THE LATCH KEY

Greymouth Evening Star, 28 November 1927, Page 9

THE LATCH KEY

ANCIENT AND MODERN.

There are few articles of domestic use able to claim longer ancestry than the key, and it is interesting to discover that an old bronze key of Roman origin was actually made on much the same pattern as are many of the modern keys of to-day. Most of the ancient keys now preserved in European museums are of bronze, probably because this metal has proved to be . the most durable. The irdn locks into which it is presumed they were fitted have unfortunately been unable to withstand decay. Many of the old Roman latchkeys were worn on the finger in the form of a ring, a custom that must have been rather inconvenient, although it is possible that the finger key was only ca’rried when away from home. The so-called “Gothic” keys, made during the fifteenth century, were usually of beautiful design, the handles being formed of an open-work pattern in keeping with the carving on the chets or door in which they were to be used. As time went on keys became even more elaborate still, and thosei of the seventheenth and eighteenth centuries were frequently gilded and chased. Some of these old keys are valuable, and high prices have been given by collectors for perfect and uncommon specimens. Perhaps the most beautiful keys of those days were made in Italy and France, but the English locksmiths were capable workmen, and it was ciistomary for an apprenticei to make a specimen key before being admitted to membership of his guild. Naturally this key, being somewhat (an equivalent of the modern examination paper, was the subject of much careful workmanship, and no doubt most of the best specimens preserved to this day were originally made as guild keys. The decline of the key, as far as beauty is concerned, appears to have taken place with the introduction of machinery, and now the latch key is a very practical affair, without pre-

tence to be anything more than strictly utilitarian. In fact, it is almost impossible to discover a modern key, other than those made for the purpose of presentation, that is even of-pleas-ing shape. The modern latch key is little more than two inches long, and is as thin as cardboard. No two locks are quite the same, so that the keys supplied with.one are useless for any other. These latch keys are very convenient, and, being stamped out by the thousand in blank, arel cheap enough. One cannot but regret, however, that all the elegance and beauty of the old fashioned keys should have departed when modern methods superseded the guilds, of the locksmiths, for beautiful keys are quite possible even to-day.