A cannonball safe is a round, screw-door bank safe built to beat the nitroglycerine burglar. Here’s where the design came from, who made them, how to identify and date yours, and what they really sell for, which is often less than the headlines suggest.
1867
Earliest patent we found for a spherical burglar-proof safe
1901
Earliest “cannon ball safe” in print we found
8 tons
A Corliss cannonball at a bank in Lima, Ohio
$56,580
Record for a Mosler salesman’s sample, 2026
Key takeaways
- “Cannonball safe” is a collectors’ name for American round bank safes whose door screws or wedges into the body, leaving no gap for explosives. Most date from about the 1870s to the 1920s.
- Marvin, Corliss, Mosler, Victor and Cary all made round or screw-door bank safes; the lettering on the door is your first clue to the maker and the date.
- Bank cannonballs were normally fitted with a time lock, so the door could not be opened outside banking hours even by staff who knew the combination.
- They are very heavy for their size: full bank cannonballs weigh well over a ton, so moving one is a job for a safe mover.
- Prices range widely. Salesman’s samples and small, original examples make the most; large bank safes cost a lot to move, which holds their prices down.
In This Article
Cannonball safes at a glance
| What it is | A round burglar-proof safe or chest for cash and securities, with a round door that screws or wedges tightly into the body |
| Also called | Screw-door safe, spherical safe, round-door bank safe, “ball on a box” |
| Country | United States |
| Period | Spherical safes by the late 1860s; screw-door bank safes from about 1890 into the 1920s |
| Main makers | Marvin, Corliss, Mosler (Mosler-Corliss), Cary, Victor, the Manganese Steel Safe Co., Ely-Norris, York, Diebold |
| Buyers | Banks, especially in small towns; county treasurers |
| Locks | Combination lock plus a time lock with two to four clock movements |
| Weight | From about 450 lb (204 kg) for the smallest real safes to several tons; a Corliss safe at Lima, Ohio, was said to weigh eight tons |
What is a cannonball safe?
A cannonball safe is a round, very thick steel or iron safe, usually standing on a square cast base or a small box safe, with a round door at the front. The clever part is the door. It isn’t hung on hinges in the ordinary way: it’s pulled into its seat by a thread or by lugs, so that when the safe is locked the door and body form one solid shell with no crack around the edge. Collectors sometimes call the arrangement a “ball on a box”.
Two families share the name. The older is the true spherical safe: a hollow iron or steel ball, made in sections and screwed together, with a door that closes from inside the shell. William Corliss of Providence, Rhode Island, patented one in 1873, and a Marvin & Co. “Spherical Burglar Proof Safe” was already in a bank in upstate New York by 1872.1,2 The later and more common type is the screw-door bank safe, in which a thick round door is turned into a threaded opening in a round or drum-shaped body, often by a crank and gears.3,4
The nickname needs little explaining: the thing looks like a cannonball. A Californian newspaper describing a new Victor safe in 1911 spelled out why that mattered, “on account of the cannon ball shape an explosive can not be made to stick on the steel”.5 Makers themselves usually wrote “screw door bank safe” or “spherical safe” in their catalogues,6 so those are the terms to search for if you go looking through old trade literature.
Why banks wanted a round safe
An ordinary square safe has a door that sits in a frame, with a fine gap all round. Nineteenth-century burglars used that gap: first for wedges and gunpowder, then for liquid nitroglycerine, the “soup” of the American safe-blower. In 1906 Scientific American warned that a crack “so small as barely to allow the insertion of a sheet of paper” was enough to let it in.7 Our history of safe-cracking follows that contest in detail.
