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    • Home
    • A Life's Collection
      • Skeleton Keys
      • Automobile Keys
      • Aftermarket & Look-Alikes
      • Padlocks & Latches
      • Cylinders & Cores
      • Banking, Vault & Combo
    • Prized Finds
      • Ornate Originals
      • Commercial Keys
      • Unusual Applications
      • Equipment & Supplies
    • They Speak to Me
      • Sales Pieces
      • Tags & Fobs
      • Original Packaging
    • XO
      • Great Memories
      • In a Family Way
      • For Trade
    • Book a Talk
  • Home
  • A Life's Collection
    • Skeleton Keys
    • Automobile Keys
    • Aftermarket & Look-Alikes
    • Padlocks & Latches
    • Cylinders & Cores
    • Banking, Vault & Combo
  • Prized Finds
    • Ornate Originals
    • Commercial Keys
    • Unusual Applications
    • Equipment & Supplies
  • They Speak to Me
    • Sales Pieces
    • Tags & Fobs
    • Original Packaging
  • XO
    • Great Memories
    • In a Family Way
    • For Trade
  • Book a Talk
KeyOfTheDay

K E Y O F T H E D A Y

K E Y O F T H E D A Y K E Y O F T H E D A Y

Equipment & Supplies

For many, key collecting is part of a greater landscape of lock collecting and locksmithing; the overarching Hardware Store culture. While it's harder all the time to find a dusty old family-run hardware store, rich with story and new old stock, there are touchstones to be found in many antique shops, second-hand stores and flea markets every day

Acquired in Lewisburg, PA, this intact display of key blanks, complete with original paper shade, is from a defunct WT Grant department store

These colorful blanks are made of anodized aluminum. Popular in the 1950s  through the 1970s when brass and steel were in short supply, they often sheered off in locks because they are brittle

This ILCO (Independent Lock Co) key duplicator is among the simplest. Often a first step for an aspiring locksmith, it does the job of copying the bit pattern of an original key onto a brass or aluminum blank

This handsome enameled steel rack, c. 1930s, was made to organize and merchandise key blanks in a retail environment

This rack was likely designed for a maintenance shop or similar environment where individual or small groups of keys would return repeatedly to the rack, hence the oval spaces for marking

This piece is more modern and likely intended for an automotive service garage with 'transient' keys, likely marked with temporary paper or plastic tags

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  • For Trade

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