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Antique Safes/safety box

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Expert: - 1/25/2009


Question
My husband and I bought a house with an old, extremely heavy safety box in the garage.  It is almost square, a little over 2 x 2 feet and it sits on four attached steel wheels.  On its front and on the middle of the door it has a dial disk from 10 to 100 and its knob is round and smooth. To the left of the dial, it has a crank or handle in the form of a T, I believe to open the door once the combination is completed. On the right hand side of the door, it has two heavy hinges, one on the top and one on the bottom.  The door hinges are exposed and they have big pins.  The pins have pointy-V shape smooth tops.  On the left top of the door, it has a yellow seal with red lines or markings with a crown, sort of like a "coat of arms" with the words:  ACME Acme Safe Co. Inc. New York, N.Y.  We would like to open it.  Thank you for your assistance and information on this particular safety box.  Please let us know how we could open it.

Answer
Deedee,

Acme Safe Co., started in the early 1900's as a rigging company.  During the early years, the occasional safe or vault door would be included amongst the heavy machinery being moved and stored in the barn by David and Samuel Krasilovsky, Inc- the Original Master Riggers. The entrepreneurs quickly noticed that the used safes and vaults were being quickly sold due to the country's rapid growth and newly acquired wealth. Soon the machinery was moved out and only safes, new and used, were brought in to meet the growing demand for security. And thus, Acme Safe Company was born.

Acme was however, not a manufacture.  They were a distributor, buying and selling safes.

he first thing that we need to do is to identify your safe, once we know what you have we can go to the next stop of recommending a potential procedure to open your safe.  Also, I need to know where you are located to refer you to someone that can help.

I will need pictures of your safe to include full exterior and detail phots of the dial, handle, hinges, castors, art work and any special features.  Please use a digital camera and email the photos to me at:

andy@securitysafeusa.com

Andy

Antique Safes

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Terry V Andreasen (Andy)

Expertise

Safe and Vault related Questions; Antique Safe Repair and Restoration; With over 40 years in the Safe & Vault industry, if I can't answer your question I know where to get the answer. Current Project: Restoration of two Tilton & McFarland Safes from the 1860's. Will answer Safe & Vault related questions concerning age, value, restoration, moving, opening & repairing, parts, operation and history. Note: It is not my intention to teach you to open safes or to provide information which may aid in the unlawful opening of a safe. I will not give out drill points or information which I deem inappropriate.

Experience

40 years in the Safe & Vault Industry. Service Manager for one of the largest Safe & Vault companies on the West Coast. Graduate of Lockmasters Safe Lock Servicing, Safe lock Manipulation and Safe Deposit Lock Courses. Graduate of Locksmith Institute. Certified Instructor for the California Locksmith Association teaching Basic and Advanced Lock Servicing, Basic Safe opening and Repairing. Factory Trained by AMSEC, LORD Safes, LeFebure, Mosler, KabaMas, LaGard and Sargent & Greenleaf

Organizations
Safecrackers International and the National Antique Safe Association

Education/Credentials
Graduate of Locksmith Institute 1972 Graduate Lockmasters Safe Lock Servicing 1974 Graduate Lockmasters Safe Lock Manipulation 1975 Graduate Lockmasters Safe Deposit Lock Servicing 1985 Instructor Certified - California Locksmith Association - 1985 Factory trained by AMSEC, MAJOR, STAR, Johnson-Pacific, Kaba-MAS, Allied-Gary, ISM, Lord, Brown Safe, EXL, Mosler, Diebold.

Awards and Honors
2009, 2010 & 2011 Listed in AllExperts top 50 Experts. All Experts Categories - Safes & Security Containers, Locksmithing, Antique Safes. Retired US Army Reserve Chief Warrant Officer (CW3), with 32 years of total service. With numerous awards from Vietnam, Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom. US Navy - 1971-1981 US Army Reserve 1984-2006 US Army Retired Reserve 2006-present

Past/Present Clients
US Secret Service, FBI, BATF, Local Law enforcment agencies, Diebold, Hamilton Pacific, Red Hawk Int., Chubb International, Bank of America, Wells Fargo Bank, Mechanics Bank, El Dorado Savings Bank, many Credit unions and smaller banks. McDonalds, Togos, BurgerKing, TacoBell, Carls Jr. FoodMaxx, SaveMart, Lucky's, Albertson's, Raley's, Safeway, NobHill, Bell Markets, PW Markets. Great America, Century Theatres, Cinemark Theatres, UA Cinemas, and many homeowners and small businesses. Provide warranty service for lock and safe manufactures. Service area is Northern California - Fresno to Oregon, including western Nevada

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