I am intersted in obtaining an original set of British Hiatt's Derby Handcuffs from the period of 1880-1900. Can someone give me some advice on how make sure that they are authentic and how I can reliably date them to this period. I am not a handcuff collector, so could use some help in this area.
Brad Darling 28 Apr 2006
#2The very best thing you could do to help yourself, is to buy a copy of Joe Lauher's book "British Handcuffs" available from Cannon's Great Escapes. You can link to it from this forum.
Prices you can watch on eBay, once you know what you're looking at.
Brad (on dial-up, ugh)
I am intersted in obtaining an original set of British Hiatt's Derby Handcuffs from the period of 1880-1900. Can someone give me some advice on how make sure that they are authentic and how I can reliably date them to this period. I am not a handcuff collector, so could use some help in this area.
The safest way to buy a pair of Darbies that is of your era is to buy a pair marked Hiatt, but one that does not say British Made. This is not hard to do, they are quite common. The "British Made" designator was added after WWI.
Joe
