Who Makes Your Safe? Modern Safe Brands, Who Owns Them and Where They Are Made

An aisle of dark grey gun safes with electronic keypads and price tickets in a sporting goods store, with boxed gun cabinets on the right
Gun safes for sale at an Academy Sports + Outdoors store in Indianapolis, May 2024. The name on the door is not always the name of the factory. Photo: Sarah Stierch (Missvain), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The name on a safe door used to tell you who built it. Today it might be a licensed trademark, a brand bought by a lock company, or a family firm still welding in the same town. Here’s who makes the safes on sale now, who owns them and where they’re made, as far as the records show.

Key takeaways

  • Several famous safe names are licensed, not made by the company whose name they carry: Winchester, Chubbsafes and Honeywell safes are all made by someone else under licence.
  • Many brands now belong to groups: SentrySafe to Master Lock (Fortune Brands Innovations), Cannon and Stack-On to Cannon Security Products, Chubbsafes and Hamilton to Gunnebo.
  • Some makers still say plainly where they build: Fort Knox and Liberty in Utah, AMSEC and Brown Safe in California, Hamilton in Ohio, Döttling in Germany. Others don’t say at all.
  • We don’t rank brands or keep a list of brands to avoid. Judge any safe by its independent certification, its published specs, its warranty and where it’s made.

Safe brands, owners and factories at a glance

This table puts the brands people search for most side by side. “Where made” gives only what the company, a regulator or a customs ruling has published. Where nobody says, we say so. Everything was checked on 27 October 2026, and ownership changes often, so the dates matter as much as the names.

BrandRootsOwner todayWhere made (as published)
SentrySafeBrush-Punnett Co., Rochester, New York, 1930 or 1931Master Lock, part of Fortune Brands Innovations (since July 2014)Master Lock plants in Wisconsin and Mexico since 2016; some parts from China and Taiwan123
Liberty SafeFounded 1988 by Jay Crosby; Provo, then Payson, UtahSold to an affiliate of Monomoy Capital Partners in 2021; current owner not confirmedPayson, Utah; “around 95%” American made45
Fort KnoxTom James, Orem, Utah, 1982The James familyOrem, Utah; “All proudly made in the USA”6
Cannon SafeBegan as the metal fabricator Astro-Fab; in business since 1965Cannon Security Products, Inc., Las Vegas (the former Alpha Guardian group, reorganised in 2020)US and Mexico (group); not stated per model78
Stack-OnJohn Lynn, Illinois, 1972Cannon Security Products, Inc. (since 2017)Sentinel gun safe recalled in 2019: made in Mexico910
Winchester SafesGranite Security Products, founded 1990 by Kyle Walters; Winchester licence via MeilinkKyle Walters, under licence for the Winchester nameTexas; one range, the Western Series, labelled “USA made”1112
Browning safesSold by Prosteel Security Products LLC, Provo, UtahProsteel Security Products LLC“Made in the USA”, by the company’s account13
AMSEC (American Security)Compton, California, 1946Owners not publishedFontana, California14
Hamilton by GunneboHamilton Safe, Cincinnati area, 1967Gunnebo (since 2012), itself owned by Altor and Stena Adactum (since 2020)Milford, Ohio1516
Diebold NixdorfCharles Diebold, Cincinnati, about 1859Listed company; reorganised under Chapter 11 in 2023Cash machine safe enclosures imported from China (2019 ruling)1718
MoslerGustave Mosler, Cincinnati, late 1860sCeased trading 2001; assets bought by DieboldNo longer made19
ChubbsafesChubb, Wolverhampton, 1818Gunnebo (since 2000), using the Chubb name under licenceHalol, India; Cikarang, Indonesia; European plants in the group202122
Phoenix Safe Co.Claims Liverpool roots from 1799; current company 2013PSG Condor Ltd, majority-owned by Ningbo Excellent Electronic Security Products Co., ChinaNot stated23
Burton Safes“Over 30 years”; Burton Safes Ltd incorporated 2003Associated Security Services Holdings Ltd (since April 2025)Not stated24
Yale (UK safes)Yale lock brandASSA ABLOYNot stated25
DöttlingLocksmith’s shop, Sindelfingen, 1919SWJ Group (since 2019)“Made in Germany”26
Brown SafeFrederick Brown, California, 1980The Brown familyVista, California2728
HollonZack Gilmore, Corpus Christi, Texas, 2007 or 2008Family-ownedNot stated, except one US-made gun safe line2930
Honeywell safesHoneywell name licensed for safesLH Licensed Products, Carson, California (licensee)Not stated31

