I just recieved some cuffs I bought on Ebay. I thought I was gettin leg irons but they are cuffs with a long chain. The photo is still on Ebay, item #120001854404. They are marked Tower's Double Lock but I don't see any with a long chain in the gallery photos. You can't tell from the photo but they have a nice nickle plating. The chain looks factory but maybe some one changed it. Can any one tell me what I bought.
Paul, I can't find that Tower ever used that type chain on either Double Lock handcuffs or Double Lock leg irons. They did use a similar (can't say the same without seeing and comparing)chain on their earliest Bottom Key models and Phelps before the BK's, decades earlier. I sort of doubt they would resurrect it for a single oddity, but there could always be special requests. I guess.
Get a good strong magnifying glass and a good bright lamp and look at the two end links. See if they have been welded rather than forged. Are they different in their closure than the rest of the links? If so, then the chain is a later addition, not original. If the whole chain is made up of welded links, rather than forged links, then it most likely is a later addition.
If the chain is not an original chain, I would not worry that some evil doer faked it up to dupe some poor collector. I've run jails and I've run large transportation/security divisions. Jails make up all kinds of things for special purposes out of stuff laying around. Good chance they fall into that category: Jail House Creativity.
Good luck, let us know,
Brad