The round safe answered with geometry. With the door screwed home there was no gap to fill. The same Scientific American article singled out a safe “spherical in shape with a spherical door” as able to resist nitroglycerine, because it was “absolutely air-tight”.7 The 1911 report on a Victor bank safe at Ukiah, California, said its door was “nearly two feet in thickness” and, besides the combination, “screws shut, making it impossible to force it open”.5
Corliss’s patent of 1873 shows the idea at its purest. The shell was made in two parts screwed together, with a pin in the joint so they couldn’t be unscrewed, and the door was fixed to a frame that turned inside the shell and was driven forward and back by screws that braced it “across the interior of the entire structure”.1
Makers also chose harder metal. From the late 1890s round safes were sold as “manganese steel”, the alloy Robert Hadfield of Sheffield discovered in 1882 and patented in 1883–1884, which is extremely hard and yet tough enough not to shatter.8,9 Victor won a Grand Prize at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair for its “solid manganese steel bank safes”.10
Keeseville, 1872 to 1877: a spherical safe under attack
Local newspapers from Keeseville, New York, give a rare running account of one early round safe. In February 1872 burglars broke through the brick wall of the Keeseville National Bank’s vault, “took a turn at Marvin and Co’s. Spherical Burglar Proof Safe and retired in disgust”.2
“Cold chisels had no more effect on that iron globe than a puff ball would have on adamant itself.”
Essex County Republican, 20 March 1873
The burglars had damaged the lock, and a year later it jammed with the bank’s own money and papers inside. An expert came from New York and spent a day trying to get in; in the end the bank had the door blown off, and the local paper declared the safe “the champion article of the world”. It wasn’t invulnerable, though. In July 1877 masked men tied up the night watchmen, blew the safe open and took about $80,000, mostly bonds left with the bank for safekeeping.2 A spherical safe with “Patent March 19, 1867” painted on its front stands today in the TD Bank branch on Main Street, the old Keeseville National Bank, although the local historian who collected these reports asks whether it is the same safe.2
How the screw door and time lock work
This is how the design works in principle. It is not a guide to opening one: if a cannonball safe is locked, call a qualified safe technician (see below).
Door
The screw door
The door is a thick plug with a coarse thread or interlocking lugs on its edge. It swings on a crane, then is turned a fraction of a revolution, often by a crank and gears, until it is drawn tight into the matching opening.3,11
Combination
The combination lock
A combination lock in the door stops it turning back out. American bank locks had moved from keys to dials from the 1860s, so there was no keyhole to pack with explosive.12
Clockwork
The time lock
Inside the door, two to four clock movements keep the bolt blocked until a set hour, whatever combination is dialled. Several movements meant one failed clock wouldn’t lock the bank out.13
Time locks came first and spread for a grim reason. Once good bank locks could not be beaten before morning, robbers turned to the people who knew the combination, taking cashiers from their homes at night and forcing them to open the safe. A time lock made that pointless.13 James Sargent applied for his time lock patent in June 1873 and the first was fitted to a safe at the First National Bank of Morrison, Illinois, in May 1874; Yale, Hall’s and other firms soon followed.14,13 Our history of safe lock mechanisms tells that story.
Bank cannonballs were normally sold with time locks, and Victor was happy to print a satisfied customer. In April 1900 the Planters State Bank of Salina, Kansas, wrote to Victor that its new No. 21 screw-door safe was “giving us perfect satisfaction” and that “the triple Yale time lock works to perfection”.6 The 1899 Victor safe used by the First National Bank of Dexter, New York, has three timers that could be set overnight.15 Buffalo’s Cary Safe Company fitted Sargent & Greenleaf time locks to small screw-door money chests from about 1893.16
Who made cannonball safes?