How we got here: old names, new owners

None of this is new. The safe trade has always been a business of takeovers and borrowed names, and our maker entries are full of them. Diebold bought York’s safe and vault line in 1946 and Herring-Hall-Marvin in 1959, and in October 2001 it bought what was left of Mosler after the old Hamilton, Ohio firm went bankrupt.32331934 In 2000 Chubb’s safe business went to the Swedish Gunnebo group, which already owned Tann and Fichet-Bauche.35

Licensed names have a history too. The Winchester gun safe licence came to today’s maker from the Meilink Safe Company of New Albany, Indiana, in 1999: the same Meilink line that began in Toledo around 1900 and passed to FireKing in 1991.1136 And Hamilton by Gunnebo’s American website now sells a high-security safe under the old British John Tann name.37

What has changed is how the safes are judged. The 19th-century makers proved their safes in public fire trials and lock contests; today’s rely on standards bodies and test labs such as UL in America and the ECB·S, VdS and LPCB in Europe.38394041 For the long view, read how makers went about inventing the fireproof safe and how the safe-cracking history shaped burglary testing. How we research these modern pages, and what we don’t do, is set out in how we research modern safes.

SentrySafe: from Brush-Punnett to Master Lock

SentrySafe started as a cheap safe. John D. Brush, born in Albion, New York, in 1897, went into partnership in Rochester with his brother-in-law Willard Punnett, and the idea was a safe built from stamped parts to keep the cost down. The first big order was for 2,200 wall safes for Vassar College.42 The local historian dates the Brush-Punnett Co. partnership to 1931; Master Lock and SentrySafe give 1930.421

Brush became sole owner in 1943, and once his sons joined in the early 1950s the firm traded as John D. Brush & Co.43 It was still family-owned in 2014, with plants in Rochester and Cannelton, Indiana, when Master Lock bought it. The deal closed on 29 July 2014 for $117.5 million, according to the parent company’s filing; its annual report later gave $116.7 million.144 Master Lock is now an operating unit of Fortune Brands Innovations.45

Two grey SentrySafe gun safes, one open showing a carpeted interior with a rifle rack, the other closed with a brass SentrySafe badge and electronic keypad
Two SentrySafe gun safes in 2007, when the company was still owned by the Brush family. Photo: IssueLips, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Rochester didn’t keep it long. In June 2015 SentrySafe announced it would end its Rochester operations, with 350 workers affected, and move the work to Master Lock plants in Wisconsin and Mexico; the plant closed at the end of June 2016.462 Neither the company nor its parent says which plant makes which SentrySafe model today. What a customs ruling does show is that Master Lock imports parts used only in the SentrySafe fire and water safe line: a handle from China and a hinge from Taiwan.3 So “where are Sentry safes made?” has an honest answer of “assembled by Master Lock, with imported parts, in plants it doesn’t name per model”.

Liberty and Fort Knox: the Utah gun safe makers

Two of Utah’s best-known gun safe makers may share a founder. Liberty Safe says it was founded in 1988 by Jay Crosby, who had earlier co-founded Fort Knox. It started in a storage unit, moved to Provo in 1989 and to Payson in 2001, and today employs nearly 400 people there; the company says “around 95%” of what it sells is American made, without saying which 5% isn’t.4

Liberty has changed hands several times. Crosby sold it to an unnamed investor in 1995.4 Compass Diversified Holdings bought it from the private equity firm Catterton Partners for about $70 million in March 2010, and sold it on 3 August 2021 to an affiliate of Monomoy Capital Partners, valuing the business at $147.5 million.47485 Monomoy’s own portfolio page no longer lists Liberty among its active investments, and we haven’t found an announcement of a later sale, so treat the current owner as unconfirmed.49

Many people searching for Liberty’s owner are thinking of September 2023. The company had given the FBI the access code to a customer’s safe; its first statement said its protocol was to provide codes when a warrant granted access to a property, and a second said it would in future require a subpoena that legally compelled it.50 That’s the factual record; whether it should change your choice of safe is your call.

Fort Knox tells a simpler story. Tom James launched Fort Knox Security Products in 1982, and it’s still run by his family from the same Orem address, with every safe “proudly made in the USA”, according to the company.651 Its own history doesn’t mention Crosby, so the two companies’ accounts don’t quite match.

