iron, and a large shackle guard.

1884 Chubb & Sons solid brass 5-lever half mortise lock with Detector mechanism, made in England. Previously of the family collection of prominent London locksmiths, Tower Security (1938-2011).

c.1890 Bramah brass lock, made in London, England.

c.1890 J. T. Needs & Co. heavy brass Bramah padlock, made in London, England.

c.1890s Hauschild brass, iron and steel 4-lever seal padlock, made in Berlin, Germany. Production of these padlocks started in the early 1870s, and continued into the first quarter of the 1900s, with thousands being manufactured for German Empire Customs use. Later versions had 5 and then 6 levers, and sometimes 1 ward, improving upon the padlocks’ resistance to lockpicking. The padlock’s dust cover and case have aligning holes to accept wire tamper-evident seals, used once the padlock was secured into place upon the container housing the goods under customs duty.

c.1900 4-wheel steel and brass combination padlock, made in France. This padlock has 14,641 possible combinations.

c.1900 Bramah brass jewellery box lock, made in London, England.

c.1900-1920 Chubb & Sons solid brass 6-lever deadlock.

c.1900-1920 Chubb & Sons steel and brass lever night latch. This lock is unusual in that the levers also act as the bolt, which is likely why the levers are made of steel rather than brass, for greater strength.

c.1900 J.H.W. Climax ‘jail house’ type lever padlock, made in New Jersey, USA.

1905 Hobbs & Co. solid brass seal lever padlock (Tucker & Reeves Patent) and steel key, made for HM Customs in England. This padlock was used on bonded warehouses and containers by HM Customs (and then HM Customs and Excise after 1909). Unlike most padlocks, which are usually only designed to delay an attacker, this one is also designed to provide tamper-evidence – providing assurance that the protected goods have not been altered or removed.

c.1905 Chubb & Sons brass and steel 6-lever Detector padlock, made in England.

c.1910 Fichet steel and brass front door 5-lever rim sash lock, made in France. This lock has a large deadbolt that takes two throws to fully extend.

c.1910 Mosler 5-H four-wheel safe combination lock, made in USA.

c.1910 Yale Push Key Pin Tumbler padlock, made in the USA.

c.1910 Chubb & Sons brass and steel lever Detector padlock, made in England.

1914 advertisement for Yale & Towne Manufacturing Company locks. It reads ‘A YALE cylindrical lock replaces a dozen revolvers’, indicating the lock ability to provide “absolute security”.

c.1915 Miller Lock Company solid brass Champion 6-lever ‘pancake’ padlock, made in USA. This padlock works by inserting and pushing the key into a small pick-resistant slit at the base of the lock to align the 6 internal levers, removing the key, and then reinserting and pushing it to release the spring-loaded shackle.

c.1920 Milners’ Safe Company Limited steel and brass 9-lever triple stump lock, made in England. This is a high-security lock designed for securing safes. As such, it has a heavy steel housing resistant to forced entry attacks, explosive attacks, and nine levers and three stumps to resist lockpicking, including an anti-pressure bolt stump.

c.1920s Ratner Safe Company steel and brass 9-lever lock, removed from a safe. Made in England. This high-security lock has false-notched brass levers (hindering lockpicking), a relocker tail (designed to keep the safe locked if the primary lock bolt is destroyed) and a bolt-blocker (to protect against manipulation of the bolt).

c.1920 Hobbs & Co. iron and brass 4-lever padlock and keys, with original black paint, made in England. This padlock has a very smooth lock movement, testament to the quality and accuracy of the lever locking mechanism.

c.1930 Yale & Towne brass and steel pin tumbler padlock, made in England. This particular padlock has overlapping protection of the steel shackle and a pick-resistant keyway.

1935 Eagle Lock Company print advertisement, showcasing the company’s range of locks.

1940 W. M. Pinson and Son Ltd. steel lever padlock, made in England, previously used by the British Military.

c.1940 Saigal & Co. iron and brass lever padlock, hand forged in India.

c.1940s Chubb’s brass lever padlocks, made in Australia. Both padlocks are believed to have been purpose-made for the Western Australian Prisons Department for use at Freemantle Prison, a Victorian-era prison which closed in 1991. The letters indicate which series of a master key system the locks belong to (in this case the F series).

1952 Chubb & Son Lock and Safe Company print advertisement, promoting the use of “anti-burglar” locks for home security.

1967 Chatwood-Milner Manifoil (Manipulation Foiled) Mark III manipulation-resistant combination lock on a steel key safe made by Pioneer Welding Co. Ltd. Former UK Ministry of Defence.

c.1975 Sargent & Greenleaf Inc. 6700 series Group 2 mechanical combination lock, made in the USA, with high-security, manipulation-resistant mechanism.

1979 Chubb AVA B-1K42 high-security brass padlock with hardened steel unsprung shackle, made in England. This might look like an ordinary padlock but it is in fact one of the most secure padlocks ever designed. Intended to protect sensitive government assets from advanced threat actors, this lock has an almost pick-proof design. It has a double-bitted key that fits into 10 discs, equivalent to approximately 10 million possible key combinations, and ‘false gates’ to make lockpicking even more difficult. To resistant brute force attacks, the padlock is constructed of solid brass with a hardened steel shackle.

1980 Chubb Cruiser 5-lever steel padlock, made in England. The steel lock case is secured with six large rivets which are countersunk to prevent chiselling attacks. The shackle is made of 13mm-thick hardened steel, resistant to sawing attacks. The locking mechanism has a 5-lever anti-pick system, with so-called ‘false gates’ that make lock picking more difficult.

c.1980 Dény high-security brass lever padlock, made in France. This padlock is designed to accept a double-bitted key for its many levers.

1993 Kromer Protector key and combination safe lock, made in Germany. One of the most secure locks ever conceived, the Kromer Protector was invented in 1874 by German locksmith Theodor Kromer.

1995 Walsall Locks Ltd steel and brass 4-lever padlock, made in England, decommissioned from the British Army.

c.2000 Mosler MRK-302 U.L. Group 1 three tumbler mechanical combination lock with a ‘spy guard’, made in the USA. This is a US Government-grade lock, regulated by the General Services Administration (GSA) to meet specific Federal Government security requirements. As a ‘Group 1’ lock (the highest GSA grade), it is typically used on safes, vaults, secure cabinets and drawers used to store sensitive classified material, weapons, ammunition or explosives. This lock is designed to resist manipulation and surreptitious attacks by skilled threat actors. One of the security features is that the inner mechanism creates audible clicks when passing certain numbers, to make it more difficult to use audio instruments to detect the correct combination numbers.