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Description:
Ref: 856JB  http://hygra.com/box/856JB 

Antique box veneered in rosewood, with brass edging, central plate and side handles. It is of exceptionally high quality, which continues into the interior. It is lined in velvet, silk and gold 
embossed leather. The Side drawer which is separately lockable has an embossed Moroccan cover is of dovetail construction has solid rosewood sides and retains its original separations. There are two secret drawers hidden behind a sliding panel.
The box has a working Bramah type lock and key.    The main lock is stamped  "S. Mordan & CO Makers Patent  
London."

There are further pictures at: http://hygra.com/box/810JB/ 

Origin: UK ;  Circa 1850: ; Materials: Mahogany structure with rosewood and brass .

Size: 34 cm wide by 24 cm by 18 cm:  13.4  inches wide by 9.5  inches by 7.1  inches.

Condition: good overall; working lock and key; see images

Keywords: Hygra.com, Antique box,  Bramah lock, S. Mordan & Co.,  50 Cheapside

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boxes@hygra.com

The box  is of exceptionally high quality, which continues into the interior. It is lined in velvet, silk and gold embossed leather. It has two lift out trays and a drawer which is separately lockable.    

The drawer has a hinged gold embossed leather cover.

The brass inlay lines are clearly inlaid as the grain of the rosewood is continues.

The rounded brass edging is held in place by brass pins which are ground flat with the surface of the edging.

There are two secret drawers concealed behind a sliding panel.

There is a document wallet in the lid.

A

The sides of the drawer are solid rosewood.

The drawer is of dovetail construction.

 The underside of the drawer is covered with velvet. 

The sides of the drawer are solid rosewood.

The figure of the rosewood is exceptional.

Detail of the base of the box: the rounded brass has a rosewood facing framing a panel of leather.

The box has a Bramah type lock with working key.

The lock is stamped "S. Mordan & CO Makers Patent  
London."

Sampson Mordan 1790-1843 was an apprentice of Joseph Bramah. He is famed on his own account for being the inventor with John Isaac Hawkins of the propelling pencil.

See: 

http://hygra.com/locks/Bramah/ 

For instructions on opening a Bramah lock see: Opening Antique Bramah Box Locks

 

The Mordan version of the Bramah lock is in some ways a new design.

Mordan uses a pin in the side of the cylinder to engage with the lock bolt.

Bramah usually used a pin in the bottom of the cylinder. 

The back plate of the lock has a central hole for the cylinder.

Sampson Mordan (1790 – 9 Apr 1843) was a British silversmith and a co-inventor of the first patented 
mechanical pencil. During his youth, he was an apprentice of the inventor and locksmith Joseph Bramah, who patented the first elastic ink reservoir for a fountain pen. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampson_Mordan 

In an 1831 advertisement Mordan extols the advantages of the lock:

1. Its absolute inviolability by picking, or procuring a duplicate key.
2. The portability of the key.
3. The infinite variety of which the key is susceptible, and the power of producing it by an apparatus which of necessity causes every successive key to differ from all others which have proceeded it.
4. The difficulty of imitating the key, which is so great, that good workmen have failed to make a successful copy when the key has been placed in their hands for the purpose.
5.  The impossibility of taking an impression, which is so easy in every other key, with sealing 
wax.
6. The importance of every part of the key, which completely excludes those fertile sources of fraud, skeleton or duplicate keys, so easily obtained, and which prevents the imposition too often practiced, of exhibiting apparent security in the key, but which has no counterpart in the lock.
7. The unlimited durability of the lock, which arises from its acting by mere pressure, instead as in all others, of rubbing. This lock was never known to wear out, or to become sensibly altered by use. This in the end renders it the cheapest.
8. Safety is given in the absence of the principle to private stock, papers, &c. The most serious losses take place by the use of duplicate keys, which enable the dishonest to re-lock to lull suspicion; the lock made by S. Mordan & Co is a sure preventive.
Scientific gentleman, and others, are respectfully solicited to visit the manufactory, of S Mordan & Co. 22, Castle Street Finsbury, where the truth of all these statements will be rendered evident from an inspection of the lock, and the machinery by which it is made. The following is a list of the prices at which locks may be obtained from respectable dealers in every town of the United Kingdom::
Letter Bag or Portfolio 7s and upwards
Till or Drawer Lock. Padlock 8s. 6d do.
Bureau, Double-link Chest, or Box Locks 10s 0d. do.


Sampson Mordan died in 1843 and the business was carried on by two of his sons Sampson and Augustus. 

 

 

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