Cannon, Stack-On, Winchester and Browning

These four are where the name on the door and the factory behind it part company most often, so it’s worth taking them one at a time.

Cannon and Stack-On

Cannon began in 1965 as a metal fabricator called Astro-Fab, and in 2010 it was building safes in San Bernardino, California.7 Stack-On was founded by John Lynn in 1972 and was based in Wauconda, Illinois.952 In 2017 Cannon and the private equity firm MidOcean Partners bought Stack-On, and the two became the Alpha Guardian group, which sold safes under the Cannon, Stack-On and GunVault names.98

Alpha Guardian filed for Chapter 11 in Nevada in February 2020, along with Cannon, Stack-On and GunVault.53 Its plan was confirmed that August, and the balance of its senior secured debt was turned into equity, which means the lenders ended up owning it; their names weren’t published.8 Both brands now describe themselves as brands of Cannon Security Products, Inc., of Las Vegas.54 The group said it had manufacturing and distribution in the US and Mexico, and a 2019 safety recall of the Stack-On Sentinel gun safe gives its country of manufacture as Mexico.810 Neither brand’s website says where a given Cannon or Stack-On model is made.

Winchester

Winchester the rifle maker doesn’t make safes. Winchester Safes are made by Granite Security Products, which Kyle Walters founded in January 1990 and still owns. The company’s 2024 press release says Walters acquired the gun safe line and the Winchester licence from Meilink in 1999; its history page says Granite “partnered with Winchester” in 1991.1112 The firm is in Texas, with its head office at Mansfield, and one range, the Western Series, is labelled “USA made”, which suggests the others may not be. The company doesn’t say.12

Browning

Browning safes are sold through a website “operated by Prosteel Security Products LLC”, with a customer address in Provo, Utah, and the site sells them as safes made in the USA.13 We couldn’t open a primary source for when ProSteel began making safes for Browning or who owns ProSteel today, so we’ve left those details out.

AMSEC (American Security)

American Security Products, sold as AMSEC, has been making safes since 1946. It started in Compton, California, moved to Paramount, Irwindale and then Fontana, and employed more than 200 people when it marked its 75th year in 2021.14 Its plant and office are at Pacific Avenue, Fontana.55 We found no published statement of who owns it: no parent group, no investor announcement. We’d rather say that plainly than guess.

Bank safe makers: Hamilton, Diebold Nixdorf and Mosler

Hamilton by Gunnebo

If you search “Hamilton safe”, you’ll find two different stories under one name. Hamilton Safe was founded in 1967 by Harvey L. Henkel and Robert Deluse in the Cincinnati area, grew into a big supplier of safes, vaults and drive-up systems to American banks and government, and was bought by Gunnebo in 2012 for $65 million.5615 Since 2022 it has made its products in a $21 million plant at Milford, Ohio, and trades as Hamilton by Gunnebo.1657

It’s a different company from the old safe makers of Hamilton, Ohio, the town where Mosler, Herring-Hall-Marvin and Macneale & Urban built safes from the 1890s.58 We’ve found no link between them, and the modern firm doesn’t claim one. Our Hamilton safes entry sorts out which is which.

Diebold Nixdorf, and what happened to Mosler

Diebold began as a safe maker in Cincinnati around 1859 and moved to Canton, Ohio, in the 1870s.59 Today it’s best known for cash machines. It bought the German firm Wincor Nixdorf and began trading as Diebold Nixdorf on 16 August 2016.60 After a Chapter 11 reorganisation filed on 1 June 2023, it emerged on 11 August that year.17

Its 2010 annual report still listed “vaults, safes, depositories” among its products; the 2025 report speaks only of “physical security products” alongside ATMs and retail systems.61 One clue to where its safe hardware comes from: a 2019 US customs ruling for Diebold Nixdorf covers steel safe enclosures for cash machines made in China.18

Mosler, once the other giant of American bank vaults, stopped trading on 3 August 2001 and filed for Chapter 11 three days later. On 25 October 2001 Diebold bought its US and Canadian security business and service operations.1934 No new safes carry the name. If you have an old one, our Mosler safes page shows how to date it.

Chubbsafes and Gunnebo

Chubbsafes is the clearest case of a famous name living on under licence. Gunnebo bought Chubb’s safe, strongroom and security screen businesses in 2000, while the lock side went to ASSA ABLOY.35 Chubbsafes’ own site is candid about it: the Chubb brand “is owned by Chubb PLC and is a registered trademark used under license by Gunnebo”.20 The full story of the Wolverhampton firm is in our history of Chubb safes.