No single firm invented the round safe. The earliest patent we found for a spherical burglar-proof safe is dated 19 March 1867, the same date painted on the Keeseville safe: Benjamin Sherwood and Daniel Fitzgerald of New York described a hollow sphere of chilled iron, cast in two halves inside an outer shell, which no “drill, sledge, or other instrument” could enter.17 Their patent does not name Marvin, so the link to the Keeseville safe is likely but not proven. A safe dealer’s history credits Marvin with an 1863 patent; we haven’t found it.18
These are the makers we can tie to round or screw-door bank safes with documents of the time:
| Maker | Evidence for round or screw-door safes |
|---|---|
| Marvin & Co., New York | “Marvin and Co’s. Spherical Burglar Proof Safe” in the Keeseville National Bank by 1872.2 Later part of Herring-Hall-Marvin. |
| Corliss Safe Co., Providence and Auburn, Rhode Island | William Corliss’s spherical safe patents of 1872 and 1873; chilled-iron spheres described by a Treasury commission in 1894.19,20 |
| Mosler Safe Co., Cincinnati and Hamilton, Ohio | Owner of the “Mosler & Corliss” factories and patents by 1895; sold Mosler-Corliss round safes and Mosler patent screw-door bank safes.21,22 |
| Cary Safe Co., Buffalo, New York | “A new patent screw door burglar proof safe” in 1890; lug-door patent of 1916.3,11 |
| Victor Safe & Lock Co., Cincinnati | Screw-door safe patents from 1899; “spherical manganese steel screw door bank safe” by 1909.4,23 |
| Hibbard-Rodman-Ely Safe Co., renamed Manganese Steel Safe Co. in 1903 (Plainfield, New Jersey) | Rotary or screw-door manganese steel safes; the “Bayonet Joint” door of 1905.24,25,9 |
| Ely-Norris Safe Co., Perth Amboy, New Jersey | Round-door safes with “explosion chambers” in the door, patented 1909.26 |
| York Safe & Lock Co., York, Pennsylvania | Round manganese steel safes lettered “York Manganese Steel Co.” and a small spherical safe of about 1899 have sold at auction; we have not found a York catalogue for them.27,28 |
| Diebold Safe & Lock Co., Canton, Ohio | “Diebold Manganese Steel Safe Number 5. Circular Style. Time lock” offered second-hand about 1913.29 |
Corliss: the true spherical safe
Engineering ran in the family. William Corliss was the brother of George H. Corliss, the steam-engine builder, and designed his safes while still in the engine business in Providence.20 His patent of April 1872 describes a safe made of two spheres, an outer shell and an inner part he called the door, which “revolves within the other”.19 The works later stood beside the railway at Auburn, Rhode Island.30
A Treasury Department commission studying bank and government vaults in the early 1890s described the Corliss safe as “a spherical shell of iron”, 4 to 7 inches thick, chilled hard on the outside, lined with loose rods of hardened tool steel to break any drill that got through.20 By 1901 a Raleigh bank was advertising itself as having the “Only Corliss Cannon Ball Safe in the State”, the earliest use of the nickname we have found.31 In 1895 the Mosler Safe Company announced that it ran the Mosler & Corliss factories and owned both sets of patents, and the round Mosler-Corliss safe appears on Mosler’s trade cards; our Mosler safes entry has the company history.21,22
The screw-door makers, 1890 to the 1920s
From about 1890 the screw door spread to other makers. Buffalo’s Cary Safe Company was selling a screw-door bank safe in 1890, turned home by gear wheels and described as “air and water tight”; Sherman L. Cary later replaced the continuous thread with interlocking lugs that needed less turning.3,11 The full story is in our Cary safes entry.
