Personalized key from Civil War Soldier.

[Alan Payne]

Ok, I actually found this Last Friday, but I wanted to share and at the same time ask if anyone recognizes this style of key to be from a certian era. I searched this guy and he was a confederate soldier, Before the war he was a wagon Master in charge of transporting supplies from Ocala florida to Tampa Florida. Then he married in 1859 moved to Palatka Florida and after the war became a Steam boat captain. So, my guestion is does anyone recognize this to be a personalized key from say a strong box or a goods box on a Wagon train, or maybe a key from a Steamship or maybe just a personalized key for a house. Was is common for people to personalize their keys to there house? Any back ground info on this type of key is much appreciated.

 

[vpnavy]

Neat find Alan - love the way you tied in the soldier. I spent the last 30 minutes or so trying to find out how to "identify" a particular skeleton key - gooooooood luck in that effort! I found a ton of keys with basically the same configuration that worked for draws, pad locks, doors, etc. Most articles say carefully examine the key for any type of mark (i.e., numbers, letters, etc.) to help with the ID. Hope a member can help ya.

 

[Hawks88]

Nice key find Alan sorry I can’t help with the ID.

 

[Squirrel322]

Any chance we could get a better photo of the tag? I can't see it very well.

Very cool find!

 

[Javadroid]

What an interesting find! And great that you have been able to make such progress in your research. Thanks for sharing.