Gunnebo itself has changed shape. The investment firms Altor and Stena Adactum took it private in 2020, and its shares left the Stockholm exchange that December.62 In August 2026 the group agreed to sell its entrance control business to ASSA ABLOY, after which it will focus solely on Gunnebo Safe Storage; the sale was expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026. Altor gives the group 12 production facilities.63

Some of those factories are named. Gunnebo’s plant at Halol in Gujarat, India, open since 1984 and expanded in 2024, is its largest, and makes products under the Steelage and Chubbsafes brands.21 PT Chubbsafes Indonesia, at Cikarang, makes up to 30,000 safes, filing cabinets and treasury doors a year and exports 70 per cent of them.22 In Europe the group names Markersdorf in Germany as a major manufacturing hub, and in 2024 it bought the Primat Group, with plants in Slovenia and Serbia.6465 Which Chubbsafes model comes from which plant isn’t published, but the certification plate inside the door is the thing to read in any case.

Britain’s home safe brands: Phoenix, Burton and Yale

For the British brands, Companies House is the best record, and it’s free for anyone to search. It doesn’t say where a safe is made, but it does say who owns the company that sells it.

Phoenix Safe Co. traces its history to a Liverpool strongbox maker of 1799 and says a management buyout took control in 2014.66 The trading company today, Phoenix Safe Company Limited, was incorporated in 2013, has its registered office at Orrell Mount in Liverpool and is registered as a wholesaler. More than 75 per cent of it belongs to PSG Condor Limited, and since 2016 more than half of PSG Condor has belonged to Ningbo Excellent Electronic Security Products Co., a company registered in China.23 The older company of the same name, formed in 1986, was renamed and dissolved in 2019.67 Phoenix doesn’t say where its safes are made.

Burton Safes says it has served the trade “for over 30 years” and gives an address at Brockholes, near Holmfirth in West Yorkshire.68 The company, incorporated as Burton Safes Limited in 2003, has been called Burton Security Limited since 2022. Its parent, Trusted Security Group, has been more than 75 per cent owned by Associated Security Services Holdings Limited since 4 April 2025.24 Burton doesn’t publish where its safes are made either.

Yale is a lock brand first. Its UK website sells fire safes, document chests and security safes with £1,000 and £2,000 cash ratings, under the footer “Part of ASSA ABLOY”.25 It doesn’t say who builds them or where, and we couldn’t find a published licence agreement for the safes. If a Yale safe’s origin matters to you, ask the retailer for the certificate and country of origin before you buy.

The specialists: Döttling, Brown Safe and Hollon

Germany

Döttling

Ernst Döttling opened a locksmith’s shop in Sindelfingen in 1919. Andreas Schlittenhardt took a majority stake in 2010, and the SWJ Group acquired the business assets in 2019. The firm sells “Luxury Safes made in Germany”.26

California

Brown Safe

Frederick Brown started his high-security safe line in 1980, by the company’s account; a 2012 trade article implies a few years earlier. Family-owned, it moved from San Marcos to Vista, California, and hand-builds in its US factory.276928

Texas

Hollon

Family-owned Hollon Safe of Corpus Christi gives both 2007 and 2008 as its start. It calls itself a manufacturer but doesn’t say where its safes are made; only its Republic gun safe line was described as US-made.2930

Where are safes made? Mexico, India, Indonesia and China

Some of the safes sold in Britain and America are made in Asia or Mexico, as the records below show. Pinning it down brand by brand is surprisingly hard, because few companies publish it. Three kinds of record do tell you something, and they’re the ones we’ve used here.

  • Company statements. Gunnebo names its plants in India and Indonesia; Fort Knox, Brown Safe and Döttling say where they build.212262726
  • Safety recalls. Every US recall notice gives a country of manufacture: Mexico for the Stack-On Sentinel in 2019, China for the Sanctuary and Sports Afield biometric gun safes in 2024.1070
  • Customs rulings. US Customs publishes its classification rulings, which name the country of origin: Chinese and Taiwanese parts for SentrySafe’s fire and water safes, Chinese safe enclosures for Diebold Nixdorf’s cash machines.318

Ownership is a different question from origin. Phoenix is majority-owned, through PSG Condor, by a Chinese security products company, but that alone doesn’t tell you where any Phoenix safe is made.23 And “made in” a country can mean welded there from imported steel, or assembled there from imported parts. If it matters to you, ask the seller for the country of origin in writing.

