Locks - Great Bartering Relics
Published by Larry on Tagged Bartering for Coins, Relic Finds, Selling Detector Finds
Over my 39 years of metal detecting to build coin collections, locks have been one of my top relic categories for trading or for selling. My best lock was a beautiful 1888 Orange Belt Railroad lock that looked very much like the lock directly above. I sold it for $350.00 and probably could have gotten six or seven hundred for it.
The second lock at the top is a 1896 Eagle Lock also used by the Railroads as a switch lock and this one was used by the Atlantic Coast Line which followed the Orange Belt in Central/west coast Florida about 1902. The Eagle Lock Company of Terryville, CT was the largest lock maker in America at that time.
The fourth lock is also a ACL Railroad Lock and is worth three or four hundred dollars. It is a Slaymaker Lock from Lancaster City and is a turn of the century model. The key does work with the lock but is a replacement key from that time period, not the original. I found it with the lock.
The third lock is a favorite also. It is a Laclede 6-Lever lock which opens by inserting the key in the bottom. No turning of the key is necessary to unlock it. This was found in the same area as the other railroad locks but is not marked as a railroad lock. It is a very strong, high tech lock of the early 1900’s and was popular with railroad and agricultural firms.
The first lock is a non-descript but nice brass lock that makes for a good picture. I estimate the value of these locks to be about $1000.00 but are not for sale, as I gave them to my father-in-law who is a lock collector. I have dug more than 100 locks from all over the world, and sold or traded many for several thousand dollars worth of collector coins. Here’s to “diggin it”! Larry (CLICK ON LOCKS TO ENLARGE)
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