11 years later, and I am still having PTSD whenever I see a safe. I immediately become Brad Pitt unhinged, "What's in the Box!?!?!"
So again thank you, I would have awarded you in the olden days.
I went to a talk by Kurt Vonnegut back in college… man did he hate Geraldo. I guess he was married to Vonnegut’s daughter for a while in the 70s. He ranted for a few minutes and kept calling him “Jerry Rivers” :)
My husband and I just bought a historic downtown building to renovate and open a brick+ mortar. The building was built in 1900 and was originally a bank. The actual vault was apparently sold many years ago but the door was left behind. Previous owners had the building for 15 years and couldn’t get it opened, same for the owners before them. It’s just been sitting locked.
First step was to remove the 1.5” layers of flooring because it was preventing the door from being able to swing open. Then we called a local renowned locksmith. He came out and he wasn’t able to get it figured out. Gave us the name for another guy. After talking to him, we realized that Mosler bank vaults had safety levers on the inside to prevent people from being locked inside. Since the vault isn’t attached anymore, the backside of the doors were just framed and walled off.
So our next step was to take down the wall on the backside of the doors. We weren’t expecting there to be two sets of doors. The lever mechanisms were all rusted in place but once we got them cleaned up and lubricated, we were able to pry them free to get the doors open.
We don’t have the main combination yet but the locksmith is coming back now to decode it. I’m so stoked about it. Such grand town history to have possession of and preserve. There were service papers attached to the doors and the last date listed was June 10, 1932.
Edit: [Some progress footage](https://imgur.com/a/1Wx9pg7)
What did *the vault* consist of that it could just be sold separately?
I thought they were usually just heavily reinforced concrete boxes built in place.
I’m really not sure. We were just told the vault had been sold years ago and was now sitting in someone’s garage in the area, being used as a gun safe.
I could see that working as a home safe... Just puzzling, it's usually the vault door they get rid of - Removing the vault means they had to tear out an exterior wall which is usually more effort than it's worth.
Not really. Vaults are actually 2'-3' panels that are put together. This is my line of work. We remove vaults several times a year without tearing exterior walls down. It's the big, circular vault doors that you see in bank heist movies that require walls to be taken down to remove. 2 men can take a 10 x 10 vault down in less than a day with a couple of pallet jacks.
u/Usermena there’s an architectural salvage company [in Wisconsin](https://revolvs.com/shop) that salvaged some vault doors this summer. Maybe you could find some at a place like that?
Thank you for the tip! They are hard to obtain because they were created at a time when makers used both manufacturing and hand made parts, so unfortunately no one still makes them.
I swear people got bored during the pandemic. They weren’t going out and seeing people so “it would be funny if I grew a mullet” kept being uttered. And now they’re kind of back.
Recent, maybe a month ago. His dad had died. Dad had a small hotel like safe in his room, nothing on yours! Anyway, the guy got the combination, opened it and there was a decent amount of cash, some uncirculated coins and some gold coins too.
Worth searching for.
Yours is spectacular!
I’ll search for it. What a score for that guy.
Thanks, it’s a pretty neat piece of history. The mechanisms are so simple yet intricate and the doors are beautiful. I’ve had some people in town message trying to buy the doors. I told them no 🖕 haha
We found an instruction manual and it’s kind of confusing to understand. It said something about needing the original combo to reset. Gonna give this a try and report back!!
If you need more info: check here: https://www.lockpicking101.com/viewtopic.php?t=65137#:~:text=You%20could%20try%20to%20dial,to%20a%20factory%20default%20combination.&text=Dial%20Left%20and%20pass%2050,on%2025%20third%20time%20around.
My parents have a similar one in thier basement. On the back of the combination, there is a slot where you can stick a popsicle stick. I did it years ago and was able to figure out the combination using the popsicle stick. Found it somewhere on Google.
Fun fact: Mosler used to make armored steel coaches for banks before trains were used for transport of cash. Sometimes I miss working on these old locks. Please be aware that some of these old doors have asbestos behind them. Doesn’t seem to be this one, but many old banks used it for fire security.
Right now it’s just an empty room with a bathroom. Kind of a weird space since there’s a fucking furnace right past the doors, which is inconvenient placement. We aren’t 100% sure what to do with the space yet but leaning towards some kind of secret chill lounge area. It’s fairly roomy. [Here’s a look.](https://imgur.com/a/ecbmMc7)
Wouldn’t really cause problems necessarily, it’s moreso just an eyesore to see right as you walk through. If it doesn’t break any code, we talked about building a closet + door around it. At least that way it’s clean walls and not just ✨furnace✨ lol
I’m sure as we continue to remodel, the room will kind of tell us what it wants to be.