Manganese steel changed the trade in the late 1890s. According to The Bankers’ Magazine in 1905, Hadfield had cancelled all American licences in 1891 and given the Taylor Iron & Steel Company of High Bridge, New Jersey, the sole right, and Taylor’s process finally made large, sound castings possible. The Manganese Steel Safe Company held a long contract for that steel and built its “Bayonet Joint” safe, whose door lugs passed between lugs on the body and locked with a short turn.9 The company had started in 1899 as the Hibbard-Rodman-Ely Safe Co. of Plainfield and took its new name in 1903.24
Cincinnati’s Victor Safe & Lock Co. took out screw-door patents from 1899 and sold its manganese steel round safes through agents across the country.4,10 The Ely-Norris Safe Company of Perth Amboy patented a round door with hollow “chambers” in which the gases of an explosion could expand, and in 1927 won a Supreme Court case brought by Mosler over a similar feature.26,32 Diebold made “circular style” manganese steel bank safes too.29
We couldn’t confirm round safes by Hall’s of Cincinnati or its successor Herring-Hall-Marvin from catalogues or patents. If a seller calls one a Hall’s, treat that as unconfirmed unless the name is on the safe. The Hall family’s Consolidated Time Lock Co. did make bank time locks until 1927.13
Why small-town banks bought them
A big city bank could afford a masonry vault with a heavy door. A country bank in a single-storey building usually couldn’t. A screw-door safe gave it burglar protection in one shipment: it could stand inside an existing fire-proof vault, or a smaller screw-door chest could be built into an ordinary fire-proof safe. Victor’s catalogue of about 1902 offered exactly that, “Chests of special size to be placed in fire-proof safes”, alongside “a full line of Screw Door Bank Safes”.6
Court cases and local papers show how these sales worked. In September 1905 a Victor agent sold the Bank of Latah, Washington, a No. 49 manganese steel screw-door bank safe for $1,400, taking $950 in cash and the bank’s old Hall’s double-door safe in part exchange; when the bank refused to pay, Victor sued and won.33 Rival makers fought over the same customers: in 1909 the Norris Safe Company of Atlanta publicly challenged Victor’s agents to test their “solid spherical manganese steel screw door bank safe” against its own.23
Getting the safe to the bank was an event in itself. When the Bank of Gainesville, Missouri, opened in July 1894, its safe was hauled from West Plains by Joe Farmer’s horse team; the local paper put the safe, wagon and framing at about 4,400 to 4,500 lb.34
Timeline
- 1867 Sherwood and Fitzgerald of New York patent a spherical burglar-proof safe of chilled iron (19 March).
- 1872 A Marvin spherical safe is in the Keeseville National Bank; William Corliss patents his spherical safe.
- 1874 The first Sargent time lock is fitted at Morrison, Illinois.
- 1877 Burglars blow open the Keeseville spherical safe and take about $80,000.
- 1890 Cary of Buffalo advertises a screw-door burglar-proof safe.
- 1895 Mosler owns the Mosler & Corliss factories and patents.
- 1899 Victor’s first screw-door patent; the Hibbard-Rodman-Ely Safe Co. is incorporated.
- 1901 “Only Corliss Cannon Ball Safe in the State”: the earliest use of the name we have found.
- 1904 Victor wins a Grand Prize at St. Louis for manganese steel bank safes.
- 1909 Ely-Norris patents a round door with explosion chambers.
Where to see a cannonball safe
You don’t need to own one to see one. Many survive where they were installed, in old bank buildings now used as museums or still owned by local banks. These are documented examples you can visit or look up:
- Grass Valley, California. A Victor manganese steel screw-door safe lettered “County Treasurer”, with its door open on its crane, at the North Star Mine Powerhouse and Pelton Wheel Museum.35
- Dexter, New York. A Victor of 1899, about 3,500 lb, used by the First National Bank of Dexter and shown by the Dexter Historical Society; a local locksmith spent months freeing its rusted mechanism in 2012.15
- Keeseville, New York. A spherical safe with the painted patent date 19 March 1867, at the TD Bank branch on Main Street, the old Keeseville National Bank.2
- Tallulah, Louisiana. The Mosler screw-door safe of the Tallulah State Bank, pictured at the top of this page, at Cross Keys Bank.36
- Gainesville, Missouri. The Bank of Gainesville’s safe of 1894, moved across the town square into Century Bank of the Ozarks’ lobby in September 2021.34
How to identify and date a cannonball safe
Few cannonball safes carry a date of manufacture, and no maker’s serial list for them has been published. You can still narrow the date down, though, from what’s painted and cast on the safe itself. Our general guide on how to date an old safe covers the methods in more detail.
