Description
The John M. Mossman Lock Collection is a small museum of locks and keys inside the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen, at 20 West 44th Street in Midtown Manhattan. It holds one of the largest collections of bank and vault locks in the world.
More than 370 locks, keys and tools trace the history of security from ancient Egyptian wooden-pin locks and Chinese padlocks to the American time locks of bank vaults. Many pieces are one of a kind, made to order. Bankers' studded trunks hide their keyholes with clever tricks.
Mossman also left his notes and scrapbooks, the "Mossman Papers", still a resource for anyone studying locks. A book published in 1928, The Lure of the Lock, describes every piece in the collection.
More than 370 locks, keys and tools trace the history of security from ancient Egyptian wooden-pin locks and Chinese padlocks to the American time locks of bank vaults. Many pieces are one of a kind, made to order. Bankers' studded trunks hide their keyholes with clever tricks.
Mossman also left his notes and scrapbooks, the "Mossman Papers", still a resource for anyone studying locks. A book published in 1928, The Lure of the Lock, describes every piece in the collection.