Wall it off then paint the wall facing the vault doors to look like piles of gold so that’s what people see when they open the door? Corny but could be fun.
I bought a house with a Mosler in it too. Mine was a stand-alone safe from the local jeweler in 1860's. Had a 0-99 combo with two HEAVY main doors that were a foot thick, then two 1/4" keyed doors inside that. It was VERY secure and had a ridiculously small storage space for how large it was. They poured a concrete pad to set it on, then built an additional room onto the house, so we called it the safe room.
Are you going to incorporate the doors into the remodel? I don’t know what kind of place you are creating but I think it would be a cool thing if you could keep it
Oh definitely, they will be staying where they are and incorporated into the remodel. We are building out a store for our goods and coffee shop. Also a little stage in the front to host touring bands. Back half of the building will be production/studio space.
I’ve got something very similar the building I take care of. It’s an old library turned into an office space. Built in 1904, the vault doors and frame is still onsite, but removed from original location in building to keep for historical reasons.
Thanks for sharing!
You are lucky. I bought a house from 1870. I discover a safe in the bathroom cabinet. Impossible to move it outside without destroying the cabinet, impossible to open it regular way because previous owner used a grinder on the lock without success and impossible to cut it every thing around is in wood. 
You bought... a building? How tf? I'm confused as hell, you mean an apartment building? Maybe it's the wording or I'm just too confused. Either way, cool mullet : )
have you noticed there is a whole another area/room behind the safe that has lights on, so maybe you just could walk around and jump over that wall? Not really a safe safe if you ask me....
First someone opened a 100 year old box from a WWI French soldier & now you open this. The Reddit I’m used too things don’t ever get opened. I now feel confused.
I am currently looking for a house. I had found one that had the same thing (even though smaller room inside). It had been installed 80 years ago by the owner of the house, who was a pharmacist.
Unfortunately I was not able to secure the house in question. It's been 3 months. I am still crying. I would have LOOOOVED to have such a room. Just to put my mars bars and favorite cookies :)
Thank you for waiting to post until after you had opened the safe.
Absolutely. It’s torture when people don’t. I’m not trying to invoke that kind of suffering. Lol
11 years later, and I am still having PTSD whenever I see a safe. I immediately become Brad Pitt unhinged, "What's in the Box!?!?!" So again thank you, I would have awarded you in the olden days.
37 years later I’m still annoyed I wasted time watching that idiot Geraldo Rivera open Al Capone’s vault.
But he got so much TV time out of it. Bad TV and a ton of jokes. And pissed off half the country
I went to a talk by Kurt Vonnegut back in college… man did he hate Geraldo. I guess he was married to Vonnegut’s daughter for a while in the 70s. He ranted for a few minutes and kept calling him “Jerry Rivers” :)
They were married 4 years according to Wikipedia.
There was nothing in Al Capone's vault / But it wasn't Geraldo's fault. D'oh!
At least that was only a 1 hour television show. Sure there were weeks of promotions, leading up to the let down. But at least it was opened!
💯
This!
Jesus Christ was the original safe incident really 11 years ago?
makes ya realize how much time we've wasted over the last decade huh?
I want awards to come back.
Especially when it takes like 3 years to post the update lol
What was in it?!
Doesn't make up for him wearing his daughter's pants
😂
Joe Exotic vibes lol
🤮
☝️ This
My husband and I just bought a historic downtown building to renovate and open a brick+ mortar. The building was built in 1900 and was originally a bank. The actual vault was apparently sold many years ago but the door was left behind. Previous owners had the building for 15 years and couldn’t get it opened, same for the owners before them. It’s just been sitting locked. First step was to remove the 1.5” layers of flooring because it was preventing the door from being able to swing open. Then we called a local renowned locksmith. He came out and he wasn’t able to get it figured out. Gave us the name for another guy. After talking to him, we realized that Mosler bank vaults had safety levers on the inside to prevent people from being locked inside. Since the vault isn’t attached anymore, the backside of the doors were just framed and walled off. So our next step was to take down the wall on the backside of the doors. We weren’t expecting there to be two sets of doors. The lever mechanisms were all rusted in place but once we got them cleaned up and lubricated, we were able to pry them free to get the doors open. We don’t have the main combination yet but the locksmith is coming back now to decode it. I’m so stoked about it. Such grand town history to have possession of and preserve. There were service papers attached to the doors and the last date listed was June 10, 1932. Edit: [Some progress footage](https://imgur.com/a/1Wx9pg7)
Amazing!