| What to look for | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Maker and town on the door or base | “The Mosler Safe Co., Hamilton” means 1891 or later; “Mosler-Corliss” about 1895 to 1910; “Victor Safe & Lock Co., Cincinnati”, “Cary Safe Co., Buffalo” and “Marvin” each narrow the field.22,21 |
| Ball or drum | A true sphere of chilled iron points to the earlier spherical safes of Marvin or Corliss; a screw door in a manganese steel body points to about 1890 or later.20,9 |
| “Manganese Steel” lettering | Made after Hadfield’s alloy reached American safe makers in the 1890s; documented examples run from about 1899 into the 1920s.9 |
| Patent dates | The safe was made after the latest date shown. “Patent March 19, 1867” is a patent date, not a year of manufacture.17 |
| Award wording | “Grand Prize St. Louis 1904” on a Victor means 1904 or later.10 |
| Time lock | The maker and model of the time lock (Yale, Sargent & Greenleaf, Consolidated, Mosler) give a date range, but time locks were sometimes replaced.13 |
| Bank name lettered on the door | Check when that bank opened. Safes were resold: the Dexter Victor of 1899 served a bank founded in 1906.15 |
Write down everything before anyone cleans the safe: the lettering, the dial maker, the name and number on the time lock, and any numbers stamped on the door edge or the base. Original paint and gold lettering are part of the evidence and much of the value.
Not sure what you have? Send us photos of the door, the lettering and the time lock and we’ll help you identify the maker and date it.
What is a cannonball safe worth?
Cannonball safes are among the most collected American safes, but prices vary more than the headlines suggest. These are real auction results we have checked, all including the buyer’s premium:
| Safe | Sale | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Mosler cannonball salesman’s sample in its carrying case, about 17 in high | Morphy, October 2026 | $56,58037 |
| Victor screw-door salesman’s sample with working time lock, about 68 lb, restored | Morphy, March 2013 | $22,42028 |
| Mosler “Manganese Steel Bank Safe” salesman’s sample, original paint and case | Morphy, October 2016 | $15,60038 |
| Marvin spherical safe, about 2,000 lb, restored | Morphy, March 2013 | $10,62028 |
| York Safe and Lock spherical safe, about 450 lb, restored | Morphy, March 2013 | $9,44028 |
| Marvin “mini-cannonball”, about 1,300 lb, restored | Morphy, March 2013 | $8,26039 |
| Full-size York Manganese Steel Co. cannonball, restored | Morphy, May 2022 and April 2023 | $31,500, then $10,800 for a lot with the same description27 |
| Mosler bank safe of 1917, 3,300 lb, restored | Cowan’s, November 2012 | $3,24040 |
| Mosler cannonball bank safes, older restorations, one with a top safe that would not open | Morphy, October 2025 | $2,040 and $2,40041 |
The pattern is clear. Salesman’s samples, small working models in carrying cases for agents to show bankers, sell for the most because they’re rare, complete and easy to move. Small real safes in good restored condition come next. Full-size bank cannonballs weighing a ton or more often sell for just a few thousand dollars. Whoever buys one also has to pay for rigging and transport, and the same safe can make very different prices at different sales.
What helps: original paint and gold lettering, the original bank’s name, a working combination and time lock, the crank and all fittings, and a known maker. What hurts: a seized door, missing time lock movements, heavy rust, an amateur repaint and a basement location. These figures are a guide to the market, not a valuation of your safe. For more on prices and selling, see our guide are old safes worth anything?
Buying a cannonball safe for sale
- Ask for photos of the lettering, the time lock and the inside of the door, and check the maker against the table above.
- Make sure the door is open, turns freely and that the seller can show it locking and unlocking. A locked safe with no combination needs a technician before it is any use.
- Ask what has been restored: paint, plating, locks and time lock. Restoration is common and not a problem, but it should be described.
- Get a quote for moving it, including stairs and floor protection, before you bid.
How much does a cannonball safe weigh?
Much more than it looks. The steel is thick all the way round, and the base is often a safe in its own right. These are weights recorded for real examples:
| Victor screw-door salesman’s sample, about 1905 | About 68 lb (31 kg)28 |
| York spherical safe, about 1899 by the auction house’s dating | About 450 lb (204 kg)28 |
| Marvin spherical safes sold in 2013 | About 650 to 2,000 lb (295 to 907 kg)28 |
| Mosler bank safe of 1917, Milan, Indiana | 3,300 lb (1,497 kg)40 |
| Victor screw-door safe, Dexter, New York, 1899 | About 3,500 lb (1,590 kg)15 |
| Bank of Gainesville, Missouri, 1894, with wagon and framing | About 4,400 to 4,500 lb (2,000 to 2,040 kg)34 |
| Corliss cannon-ball safe, First National Bank of Lima, Ohio, 1906 | “Eight tons”, about 16,000 lb (7,260 kg)42 |
A ton or more on four small castors puts a heavy point load on a floor, and the safe is top-heavy once the ball is on its base. Moving one needs a safe mover with a pallet jack or skates, and often a check on the floor first. Our safe weight calculator gives a rough figure from the outside dimensions, and the guide to how much an old safe weighs explains floor loading.
