A chest with secrets

It may look like a simple old trunk, but the Nuremberg Chest is anything but basic. On the front, there is a keyhole that is mostly for show. A bit like those decorative buttons on trousers that serve no purpose whatsoever. This fake lock was designed to fool would-be thieves who were likely not the brightest candles in the chandelier.

The real mechanism is much cleverer. Hidden inside the lid, there are nine bolts. Six of them actually move. All of them spring into action with just a single turn of the key. It is like opening a trapdoor to Hogwarts, only with more metal clunking and fewer wands.

Double security, old-school style

Inside this already secure chest is yet another locked box. Because one lock is never enough when you are moving your life’s savings or a suspicious number of gold coins. This smaller chest has its own key and probably gave medieval pickpockets an existential crisis.

Back in the day, these chests were used to transport money and valuables. Not your average holiday suitcase, unless your idea of fun is carting around 50 kilos of ironwork.

Specialists of secrecy

These marvels came from the hands of highly skilled craftsmen in Nuremberg. The city became well known for its mastery in making these tricksy travel boxes. If you were wealthy and paranoid in the past, odds are you had one of these tucked under your cloak.

Nuremberg chests were the Fort Knox of their time. They were heavy, intricate, and a serious headache to crack open. So naturally, now one of them lounges around in the Musée du bagage in Haguenau, France. Probably feeling rather smug.