Did you know?

SentrySafe’s first big order, in its Rochester days, was for 2,200 wall safes for Vassar College. The whole idea was a safe cheap enough to make from stamped steel parts.42

How to judge any safe brand

People search for “best gun safe brands” and “gun safe brands to avoid” a lot. We don’t publish either list, because we haven’t tested these safes and a brand doesn’t make a safe good or bad: the same name can sit on a thin cabinet and a certified one. What we can do is show you how to check any safe for yourself, whoever’s name is on the door.

Check 1

Independent certification

Look for a test lab’s label inside the door: UL 687 (TL-15, TL-30) or UL 1037 (RSC) for burglary, UL 72 for fire, or an EN 1143-1 or EN 14450 grade from ECB·S, VdS or LPCB in Europe. Then check the model in the certifier’s own listing.39713872407374

Check 2

Published specs

A maker that’s proud of its steel will tell you its thickness, the door construction, the weight and the lock. Vague phrases like “fire resistant” or “tested to UL standards” without a class number are claims, not listings.74

Check 3

The warranty

Read the warranty document itself: what it covers (fire, break-in, the lock), who pays for shipping, and whether it passes to a new owner. Owners change, as Alpha Guardian’s 2020 bankruptcy showed, so ask who honours it.53

The fourth check is where it’s made, and you’ve seen above how patchy that information is. A clear country of origin from the maker, a recall notice or a customs ruling is worth more than a flag on the box. Our explainers on TL-15, TL-30 and RSC ratings, safe fire ratings and Eurograde and cash ratings go into each label in detail.

A famous old name means the old company made it.

Often not. Chubbsafes, Winchester and Honeywell safes are made by other companies under licence.

Hamilton safes come from the safe works of Hamilton, Ohio.

Hamilton Safe was founded near Cincinnati in 1967 and has no known link to Mosler or Herring-Hall-Marvin.

“Made in USA” means every part is American.

Not always. Liberty says about 95 per cent of what it sells is American made, and Master Lock imports SentrySafe parts.

A brand is either good or one to avoid.

Brands sell many grades. Judge the model by its certificate, specs and warranty.

Replacing an old safe rather than buying a first one? Before you scrap it, send us photos of its maker’s plate and serial number and we’ll help you work out who made it and when.

Frequently asked questions

Who makes SentrySafe safes?

Master Lock, which bought SentrySafe in 2014 and is part of Fortune Brands Innovations. The Rochester-area plant closed in 2016, when the work moved to Master Lock plants in Wisconsin and Mexico.

Where are Liberty safes made?

In Payson, Utah, where Liberty has been since 2001. The company says around 95 per cent of the products it sells are American made.

Who makes Winchester gun safes?

Granite Security Products of Texas, founded by Kyle Walters in 1990, under licence for the Winchester name. Only its Western Series is labelled USA made.

Who owns Cannon and Stack-On safes?

Cannon Security Products, Inc., of Las Vegas, the company that came out of the Alpha Guardian reorganisation in 2020. The group has manufacturing in the US and Mexico.

Who owns Chubbsafes?

The Swedish Gunnebo group, which bought Chubb’s safe business in 2000 and uses the Chubb name under licence. Gunnebo has been owned by Altor and Stena Adactum since 2020.

Which safe brands should I avoid?

We don’t keep a list, because brands sell many grades of safe. Check the model’s independent certification, published specs, warranty and country of origin instead.

