Iron-clad security

"Fetch hither all my boxes in my closet."

                                                      Pericles      (III, ii)

Shakespeare's character Cerimon, a well-regarded physician, believes that with the help of his stored-away medical paraphernalia, he can revive Pericles' wife Thaisa, who has apparently died in childbirth while at sea. He succeeds, but Pericles still believes she's dead.

Pictured above, from the collection of Agecroft Hall,  is an iron strongbox, made on the European continent, probably in southern Germany, c1640. It is a good example of the type of box that would have been used in the seventeenth century to lock up and store away valuables. Fourteen and one-half inches in length, just over seven inches in height, and eight inches in depth, it might have routinely been chained to another larger, heavier object to make it harder to steal.

The box is decorated with engraved designs: on top is a representation of a bearded gentleman; one side has an engraving of a hunter with horn, dogs and a bird. The opposite side has a Creation scene depicting God and Adam. The hinges and locks are engraved with acanthus leaves, and the heavy iron ring on top of the box was evidently handy when chaining the box to a wall or some other object. Such an elaborately engraved piece would probably have been owned by a fairly well-to-do individual.

Somewhat less ornate strongboxes were common in many homes in Elizabethan England, where they were frequently kept in a closet in the most secure part of the house. Quite often, they were used in shops and other business establishments to safeguard the profits of the day's trade, or even to protect merchandise regarded as too valuable to leave out in plain view, within easy reach of the larcenous.

The strongbox is perhaps a bit of a reminder that there's nothing new about acquisitive market-prowlers looking for that "five finger discount."