133-year-old safe delivered to family of original owner at Jessie’s Grove Winery
It was from
The item is a safe, built in 1882 by the
It's not a large safe: At about three feet tall, two feet wide and two feet deep, there's just enough room inside the thick walls for a few stacks of cash or some jewelry.
That's precisely what it was meant for. Spenker originally used the safe to store money to pay his workers each day. With so much cash on hand to pay every employee tending his 1500 acres, he needed somewhere to keep it secure.
Burns had never seen the safe before, since he's only managed the ranch and winery for about 20 years. But he was thrilled at idea and was eager to see the safe return home.
"I'd love to turn the tumblers and know that five and six generations ago, my relatives would use this every day," Burns said.
But how did the safe leave the ranch, and end up in Lehr's storage unit?
In 1985, Lehr's great-aunt and uncle were the caretakers for an old ranch house on the property that has stood since 1904. The home was being cleared out for renovations and there wasn't a place to keep the old safe. Lehr, then in his early 30s, asked if he could have it.
"It was a novelty," he said. "I like the old
Lehr took the safe, along with the complex combination, and displayed it in his home for several years. Then it was placed in a storage unit in
Since the safe is such a heavy yet delicate item, Lehr needed some professional assistance. His friend
Quinn arrived with
"Wow! Would you look at the face on that one!" Burns said, admiring his new artifact.
Bechthold, official historian for the ranch as well as a fourth-generation family member, thanked Lehr with a hug and a kiss for bringing the safe back home.
Burns brought out a forklift to carefully lower the safe to the ground, then unloaded it onto a concrete slab near the entrance to the tasting room.
But the question remained: Would the safe open after weathering 133 years of use, then storage?
Lehr did open the safe once or twice, but hadn't tested the lock for 20 years. He didn't remember if there's anything stored inside.
First, Lehr gave it a try, following the combination carefully. The handle wouldn't budge.
Next, Quinn tried to open it, moving the dial slowly and precisely. Nothing.
Burns knelt down in front of the safe and gave it a go. It still wouldn't open.
Then, Burns placed a call to Security Lock and Key, to see if they had any tips for cracking open a vintage safe. Burns twisted the dial this way and that, following each direction over the phone.
There was one click, then another, followed by a promising thud, as though a tumbler had fallen into place. Burns reached the final zero, the last entry in the six part combination, and tried the handle.
Nothing happened. The safe remained closed.
The safe is so securely built that without the combination working properly, there's no way in.
"You'd have to drill through the lock, and you could, but it would just ruin the historical value of it," said Burns.
That's OK. Burns has a plan.
The safe will remain in the tasting room, with the combination posted. A bottle of wine and a pair of glasses is resting on top. If a winery visitor can open the safe, they can have the wine.
Even if the inside of the safe never again sees daylight, it's still worth the effort to bring it home.
"That's a piece of history there, back where it belongs," said Quinn.
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