Trilobate Key With A Drilled Shaft, Featuring A Complex Panneton Cut.

Italy, circa 1820–1840

Exceptional and imposing wrought-iron safe key, remarkable both for its dimensions and weight and for the extraordinary sophistication of its construction.

The key features a large, sober and perfectly functional oval two-finger bow, providing an easy grip despite the substantial proportions of the piece. It joins the shank through a substantial 21 mm moulded collar, carefully turned and highlighted by double moulded rings.

The long hollow-bored shank itself forms part of the security system. At its end, it reveals a remarkable trefoil-shaped internal profile, designed to correspond precisely with the lock mechanism.

The bit, approximately 4 cm high, is exceptionally complex. Thick and deeply worked, it features a succession of openings, longitudinal cuts, curvilinear profiles and passages arranged on several levels. This intricate mechanical architecture reflects the sophistication of the security mechanism for which the key was intended.

Particularly striking is the contrast between the great simplicity of the grip and the extraordinary complexity of the bit. The locksmith’s virtuosity is here entirely devoted to the mechanism: the various profiles of the shank and bit were designed to pass successively through the internal wards of the lock.

This type of key can be associated with important Italian safes and iron strongboxes, whose locking mechanisms could attain a very high degree of complexity.

With its exceptionally imposing dimensions, weight of 200 grams, trefoil-bored shank and, above all, the extraordinary construction of its bit, this key constitutes an outstanding collector’s object in the field of antique locksmithing.

Very fine condition.

Dimensions: 14.8 × 5.8 cm
Height of bit: approximately 4 cm
Diameter of moulded collar: 21 mm

With its exceptionally imposing dimensions, weight of 200 grams, trefoil-section hollow shank and, above all, the extraordinary construction of its bit, this key constitutes an exceptional collector’s piece in the field of antique locksmithing.