Restoring a cannonball safe: be careful
Paint
Keep the original finish
Gold leaf lettering, pinstriping and the bank’s name are what collectors pay for. Clean gently and photograph everything first; a repaint can wipe out both history and value.
Time lock
Do not wind it and shut the door
A time lock that has not been serviced for decades should never be wound and set with the door shut. Leave the door open until a technician has checked the movements.
Mechanism
Never force a stuck door
Rust in a screw door can take months to free, as the Dexter safe showed. Forcing the crank or gears can break parts that cannot be bought.15
If a cannonball safe is locked, or you don’t have the combination, call a qualified safe technician; in the United States, look for a member of SAVTA, the Safe and Vault Technicians Association. They can usually open an old bank safe without damaging it and reset the combination. Our guide for anyone locked out of an old safe explains the options and typical costs. We never publish opening methods.
Myths about cannonball safes
Marvin patented the cannonball safe in 1863.
That claim comes from a dealer’s blog. We found no 1863 patent. The earliest spherical safe patent we found is Sherwood and Fitzgerald’s of 19 March 1867, the date painted on the Keeseville safe.
Cannonball safes could not be broken into.
They were very hard to attack, but not invulnerable: the Marvin spherical safe at Keeseville was blown open in 1877 and about $80,000 taken.
The date painted on the door is the year it was made.
It is almost always a patent date. The safe was made after it, sometimes decades after.
Every cannonball safe is worth tens of thousands.
The headline prices are for salesman’s samples and restored showpieces. A large bank safe needing work and an expensive move sells for far less.
Frequently asked questions
What is a cannonball safe?
A round American bank safe, usually on a square base, whose thick door screws or wedges into the body so there is no gap for explosives. Most were made between about the 1870s and the 1920s, and bank examples were fitted with time locks.
Who made cannonball safes?
Documented makers include Marvin & Co. and the Corliss Safe Co. (spherical safes), and Mosler, Cary, Victor, the Manganese Steel Safe Co., Ely-Norris, York and Diebold (screw-door and round manganese steel safes). Look for the maker’s name painted on the door or cast on the base.
How much does a cannonball safe weigh?
Recorded examples run from about 450 lb (204 kg) for the smallest real safes and 3,300 to 3,500 lb (1,500 to 1,590 kg) for typical bank safes to eight tons for a large Corliss sphere. Salesman’s samples are light enough to carry. Treat any full-size one as a job for a safe mover.
What is a cannonball safe worth?
Checked auction results run from about $2,000 for a full-size bank safe needing work to about $8,000 to $11,000 for small restored spherical safes, and $11,000 to $56,580 for salesman’s samples. Condition, originality, maker and the cost of moving it decide where yours sits; we don’t give valuations.
Where can I find a cannonball safe for sale?
Try specialist auctions of advertising and Americana, antique safe dealers and bank refurbishments. Ask for clear photos of the lettering and time lock, confirm the door turns and locks, and price the move before you bid.
I have no combination for my cannonball safe. What should I do?
Don’t force it or try to drill it. A qualified safe technician can open it without damage and set a new combination. The old makers’ records aren’t available to look up combinations, so there’s no shortcut there.
