Looking for Old safe reference material

Bob Rochon · Post by **Bob Rochon** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 7:57 am

I am looking for pictures or photographs, maybe in a website or even if books are still available for reference.

I Have painted my paint cabinet already and installed a dummy dial, now I'd love to see different variations of old safe designs.

thanks for any help in advance.

William Holohan · Post by **William Holohan** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 9:32 am

Bob,
Call or stop in to Purinton Locksmiths in Worcester....Oldest continuously operating locksmith co. in the USA. (1858) They are big time safe experts. They had a fantastic collection of old safe books, catalogs, etc. Explain to them what you are doing and I am sure they would be more than happy to help. You might even pick up some safe restoration repaints.
In case you want to call first, 508-754-2616. 203 Grove Street.
WEB: www.purinton.com

Ron Berlier · Post by **Ron Berlier** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 12:42 pm

Bob,

If you succeed in obtaining some book titles it would sure be nice if you would post a few of them here.

TNX

Ron

Doug Bernhardt · Post by **Doug Bernhardt** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 8:29 pm

I'd try Palms ornaments....Rick Glawson gave me a photocopied-copy quite a few years ago and it has been very, very useful ever since. Not only for the actual ornaments but more largely for the inspiration.

Bob Rochon · Post by **Bob Rochon** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 9:14 pm

I was all set to purchase Don 's CD but vehicle repairs put that on the back burner for now. I'm looking to get the Palms CD's soon still.

Post by **Mike Jackson** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 12:40 pm

Check out these pages:

http://glswrk-auction.com/mc05.htm

http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~ ... osler.html

Mossler Safe made a lot of the nice old ones.

Mike Jackson

Ron Berlier · Post by **Ron Berlier** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 7:52 pm

Hi Bob,

If you go to eBay and search on Antique Safe, sometimes you can find some interesting floor safes with art work. None will be as nice as the one that Mike provided a link for, but you may be able to get some ideas for your use. Unfortunately, usually, the art work on the safes needs restoration.

HTH

Ron

Jeff Lang · Post by **Jeff Lang** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 8:43 am

Bob,
Google is a good source for reference photos.
When I am looking for a photo of anything, I will go to:
http://www.google.com
and use the "images" tab, between Web and Groups.
I'd type in the word I was looking for, & to be more specific, I would put two words in quotations.
"Old Safe" brought this result.

and "safe door" this one

Often the photos do not have a great amount of detail, but for color, design, & content, it can be very useful.
Jeff

Doug Fielder · Post by **Doug Fielder** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 10:58 am

Does anybody know if all that fine intricate stuff was silk screened before leafing or was it all done by hand?
Great tip Jeff, I will use that more often.

Post by **Danny Baronian** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 11:26 am

The photo directly above is most likely a Palm Ornament decal. The corner element in the photo is the same as in the Palm's book. Rick had the Palm's Transfer Ornaments book and a number of the actual decals at Esoteric.

Don Coplan digitized a most of the Palm designs and has them for sale on CD. The decals are long gone.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Aug 09, 2005 9:15 pm

Yes, that is definitely a Palm's decal. It's included on the CDs. That one was a bear to digitize, but is a cool one.

Jim Moser · Post by **Jim Moser** » Wed Aug 31, 2005 4:02 pm

A lot of the old safes that I have seen and worked on, especially ones from Hall's and Diebold appear to be entirely hand painted, possibly using patterns, but the designs are not perfectly symetrical. I think that one artist may have done work for both companies as they are located in Cincinnati.

I have some pictures in my collection that I could post if that would be helpful. Jim Ingram did some restoration on safes in the California State Capital bldg. and also a lot of work at the Railroad Museum in Sacramento. He probably has some pretty good reference.

I am always looking for reference on this kind of artwork so anything someone is willing to post will be greatly apprediated.

I am working on a fake vault door right now, so will post some pics when it is finished........

Jim

Ron Berlier · Post by **Ron Berlier** » Wed Aug 31, 2005 4:28 pm

Greetings Jim!

I would also be interested in seeing anything you have the time and inclination to post.

You're post makes me think of the Pole Vault Safe Co. locker that you and others worked on in Mendocino. Perhaps Riax will also post a photo or two.

Ron

Jim Moser · Post by **Jim Moser** » Wed Aug 31, 2005 4:39 pm

I wonder if Rick ever finished that cabinet, he was going to paint a cow pole vaulting over the moon on it somewhere......Bob Iverson helped with that too.