Safe cash box

A rectangular metal box with a lid attached to the main body with two hinges. In the front box, a key lock is mounted in a frame that depicts the representation of a phoenix with outstretched wings holding a book in its beak, around which further three burning volumes are gathered. Below, on the axis of the lock, there is a preserved half of a round stamped plaque with the impressed coat of arms of the United Kingdom of Great Britain consisting of an oval escutcheon divided into four fields where the coat of arms of England (three walking lions), the coat of arms of Scotland (a rampant lion) and the coat of arms of Ireland (a harp in the form of a winged woman) are alternately placed twice. The whole is supported by a lion and a unicorn rampant on both sides and topped with a closed royal crown, over which a ribbon with the motto of the British monarchy is placed: DIEU ET MON DROIT (God and my right). At the top runs an inscription referring to the object and its manufacturer: MILNERS’ 212 PATENT (212). The coat of arms was repeated on the box lid and supplemented with a detailed description of the product, its properties and manufacturer. Inside the lid, we can learn about other products of Thomas Milner & Son thanks to an inserted graphic advertisement containing pictures and descriptions of the company’s products. The Milner & Son company was founded by a tinsmith and metal box producer Thomas Milner around 1830. In the course of time, his Liverpool factory focused on the production of safe cash boxes with fireproof properties. Producers of these cash boxes improved the materials of which they were made so that the goods kept there (money, very valuable documents or weapons) could remain safe even in the case of a fire. After Thomas Milner’s death (1849), the factory was taken over by his son William, who changed the name of the company into Milner & Son. (). The safe cash box shown here is an interesting testimony to high-class 19th-century craft. The Wilanów collection contains another similar object: a safe cash box (inventory number Wil.6209) produced by the Wertheim–Kassen factory operating in Austria.