Sources:
- William Corliss, Providence, Rhode Island, “Burglar-Proof Safes”, US patent 137,061, 25 March 1873, drawing sheet 1 with the printed abstract pasted on, US National Archives (Utility Patent Drawings series) via Wikimedia Commons. ↩︎
- Jeff Dengler, “The mystery of the chrome iron spherical mini-cannonball safe”, Anderson Falls Heritage Society, September 2020, transcribing the Plattsburgh Sentinel (23 February 1872), Essex County Republican (20 March 1873) and Plattsburgh Republican (14 July 1877). ↩︎
- “The Cary Safe Company (Limited), cor. Scott and Chicago Streets”, in Illustrated Buffalo: the Queen City of the Lakes (Acme Publishing, 1890). ↩︎
- Charles E. Blechschmidt, “Screw-door safe”, US patent 635,291, 24 October 1899, assigned to the Victor Safe and Lock Company. ↩︎
- “Latest Vault for the Savings Bank”, Ukiah Republican Press, 7 July 1911. ↩︎
- The Victor Safe & Lock Co., general catalogue (Cincinnati, c.1902: it describes former mayor John A. Caldwell as having since become Lieutenant-Governor of Ohio), scan via dokumen.pub. ↩︎
- “The Ungentle Art of Burglary”, Scientific American, vol. 94 no. 4, 27 January 1906, p. 88. ↩︎
- Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History, “Hadfields” (Robert Hadfield’s manganese steel, 1882, patented 1883–4). ↩︎
- “The Burglar-Proof Safe”, The Bankers’ Magazine, vol. 71, October 1905, pp. 544–551. ↩︎
- The Victor Safe & Lock Co., Vault Department catalogue (Cincinnati, 1904), including the American Banker’s dispatch of 21 October 1904 on the St. Louis award, scan via dokumen.pub. ↩︎
- S. L. Cary, Safe, US Patent 1,180,256, 18 April 1916, assignor to Cary Safe Company. ↩︎
- Yale, “History of Yale”. ↩︎
- my-time-machines.net (collector’s history), “A brief history of the time lock industry”. ↩︎
- “Ill only few hours, James Sargent dies”, Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester NY, 13 January 1910, transcription (PDF). ↩︎
- Locksmith Ledger, “NY bank displays classic cannonball safe” (6 December 2012). ↩︎
- “Cary Safe”, my-time-machines.net (time lock collection notes), citing David and John Erroll, American Genius: Nineteenth Century Bank Locks and Time Locks, pp. 286–287. ↩︎
- Benjamin Sherwood and Daniel Fitzgerald, New York, “Improvement in Safes”, US patent 62,974, dated 19 March 1867 (antedated 12 March 1867). ↩︎
- Safe and Vault Store, “History of antique safes: cannonball to parlor safe” (dealer’s blog). ↩︎
- William Corliss, Providence, Rhode Island, “Improvement in Safes”, US patent 126,133, 30 April 1872. ↩︎
- Letter from the Secretary of the Treasury Transmitting Report of Special Commission of Experts as to Means of Improving Vault Facilities of the Treasury Department (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1894), pp. 21, 24–25 (Corliss safe) and p. 45 (screw-door safe by M. Briggs & Co., Rochester), via Internet Archive. ↩︎
- Commercial and Financial Chronicle, 7 December 1895, notice of the Mosler Safe Company “operating the Mosler & Corliss Safe factories”, via Internet Archive. ↩︎
- Trade card of The Mosler Safe Co., Hamilton, Ohio (M. Mosler, president; W. Mosler, vice-president), early 20th century, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain). ↩︎
- Norris Safe Company, open letter and challenge, The Atlanta Constitution, 9 November 1909. ↩︎
- New Jersey Department of State, Corporations of New Jersey, entry for the Hibbard-Rodman-Ely Safe Co., Plainfield (incorporated 4 November 1899; name changed to Manganese Steel Safe Co., 9 March 1903), New Jersey State Library. ↩︎
- Henry D. Hibbard and Wilbur M. Stone, “Rotary-Door Safe”, US patent 793,072, 27 June 1905, assigned to the Manganese Steel Safe Company of New York, a New Jersey corporation. ↩︎