Sources:
  1. The Master Lock Company, “The Master Lock Company Announces Strategic Acquisition of Sentry Safe”, press release, 30 July 2014 (founded 1930; family-owned; manufacturing in Rochester, New York, and Cannelton, Indiana). ↩︎
  2. “Sentry Safe ends an era in Rochester”, WXXI News, 29 June 2016. ↩︎
  3. US Customs and Border Protection, ruling N319909, 8 July 2021, to The Master Lock Company LLC: “The tariff classification of parts of a safe from China and Taiwan” (a handle from China and a hinge from Taiwan, “used exclusively in the SentrySafe fire and water protection safe line”). ↩︎
  4. Liberty Safe, “The History of Liberty Safe”, checked 27 October 2026 (founded 1988 by Jay Crosby; Provo 1989; Payson 2001; “Around 95% of the products we sell are American made”). ↩︎
  5. Compass Diversified Holdings, “Compass Diversified Completes Sale of Liberty Safe”, Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1, 3 August 2021 (sale to an affiliate of Monomoy Capital Partners; enterprise value $147.5 million). ↩︎
  6. Fort Knox Security Products, “Our Story”, checked 27 October 2026 (founded 1982 by Tom James; “Still family-owned”; “All proudly made in the USA”; 993 North Industrial Park Rd., Orem, Utah). ↩︎
  7. Cannon Safe, “Gubernatorial Candidate Meg Whitman Tours California Safe Manufacturing Facility”, press release, 14 March 2010 (began as the metal fabricator Astro-Fab; in business since 1965; plant in San Bernardino, California). ↩︎
  8. report on the Alpha Guardian reorganisation, ABL Advisor, 24 August 2020 (formed in 2017 by combining Cannon Safe and Stack-On; “manufacturing and distribution facilities in the U.S. and Mexico”; senior secured debt converted into equity). ↩︎
  9. MidOcean Partners, “Cannon Safe Announces Partnership with MidOcean Partners To Acquire Stack-On Products”, 2 August 2017 (Stack-On founded by John Lynn in 1972, based in Illinois). ↩︎
  10. US Consumer Product Safety Commission, recall of Stack-On Sentinel gun safes, 21 March 2019 (Stack-On Sentinel gun safe; manufactured in Mexico). ↩︎
  11. Winchester Safes, press release published on winchester.com, 9 May 2024 (Granite Security Products founded January 1990 by Kyle Walters, president and owner; Winchester licence and gun safe line acquired from Meilink Safe Company, New Albany, Indiana, in 1999; “Strategically located in Texas”). ↩︎
  12. Winchester Safes, “History”, checked 27 October 2026 (“In 1991 … Granite Security Products partnered with Winchester”; Western Series labelled “USA made”). ↩︎
  13. Browning Safes, “Terms of service” (site “operated by Prosteel Security Products LLC”) and “Privacy policy” (1400 South State Street, Provo, Utah), checked 27 October 2026; browningsafes.com (“Shop Safes Made in the USA”). ↩︎
  14. American Security, “Fontana Gun Safe Manufacturer, American Security, Celebrates 75 Years Of Innovation”, 9 August 2021 (since 1946; moved from Compton to Paramount, Irwindale and Fontana; more than 200 employees). ↩︎
  15. GIT Security, “Gunnebo acquires the Hamilton Safe Companies”, 8 August 2012, reprinting Gunnebo’s announcement; also reported by Locksmith Ledger, 17 August 2012. ↩︎
  16. Gunnebo, “Gunnebo’s $21 million new Hamilton facility in the US up and running”, press release, 12 May 2022. ↩︎
  17. Diebold Nixdorf, Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1, 11 August 2023 (emergence from Chapter 11, filed 1 June 2023). ↩︎
  18. US Customs and Border Protection, ruling N307754, 17 December 2019, requested by Diebold Nixdorf: “The classification of a steel metal safe and enclosure from China” (safe enclosures for cash machines). ↩︎
  19. ATM Marketplace, “Mosler files for Chapter 11”, 2001. ↩︎
  20. Chubbsafes, “About Chubbsafes”. ↩︎
  21. Steelage (Gunnebo India), news item of 30 April 2024 on the Halol plant expansion, quoting Gunnebo Group president and CEO Stefan Syren. ↩︎
  22. report on the Chubbsafes plant at Cikarang, Indonesia Business Post, 7 May 2024. ↩︎
  23. Companies House, Phoenix Safe Company Limited, company 08698080 (incorporated 19 September 2013; registered office Orrell Mount, Liverpool L20; SIC 46660, wholesale) and its persons with significant control (PSG Condor Limited, 75 per cent or more); PSG Condor Limited, persons with significant control (Ningbo Excellent Electronic Security Products Co Limited, China, more than 50 per cent, notified 6 April 2016). Checked 27 October 2026. ↩︎
