DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1397#0113
PLATE 30.
AN IRON FIRE-PROOF SAFE,
EY K. HAUSCHILD, BEELIN.
/^VF the numerous examples of this class in the Exhibition this was the most ornamental. Its
height is about 6 feet 3 inches. We might have a doubt as to its being rightly assigned to
Mr. Hauschild, as no such name appears in the official Zollverein Catalogue, though it does in the
English one; however, Mr. Hauschild obtained a medal for this safe; and in this, as in several other
cases, we find the value of a detailed description made on the spot; for the inside of the safe is
inscribed, as the good old German custom hath ever been, with writing. On one inner side of
the panels is " Gefertigt in der Werkstatt von Karl Hauschild. Berlin, 1862." On the other—
" Siaher gegcn Dieb und Brand
Bin icE durcE des ScElossers Hand;
Halt nicEt die WacEt aucE Gott der Heir,
Hilft weder Biegel nocE Gesperr."
Which may be thus rendered : —
" Safe from tEief and fire am I,
TErougE tEe cunning locksmith's skill;
But watcE'd not God tEe Lord on EigE,
Bolt, lock, or cEain would serve but ill."
We remember having been particularly struck with the deeply religious spirit expressed in
several such inscriptions on old houses in Germany; such as at Hanover, thus spelt:—" Habe Got
vor Augen, und treu ine alien Dingen, so dan es dir nicht misgelingen,"—" Have God before your
eyes, and be honest in all things ; so shall no harm come to thee." And thus, at Brunswick, from
the Psalms:—" Wo die Herren nicht das Haus bauet, so umsonbst arbeitet die darin baut,"—
" Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it."
But, to return to the more matter of fact subject of iron safes,—this one of Hauschild's is
elaborately ornamented in wrought iron on red lacquer-varnished ground, and, although very
ornamental, is not in bad taste, except so far as it militates against the following dicta of the
Jury Beport in 1851 :—" In connection with locks, the Jury may refer to iron safes and treasure-
chests, of which a large number is exhibited, and which, for the most part, are of about equal
merit, so far as the chances of security offered by them are concerned. It seems doubtful whether
much of the ornamentation and expensive polished work which some of them display might not be
dispensed with. Any addition of that description to the expense, necessarily considerable, of a safe
or treasure-box, seems quite gratuitous, more especially since it has become usual, and is considered
most secure in large banking and other establishments, to preserve safes in fire-proof rooms and
vaults, into which they are lowered at the close of business." There certainly seems much common
sense in such remarks; but common sense and decorative art somehow never do hit it off well
together; and in matters of this kind we must not be too persistent with our " cui bono."
Certain it is that several safes, French and German, not English,—for these last have followed
out the instructions of the Beport above quoted,—exhibited a good deal of ornamental work.
Sommermayer, of Magdeburg, contributed one with very good engraved ornament and figures on
the inside. Wertheim & Wiese, of Vienna, had one with still more elaborate engraved designs
and much burnished ornament on a flat ground. Fichet, of Paris, and Sauve & Magaud, of
Marseilles, also exhibited well-ornamented safes. The English ones, as we have said, were generally
quite plain; yet, placing ornament on one side, they fully sustained our national reputation for
solid work and ingenious contrivance ; the most striking example being, perhaps, a large banker's
safe, by Messrs. Chubb, the doors of which were secured by two gunpowder-proof wheel locks,
throwing thirty-one bolts all round, and the main keyholes covered with case-hardened iron
scutcheon locks, all opened by a small gold key, set in a finger-ring, forming the master key of
the safe.
AN IRON FIRE-PROOF SAFE,
EY K. HAUSCHILD, BEELIN.
/^VF the numerous examples of this class in the Exhibition this was the most ornamental. Its
height is about 6 feet 3 inches. We might have a doubt as to its being rightly assigned to
Mr. Hauschild, as no such name appears in the official Zollverein Catalogue, though it does in the
English one; however, Mr. Hauschild obtained a medal for this safe; and in this, as in several other
cases, we find the value of a detailed description made on the spot; for the inside of the safe is
inscribed, as the good old German custom hath ever been, with writing. On one inner side of
the panels is " Gefertigt in der Werkstatt von Karl Hauschild. Berlin, 1862." On the other—
" Siaher gegcn Dieb und Brand
Bin icE durcE des ScElossers Hand;
Halt nicEt die WacEt aucE Gott der Heir,
Hilft weder Biegel nocE Gesperr."
Which may be thus rendered : —
" Safe from tEief and fire am I,
TErougE tEe cunning locksmith's skill;
But watcE'd not God tEe Lord on EigE,
Bolt, lock, or cEain would serve but ill."
We remember having been particularly struck with the deeply religious spirit expressed in
several such inscriptions on old houses in Germany; such as at Hanover, thus spelt:—" Habe Got
vor Augen, und treu ine alien Dingen, so dan es dir nicht misgelingen,"—" Have God before your
eyes, and be honest in all things ; so shall no harm come to thee." And thus, at Brunswick, from
the Psalms:—" Wo die Herren nicht das Haus bauet, so umsonbst arbeitet die darin baut,"—
" Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it."
But, to return to the more matter of fact subject of iron safes,—this one of Hauschild's is
elaborately ornamented in wrought iron on red lacquer-varnished ground, and, although very
ornamental, is not in bad taste, except so far as it militates against the following dicta of the
Jury Beport in 1851 :—" In connection with locks, the Jury may refer to iron safes and treasure-
chests, of which a large number is exhibited, and which, for the most part, are of about equal
merit, so far as the chances of security offered by them are concerned. It seems doubtful whether
much of the ornamentation and expensive polished work which some of them display might not be
dispensed with. Any addition of that description to the expense, necessarily considerable, of a safe
or treasure-box, seems quite gratuitous, more especially since it has become usual, and is considered
most secure in large banking and other establishments, to preserve safes in fire-proof rooms and
vaults, into which they are lowered at the close of business." There certainly seems much common
sense in such remarks; but common sense and decorative art somehow never do hit it off well
together; and in matters of this kind we must not be too persistent with our " cui bono."
Certain it is that several safes, French and German, not English,—for these last have followed
out the instructions of the Beport above quoted,—exhibited a good deal of ornamental work.
Sommermayer, of Magdeburg, contributed one with very good engraved ornament and figures on
the inside. Wertheim & Wiese, of Vienna, had one with still more elaborate engraved designs
and much burnished ornament on a flat ground. Fichet, of Paris, and Sauve & Magaud, of
Marseilles, also exhibited well-ornamented safes. The English ones, as we have said, were generally
quite plain; yet, placing ornament on one side, they fully sustained our national reputation for
solid work and ingenious contrivance ; the most striking example being, perhaps, a large banker's
safe, by Messrs. Chubb, the doors of which were secured by two gunpowder-proof wheel locks,
throwing thirty-one bolts all round, and the main keyholes covered with case-hardened iron
scutcheon locks, all opened by a small gold key, set in a finger-ring, forming the master key of
the safe.