- Sumner A. Ely, “Safe”, US patent 909,568, 12 January 1909, assigned to the Ely-Norris Safe Company, Perth Amboy, New Jersey. ↩︎
- Morphy Auctions, “York Manganese Steel Co. cannonball safe”, restored, 43 x 25 x 27 in: lot 3249, 6 May 2022, $31,500; lot 3013, 22 April 2023, $10,800 (prices including buyer’s premium). ↩︎
- Morphy Auctions, Premier Advertising sale, Denver, Pennsylvania, bidding closed 29 March 2013, prices including buyer’s premium: lot 189, Victor salesman sample screw-door cannonball, c.1905, about 68 lb, restored, $22,420; lot 149, Mosler salesman sample “square cannonball”, c.1903, about 50 lb, $11,210; lot 168, Marvin chrome iron spherical safe, about 2,000 lb, restored, $10,620; lot 166, the same type, about 650 lb, $10,030; lot 202, York Safe and Lock Co. manganese spherical safe, c.1899, about 450 lb, $9,440. Dates “circa” are the auction house’s. ↩︎
- “Safe for sale: Diebold Manganese Steel Safe Number 5. Circular Style. Time lock”, advertisement of the Mercantile Trust & Savings Bank, Chicago, in The Chicago Banker (issue of about 1912–1913). ↩︎
- M. F. Sweetser and Moses King, King’s Hand-book of the United States (Buffalo: Moses King, 1891), p. 777, engraving “Auburn: Corliss Safe Company”, British Library scan via Wikimedia Commons. ↩︎
- Citizens National Bank advertisement, “Only Corliss Cannon Ball Safe in the State”, in Maloney’s Raleigh, N.C. City Directory, vol. 5 (1901). ↩︎
- Mosler Safe Co. v. Ely-Norris Safe Co., 273 U.S. 132 (decided 17 January 1927), opinion via Internet Archive. ↩︎
- Victor Safe & Lock Co. v. O’Neil, 48 Wash. 176, 93 P. 214 (Supreme Court of Washington, 6 January 1908), via vLex. ↩︎
- Norene Prososki, “127 years after it arrived by horse-drawn wagon, old cannonball safe gets new home in Century Bank’s lobby”, Ozark County Times, 23 September 2021, quoting the Ozark County News of 5 July 1894. ↩︎
- Jim Heaphy (Cullen328), “Cannonball safe”, North Star Mine Powerhouse and Pelton Wheel Museum, Grass Valley, California, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. ↩︎
- Ktkvtsh, “Tallulah State Bank safe at Crosskeys Bank in Tallulah, Louisiana” (photographs 01 to 07, March 2026), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0. ↩︎
- Morphy Auctions, Las Vegas, 16–17 October 2026, lot 1331, salesman sample “Cannonball” Mosler Safe Co. in box, about 17 inches high, estimate $15,000–25,000, final price $56,580 including buyer’s premium. ↩︎
- Morphy Auctions, 29 October 2016, lot 165, salesman sample cannonball Mosler bank safe, “Manganese Steel Bank Safe”, 17 in long, original paint and case, $15,600 including buyer’s premium. ↩︎
- Morphy Auctions, Premier Advertising sale, Denver, Pennsylvania, 29–30 March 2013, prices including buyer’s premium: lot 183, Marvin Safe Co. parlour safe, c.1870, $9,440; lot 150, Marvin mini-cannonball safe, c.1865, $8,260; lot 128, Silas C. Herring safe, c.1852, $1,121; the printed list of prices realised gives slightly higher figures for some lots (PDF). ↩︎
- Cowan’s Auctions, Fall Fine & Decorative Art, 17 November 2012, lot 211, Mosler bank safe called “The Cannonball”, 1917, from the Farmers State Bank, Milan, Indiana, 3,300 lb (archived page), $3,240 including buyer’s premium. ↩︎
- Morphy Auctions, 16–18 October 2025, “The Moser [sic] Safe Co. cannonball safe”: lot 2438, labelled for the Osceola Bank, older restoration, top safe not opening, $2,040; lot 2439, $2,400 (prices including buyer’s premium). ↩︎
- “Corliss” cannon-ball safe of the First National Bank of Lima, in Charles C. Miller and Samuel A. Baxter, History of Allen County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens (1906). ↩︎