  24. Companies House, Burton Security Limited, company 04744621 (incorporated 25 April 2003 as Burton Safes Limited, renamed 2 September 2022; SIC 46180, sales agents) and Trusted Security Group Limited, persons with significant control (Associated Security Services Holdings Limited, 75 per cent or more, from 4 April 2025). Checked 27 October 2026. ↩︎
  25. Yale UK, “Safes”, checked 27 October 2026 (footer “Part of ASSA ABLOY”; cash rating filter £1,000 and £2,000). ↩︎
  26. Döttling, “History”, checked 27 October 2026 (1919, Sindelfingen; majority shares to Andreas K. Schlittenhardt 2010; assets acquired by the SWJ Group 2019; “Luxury Safes made in Germany”). ↩︎
  27. Brown Safe Manufacturing, FAQ, checked 27 October 2026 (Frederick Brown, 1980; “hand-built in our U.S. factory”; family-owned). ↩︎
  28. interview with Lynel Berryhill of Brown Safe, LEADERS, July 2026 (“our Vista, California facility”). ↩︎
  29. Hollon Safe, home page (227 44th St, Corpus Christi, Texas; “founded in 2008”) and “Our Company” (“I started Hollon Safe in 2007”), checked 27 October 2026. ↩︎
  30. profile of Hollon Safe, Locksmith Ledger, 8 October 2015 (Republic gun safe line made in the USA). ↩︎
  31. honeywellsafes.com, footer, checked 27 October 2026 (“These products are manufactured by LH Licensed Products”; “The Honeywell Trademark is used under license from Honeywell International Inc.”). ↩︎
  32. “Diebold Annexes York’s Line”, Business Week, 12 January 1946, via Internet Archive. ↩︎
  33. United States v. Diebold, Inc., 369 U.S. 654 (1962), via Legal Information Institute, Cornell. ↩︎
  34. Diebold, Incorporated, Form 10-K405 for the year ended 31 December 2001, filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, 2002. ↩︎
  35. The Chubb Archive, “Early sales, offices, Chubb Group, 1980s and on”. ↩︎
  36. “FireKing International” (acquisition of Meilink on 27 November 1991), The National Locksmith, March 1992; “Fire King International Acquires Meilink”, The National Locksmith, April 1992. ↩︎
  37. Hamilton by Gunnebo, “John Tann TRTL 60×6 High Security Safe”, accessed 26 October 2026. ↩︎
  38. ANSI Webstore, ANSI/CAN/UL 72:2026, “Tests for Fire Resistance of Record Protection Equipment”, published 27 January 2026. ↩︎
  39. UL Standards & Engagement, UL 687, Burglary-Resistant Safes, edition 15 (published 19 July 2011, reaffirmed as an American National Standard 1 July 2025), section 1 “Scope”. ↩︎
  40. European Certification Body (ECB•S), “FAQ” (safes and secure safe cabinets, the blue certification mark inside the door, insurance amounts as a non-binding guide). ↩︎
  41. LPCB (BRE Global), Red Book Part 4, introduction (BRE Global Ltd, owned by the not-for-profit BRE Trust; LPCB listings free at RedBookLive). ↩︎
  42. Matthew Ballard (Orleans County Historian), “Albion native founded SentrySafe Company”, Orleans Hub, 26 September 2015. ↩︎
  43. obituary of Richard Brush, WXXI News, 27 August 2021. ↩︎
  44. Fortune Brands Home & Security, Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1, second-quarter 2014 results, filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, 30 July 2014 (“The transaction closed on July 29, 2014 for $117.5 million”). The company’s 2014 annual report (Form 10-K) gives a purchase price of $116.7 million. ↩︎
  45. SentrySafe, “About us” (“Master Lock Company LLC is an operating unit of Fortune Brands Innovations”), checked 27 October 2026. ↩︎
  46. “SentrySafe to end Rochester operations; 350 workers affected”, WXXI News, 23 June 2015. ↩︎
  47. Robert W. Baird & Co., deal card “Liberty Safe Is Acquired by Compass”, March 2010 (Liberty a portfolio company of Catterton Partners). ↩︎
  48. Compass Diversified Holdings, Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.2, 1 April 2010 (purchase of Liberty Safe for about $70 million, closed 31 March 2010). ↩︎
  49. Monomoy Capital Partners, “Monomoy Capital Partners Agrees to Acquire Liberty Safe”, 19 July 2021; and its portfolio page, checked 27 October 2026, where Liberty Safe is not among the active investments. ↩︎