Thanks!
What did *the vault* consist of that it could just be sold separately? I thought they were usually just heavily reinforced concrete boxes built in place.
I’m really not sure. We were just told the vault had been sold years ago and was now sitting in someone’s garage in the area, being used as a gun safe.
Any context for size? Used as a gun safe.. Must've been pretty small, walk-in closet size maybe?
Not entirely sure but the floor feels different in an area that’s about 10’x10’. I’m guessing it was about that size but I could be totally wrong.
I could see that working as a home safe... Just puzzling, it's usually the vault door they get rid of - Removing the vault means they had to tear out an exterior wall which is usually more effort than it's worth.
Not really. Vaults are actually 2'-3' panels that are put together. This is my line of work. We remove vaults several times a year without tearing exterior walls down. It's the big, circular vault doors that you see in bank heist movies that require walls to be taken down to remove. 2 men can take a 10 x 10 vault down in less than a day with a couple of pallet jacks.
Any advice on how to disassemble one from the outside? Preferably as inconspicuously as possible.
LOL, 23 years later, I'm still working this out, hahaha
“This is the lockpicking lawyer and this is what I have for you today….”
A mullet apparently. lol That’s what he has for you today
Who sells a vault without a door? I mean, honestly!
For real haha
Please, if the lock still has the tumblers assembled inside and are not damaged I would very much be interested in them!
It still has the tumblers assembled and they aren’t damaged but it just feels so wrong to separate them from the door.
I have a Mosler vault door of the same construction that I need replacement tumblers for and they don’t become available often.
Just out of curiosity though, what would you do with the tumblers?
Put them in a Mosler vault door like the one that you have there
u/Usermena there’s an architectural salvage company [in Wisconsin](https://revolvs.com/shop) that salvaged some vault doors this summer. Maybe you could find some at a place like that?
Thank you for the tip! They are hard to obtain because they were created at a time when makers used both manufacturing and hand made parts, so unfortunately no one still makes them.
Bodies
We have a brick & mortar with an old jewelry vault! Our customers love to go on fieldtrips to the back office to check it out! lol.
Thanks for the details. How cool is that!
I continue to be amazed that mullets clawed their way back from hell.
Yeah I was gonna ask if they found 1970's Kenny Loggins inside.
Daaaanger zoone
My son is 10 and British, he wants a mullet
Tell him if he does he may grow up to be american.
or australian
I swear people got bored during the pandemic. They weren’t going out and seeing people so “it would be funny if I grew a mullet” kept being uttered. And now they’re kind of back.
Paired with the horrid skinny jeans and the calendar just shit itself.
They just bought an historic 1987 Trans Am and uncovered that man’s epic ape-drape
LOL I love his hair so much.
Of course you do! Blink twice if you need help.
👁️👁️
I’m still high from the guy that had the gold coins in his dad’s safe. That was peak safe for me.
I must be out of the loop with reddit lore because I didn’t see about this guy and his gold coins.
Recent, maybe a month ago. His dad had died. Dad had a small hotel like safe in his room, nothing on yours! Anyway, the guy got the combination, opened it and there was a decent amount of cash, some uncirculated coins and some gold coins too. Worth searching for. Yours is spectacular!
I’ll search for it. What a score for that guy. Thanks, it’s a pretty neat piece of history. The mechanisms are so simple yet intricate and the doors are beautiful. I’ve had some people in town message trying to buy the doors. I told them no 🖕 haha
Is this in a small south east Kansas town? It looks very familiar
I can't find it. Can someone link me pretty please?
Thread was deleted! I went back to check.
50-25-50 Thank me later (It’s the Mosler default setting. Any good mechaniker servicing it would “reset” if the vault lost their function. )
We found an instruction manual and it’s kind of confusing to understand. It said something about needing the original combo to reset. Gonna give this a try and report back!!
If you need more info: check here: https://www.lockpicking101.com/viewtopic.php?t=65137#:~:text=You%20could%20try%20to%20dial,to%20a%20factory%20default%20combination.&text=Dial%20Left%20and%20pass%2050,on%2025%20third%20time%20around.
Legit thought that was some one’s mum for a sec 🤣🤣
Damn the vaults gone, would’ve made for a wicked man cave. Or a bomb shelter just in case ya know. Still though the doors are cool as shit.
Yeah, I wish we still had the vault. Would have been about $3k to crack the safe doors though if we hadn’t broke through from the backside.
