4/30/2023 0 Comments Padlock puzzle![]() ![]() But the key alone was not enough to open one. With few exceptions, the faceplate was hinged at the top, and flipped up to reveal a keyhole, the key to which was also sometimes crafted into a ring, worn separately. Janus, god of transitions and passages, was a popular subject. Each about the size of a large ring, the locks were usually made of bronze and featured a faceplate sculpted into the image of a god. An impressive variety of padlocks have survived from the ancient Roman world, but this type of puzzle lock has a few distinctive features. Slocum eventually identified 156 examples in museums and collections around the world, while developing his book on the subject. From Romano-Celtic Mask Puzzle Padlocks/Courtesy of Jerry Slocum The first steps of opening an example replica lock. ![]() Having been buried for 2,000 years, they weren’t in very good shape,” says Slocum. “He had been collecting originals, most of which were just parts. ![]() So Slocum began digging into archaeological journals and, sure enough, there they were. “Personally I didn’t believe him,” he says. So when an acquaintance told him about padlocks with hidden levers and catches from the time of the Roman Empire, he was a bit incredulous. Slocum had amassed hundreds of trick padlocks over the years, but by his estimation, the oldest he’d found dated to the 17th century. “I was quite eager to acquire some,” he says. But it was just a few years ago that he discovered the existence of ancient Rome’s puzzle padlocks. “Among what I collected were padlocks with tricks to open them as part of the security,” says. The lion’s share of his collection (some 40,000 puzzles and related items) was donated to the Lilly Library at Indiana University-where it became the Slocum Puzzle Collection-in 2006, but his fascination with the world of brainteasers has never dimmed. Slocum has spent a lifetime studying and collecting mechanical puzzles. When we think of Roman fashion today, it’s all togas and laurels, but as preeminent puzzle historian Jerry Slocum and his colleague Dic Sonneveld explain in the recent book Romano-Celtic Mask Puzzle Padlocks, some Romans probably also wore intricate mechanical rings, which they could also use to lock up a money pouch or small safe. When they sent money, they sometimes secured it with a special trick puzzle padlock that one could wear as a ring. If you want to send money to someone today, you can just shoot it over with Venmo, but the ancient Romans lacked in convenience, so they made up for it in style. ![]()
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