  50. Michael Levenson, “How a company that makes gun safes angered gun owners”, The New York Times, republished by The Salt Lake Tribune, 10 September 2023. ↩︎
  51. Andrew Butts, “Fortified Defense: Fort Knox Gun Safes”, American Rifleman, 21 August 2019. ↩︎
  52. US Consumer Product Safety Commission, recall notice for Stack-On Products Co. gun cabinets, 28 November 2000 (“Stack-On Products Co., of Wauconda, Ill.”). ↩︎
  53. report on Alpha Guardian’s bankruptcy filing, Bloomberg Law, 25 February 2020 (case 20-11016, District of Nevada; Cannon Safe, Stack-On Products and GunVault filed with it). ↩︎
  54. Cannon Safe, “About us” and Stack-On, “About us”, checked 27 October 2026 (both “a brand of Cannon Security Products, Inc.”, 3550 E Post Road, Las Vegas, Nevada). ↩︎
  55. American Security, “About us”, checked 27 October 2026 (11925 Pacific Avenue, Fontana, California). ↩︎
  56. Hamilton Safe, “About Us”, hamiltonsafe.com, archived 12 February 2015, with the footer “Hamilton Safe is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Gunnebo Security Group” and the address 7775 Cooper Road, Cincinnati. ↩︎
  57. Hamilton by Gunnebo, “Hamilton History” and “Contact Us” (US headquarters and plant, 5063 Champions Way, Milford, Ohio), accessed 26 October 2026. ↩︎
  58. Jim Blount, “Opening of Mosler Safe Co. continued festive mood in 1891 as Hamilton celebrated its centennial year”, Lane Libraries, Hamilton, 2014, compiled from the Hamilton Democrat of 1890–91 and S. D. Cone, A Concise History of Hamilton (1901) (archived copy). ↩︎
  59. Edward Thornton Heald, The Stark County Story, vol. 4: The American Way of Life (Canton: Stark County Historical Society, 1959), section “Company Foundations at Cincinnati, 1859–1871”, via Internet Archive (lending library; quoted from the full-text search). ↩︎
  60. Diebold, Incorporated, Form 425 press release on completing the acquisition of Wincor Nixdorf AG, August 2016 (“will begin operating as Diebold Nixdorf on Tuesday, Aug. 16”). ↩︎
  61. Diebold Nixdorf, Form 10-K for 2025, filed 12 February 2026 (“physical security products”); compare Diebold’s Form 10-K for 2010 (“vaults, safes, depositories”). ↩︎
  62. Stena Adactum, news release on the Gunnebo offer, December 2020 (about 96 per cent held; share delisted from Nasdaq Stockholm). ↩︎
  63. Altor, press release on the sale of Gunnebo Entrance Control to ASSA ABLOY, 3 August 2026. ↩︎
  64. report on Gunnebo Safe Storage’s European network, Benchmark, 25 November 2025 (Markersdorf, Germany). ↩︎
  65. report on Gunnebo Safe Storage buying the Primat Group, International Security Journal, 10 October 2024 (plants in Maribor, Slovenia, and Baljevac, Serbia). ↩︎
  66. Phoenix Safe Company, “About us”, checked 27 October 2026 (history traced to Liverpool in 1799; 2014 management buyout; offices and warehousing “in the UK and Europe”). ↩︎
  67. Companies House, company 02040124 (incorporated 1986 as The Phoenix Safe Company Limited; renamed Phoenix Safe Europe Ltd; dissolved 19 March 2019). ↩︎
  68. Burton Safes, home page, checked 27 October 2026 (“over 30 years”; Brockholes Business Park, Holmfirth; “© Burton Security Limited”). ↩︎
  69. article on Brown Safe Manufacturing, Locksmith Ledger, 20 September 2012 (a “35-year-old” company that moved from San Marcos to Vista). ↩︎
  70. US Consumer Product Safety Commission, recall 24-255, Sanctuary and Sports Afield biometric gun safes, 6 June 2024 (SA Consumer Products Inc., Rolling Meadows, Illinois; manufactured in China). ↩︎
  71. Intertek, Standards Update Notice for UL 1037, Antitheft Alarms and Devices, 6th edition, issued 13 December 2019, effective 23 August 2020, clauses 54.2 to 54.4 (residential security container attack levels I to III). ↩︎
  72. BSI, BS EN 1143-1:2019, Secure storage units: requirements, classification and methods of test for resistance to burglary. Safes, ATM safes, strongroom doors and strongrooms, published 30 April 2019, scope and summary. ↩︎
  73. VdS, “About VdS” (VdS Schadenverhütung GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of the German Insurance Association, GDV). ↩︎
  74. Norcal Safe & Vault, “How to Read a Safe’s Burglary Rating and Know If It’s Real”. A dealer’s guide. ↩︎

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