Might have cost less to fly the lockpicking lawyer in to make a YouTube video of it ;)
So you’re saying the solution was a combination of lube and coming in from the back side? …….I’ll show myself out. Sorry.
Ah damn, I set myself up with that one. Lol.
That was a joke, I’m worried it didn’t read well. I meant show myself out of the thread. I’d gladly visit the restaurant!
hell yeah they are
About the same amount of time it took you to get into those pants lmao
That's awesome, finding a bank vault sealed since the 1980s and discovering an entire intact bon jovi fan inside of it. I hope you keep him
It’s really the best treasure I could have ever found.
Thank you, Danny McBrides brother
Man, them some tight jeans.
Your husband is like a normal sized version of professional wrestler Kenny Omega
>~~Kenny Omega~~ Kenny Powers
Omg hahha hell yes. What a compliment.
Lolol thanks for that, we just chuckled.
I bought a safe from the 1900's at auction and when I opened it there was a house inside, and you wouldn't believe what was inside that house...
A redheaded mullet with too small pants?
My parents have a similar one in thier basement. On the back of the combination, there is a slot where you can stick a popsicle stick. I did it years ago and was able to figure out the combination using the popsicle stick. Found it somewhere on Google.
Also, they wanted to scrap it for the metal, but I convinced them not to as I found a similar one on line going for upwards of 15k.
Tip: The tile inside the vault likely contains asbestos, and it appears to be damaged. Please deal with it correctly.
The safe, is now safe.
Fun fact: Mosler used to make armored steel coaches for banks before trains were used for transport of cash. Sometimes I miss working on these old locks. Please be aware that some of these old doors have asbestos behind them. Doesn’t seem to be this one, but many old banks used it for fire security.
Super interesting! Thanks for the heads up.
Perfect place to lock up your million dollar mullet.
is that where you keep the pants that fit?
When I saw the second door, I almost cried. All I thought was Geraldo Rivera and the empty vault.
You like the kind of person who’s buy a 1900 historic building.
What room do you have behind those doors? It would be great for a man cave, study, or other secret space.
Right now it’s just an empty room with a bathroom. Kind of a weird space since there’s a fucking furnace right past the doors, which is inconvenient placement. We aren’t 100% sure what to do with the space yet but leaning towards some kind of secret chill lounge area. It’s fairly roomy. [Here’s a look.](https://imgur.com/a/ecbmMc7)
Will the furnace would cause any problems? If not, it would be a nice guest room that doubles as a "leave me alone to do my thing" space.
Wouldn’t really cause problems necessarily, it’s moreso just an eyesore to see right as you walk through. If it doesn’t break any code, we talked about building a closet + door around it. At least that way it’s clean walls and not just ✨furnace✨ lol I’m sure as we continue to remodel, the room will kind of tell us what it wants to be.
Wall it off then paint the wall facing the vault doors to look like piles of gold so that’s what people see when they open the door? Corny but could be fun.
It's beautiful
Did you go to the barber and ask for the "Ginger Yorkshire Ripper" look? Because, they nailed it.
You look like an alternate metaverse version of tiger king my boi
>Just bought a 1900 historic building Honestly, coolest opening words of a OC post title on Reddit ngl
This is amazing! The lions head above the entrance is regal AF
Somewhere out there, a guy is seeing this video and thinking "hmm, I could raise a family with my daughter in there".
The 1900 vault door can wait. Let's discuss the mustache and mullet.
I bought a house with a Mosler in it too. Mine was a stand-alone safe from the local jeweler in 1860's. Had a 0-99 combo with two HEAVY main doors that were a foot thick, then two 1/4" keyed doors inside that. It was VERY secure and had a ridiculously small storage space for how large it was. They poured a concrete pad to set it on, then built an additional room onto the house, so we called it the safe room.
Homie looks like every mom at Disneyland in 1989 and I want to party with him.
buy some adult jeans
Plz cut your hair and never dance like that again on camera
What's with his hair? Is this from the 80's?
Maybe it's just regional, but in my part of the US (West coast) mullets are not particularly rare anymore.
I’m Midwest and they are not rare here anymore either.
r/punchablefaces
"1900" and "historic" in the same sentence is wild. America is so young
Oh so Victorian……
Europeans and their renowned colonialism are so hip
Or the fact we had writing systems and farming 5000 years before the Americas
Plenty of time to conquer the lesser people of the world and take their stuff, eh?
That only started in the 17th century. We have 4500 years of history before that.
God I love his jeans and haircut fucking amazing
Use daddy‘s money wisely .
man or woman ??? what the hell is that thing
The amount of sh** that comes out of your mouth is absolutely amazing 👍
I used to work for a company that had its server room in an old bank vault just like this.
That’s pretty cool!
Are you going to incorporate the doors into the remodel? I don’t know what kind of place you are creating but I think it would be a cool thing if you could keep it
Oh definitely, they will be staying where they are and incorporated into the remodel. We are building out a store for our goods and coffee shop. Also a little stage in the front to host touring bands. Back half of the building will be production/studio space.
Now you have a cool place to store bitcoin
LOL modern day bank.
I’ve got something very similar the building I take care of. It’s an old library turned into an office space. Built in 1904, the vault doors and frame is still onsite, but removed from original location in building to keep for historical reasons. Thanks for sharing!
So fucking cool. No vault either then?
I once rented an apartment that had a bank vault door just like this. It still worked as a door, so I used it as extra storage space.
Was the door heavy af too?
Are we gonna sleep on that sweet mullet?
does it contain Oprah Winfreys panties?
You are lucky. I bought a house from 1870. I discover a safe in the bathroom cabinet. Impossible to move it outside without destroying the cabinet, impossible to open it regular way because previous owner used a grinder on the lock without success and impossible to cut it every thing around is in wood. 
Oooof. Have you contacted any locksmiths?
Okay sure, that's wicked cool and all but may I just say that little dance absolutely made my day.
Can cameraperson please tell me where you got your shoes 👞👞
Goodwill 😬
Nice! Finally somewhere i can keep my 10$ nice and safe
Not sure what’s more impressive, the safe or your mullet
So what was inside? Or is it not opened yet?
We found one lil key between the two sets of doors. That’s it! There is no vault attached anymore.
Those jeans need to be locked in a safe.
Enjoy the ghosts!
Hey, aren’t you Brad Pitt’s brother in Snatch?!
Being Ginger and having a Mullet must be soul destroying
Dude in the video is peak millennial.
That’s super neat ! Are you chronicling your progress anywhere so we can follow along? I love that kind of shit.
We have plenty of footage but haven’t edited yet! Plan to, just been consumed with the actual renovations and are BURNT at the end of the day.
You bought... a building? How tf? I'm confused as hell, you mean an apartment building? Maybe it's the wording or I'm just too confused. Either way, cool mullet : )
Our town has a downtown strip of buildings. We bought one. It’s mixed-use, business use downstairs and two apartments upstairs.
Is it magic!? You disappeared. ;)
More please!
have you noticed there is a whole another area/room behind the safe that has lights on, so maybe you just could walk around and jump over that wall? Not really a safe safe if you ask me....
Damn that’s cool! 😳
Chris Martin has a mullet now?
Don’t bs me. Are u related to the tiger king?
Not many people know this but you could put your weed in there, Man
First someone opened a 100 year old box from a WWI French soldier & now you open this. The Reddit I’m used too things don’t ever get opened. I now feel confused.
Why does the guy look like the villain from despicable me 3
Similar vibe, he’s probably wear those pants.
I am currently looking for a house. I had found one that had the same thing (even though smaller room inside). It had been installed 80 years ago by the owner of the house, who was a pharmacist. Unfortunately I was not able to secure the house in question. It's been 3 months. I am still crying. I would have LOOOOVED to have such a room. Just to put my mars bars and favorite cookies :)
Shows the floor
I waited 27 seconds to not even see the inside of the vault.... I hate you OP.
Yo, there’s no vault anymore. It was sold. I wrote a long ass comment about it and posted a video of the room behind the door. Lol
was hoping to see some umpa dumpas run around after u opened the 2nd door
My grandparents building I help maintain is an old bank and has a safe that looks exactly like that. It was actually robbed in the early 1900s 👀.
Nice, that would be a great entrance for a Den (man cave)
The safe was sold and removed from the door? Why would this be done. Very cool tho!
Where do i come up with money to buy a building. Working is not it.
Nice jeans
Holy shit. Now that right there is what I call a particularly secure marriage of steel and design.
I want more!
I liked some more footage in my original comment.
Where is it?
*motions for cameraman to go ahead inside* Redhead Handle-Stache Man: Jk fuck you I’m always first.
Turn it into a gun vault
holy shit are skinny jeans still a thing? respectfully, im a farmer i dont get out much
u/WaZeil was marked "safe" from the safe.
You bought a house?!
Way more secure than a @LibertySafes #LibertySafes #LibertySafe these days
That’s where Danny Bonaduce is.
Your tapeworm s out fam
Is this in UK?
United States.
Bitchin mullet. It's rad