Thumb cuffs

Could someone on this great forum please help me out identifying these thumbcuffs. I'd like to know what era they're from, current 'worth' price and whom they were manufactured by and what service they would of been used for, as in would these of been issued to the Police/ Prison service/ Army etc.

Any infomation as stated or additional would be great. Thank you Gents.

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A set of thumbscrew locks manufactured by a Austrian company in the late 1920's for use by magicians as an escape prop.

They are not "tricked" in any way but escape is achieved by the way the performer positions the thumbs when the screws are applied.

This particular design was not made for police or prison use.

Steve Santini

Could someone on this great forum please help me out identifying these thumbcuffs. I'd like to know what era they're from, current 'worth' price and whom they were manufactured by and what service they would of been used for, as in would these of been issued to the Police/ Prison service/ Army etc.

Any infomation as stated or additional would be great. Thank you Gents.

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Thanks for the fast responce Mr Santini. Just what I wanted to know, are these worth keeping hold of as a possible future collectors piece?

Could someone on this great forum please help me out identifying these thumbcuffs. I'd like to know what era they're from, current 'worth' price and whom they were manufactured by and what service they would of been used for, as in would these of been issued to the Police/ Prison service/ Army etc.

Any infomation as stated or additional would be great. Thank you Gents.

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The last time I saw a set of this very same style sell it sold for $125.00

French thumbscrew cuffs which were actually used by the French Police from the 1800's into the late 1940's do show up fairly frequently and they sell for anywhere from $100 to $300 depending on condtion, etc.

Usually, die hard restraint collectors would rather have an authentic Police or Prison used item instead of a magician's escape prop like yours are.

For this reason I cannot see your screws increasing dramatically in value over time.

That said, they still are interesting and perhaps you might find a buyer willing to offer more than I estimated.

Cheers, Steve

Could someone on this great forum please help me out identifying these thumbcuffs. I'd like to know what era they're from, current 'worth' price and whom they were manufactured by and what service they would of been used for, as in would these of been issued to the Police/ Prison service/ Army etc.

Any infomation as stated or additional would be great. Thank you Gents.

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I have a fairly large collection of different thumbscrews. Should you consider parting with them feel free to e mail me directly at bookings@thedarkmaster.com and perhaps we can come to an agreeable arrangement.

Cheers, Steve

Could someone on this great forum please help me out identifying these thumbcuffs. I'd like to know what era they're from, current 'worth' price and whom they were manufactured by and what service they would of been used for, as in would these of been issued to the Police/ Prison service/ Army etc.

Any infomation as stated or additional would be great. Thank you Gents.

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Here is a pic of 4 rather old thumb/finger screw restraints/torture instruments in my collection.

In the cases of these old examples, they often doubled both as a restraint that was locackable with a padlock and also as a torture instrument.

Early Germanic law perscribed two levels of torture using finger or thumbscrews.

1) The offender had his or her digits crushed by the screws, and,

2) The screws were left on and padlocked in this crushing position for a duration of time.

(Of course, such screws were made for, and often used on toes as well. The non locking example pictured here with the long edged bars was made for the toes).

You will note that some of the screws pictured also have rings for the attachment of a rope or chain. This was either to fetter the prisoner to a dungeon wall or public pillory or for hauling the person into the air to hang suspended by the crushed digits.

I have always found it interesting that the French Police thumbscrew/thumbcuff used from the 1800's - 1940's had it's origin in a much older design used mostly for punishment and torture.



Steve Santini

Could someone on this great forum please help me out identifying these thumbcuffs. I'd like to know what era they're from, current 'worth' price and whom they were manufactured by and what service they would of been used for, as in would these of been issued to the Police/ Prison service/ Army etc.

Any infomation as stated or additional would be great. Thank you Gents.

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it's always good to see some of your items with an explanation. keep it up.
Regards
Paul

Could someone on this great forum please help me out identifying these thumbcuffs. I'd like to know what era they're from, current 'worth' price and whom they were manufactured by and what service they would of been used for, as in would these of been issued to the Police/ Prison service/ Army etc.

Any infomation as stated or additional would be great. Thank you Gents.

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Superb thumbcuff examples.

Could someone on this great forum please help me out identifying these thumbcuffs. I'd like to know what era they're from, current 'worth' price and whom they were manufactured by and what service they would of been used for, as in would these of been issued to the Police/ Prison service/ Army etc.

Any infomation as stated or additional would be great. Thank you Gents.

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Do you still have them??

Could someone on this great forum please help me out identifying these thumbcuffs. I'd like to know what era they're from, current 'worth' price and whom they were manufactured by and what service they would of been used for, as in would these of been issued to the Police/ Prison service/ Army etc.

Any infomation as stated or additional would be great. Thank you Gents.

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I still have them.

And they are not for sale.

Steve Santini

Could someone on this great forum please help me out identifying these thumbcuffs. I'd like to know what era they're from, current 'worth' price and whom they were manufactured by and what service they would of been used for, as in would these of been issued to the Police/ Prison service/ Army etc.

Any infomation as stated or additional would be great. Thank you Gents.

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Steve,
Not sure but I may be reading arrogance just because, indeed I would like to have them and and cant, you say not for sale no big deal to me!. But I have to say its shameful that some people get so excited over nothing more than scrap metal yes YOU NEED TO BE REMINDED that these hand cuffs and chains etc,etc are nothing more than JUNK just like Skylab when it fell to Earth from Space into the ocean, just like returnable aluminum cans i.e. no matter how you attempt to justify anything about them the stuff is JUNK, JUNK JUNK.

Could someone on this great forum please help me out identifying these thumbcuffs. I'd like to know what era they're from, current 'worth' price and whom they were manufactured by and what service they would of been used for, as in would these of been issued to the Police/ Prison service/ Army etc.

Any infomation as stated or additional would be great. Thank you Gents.

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Now hold on a minute, Steve may or may not be a little arrogant but your statement is just ignorant. The defintion of junk is "Old or discarded articles that are considered useless or of little value." Believe me sir most of our collections will not fall in the "little value" category. Futhermore they are not discarded (by us) and most are not useless. Calling them junk is really a poor choice of words and makes your entire post pointless, incorrect and ignorant.

Could someone on this great forum please help me out identifying these thumbcuffs. I'd like to know what era they're from, current 'worth' price and whom they were manufactured by and what service they would of been used for, as in would these of been issued to the Police/ Prison service/ Army etc.

Any infomation as stated or additional would be great. Thank you Gents.

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The human psyche is so delicate! People do anything for attention such as launching a balloon into the air and claiming a boy is within it? or a man who pays 30 million dollars to go into space! Way off the subject right? Wrong its called capturing attention, simply put I needed attention to fulfill my need and I got it, Joshua Ill have you know that I received several emails from Intelligent folks willing to "Help Me" find thumbscrews, besides Im sure Steve can defend himself if he found it necessary?, remember I wrote I MAY be reading arrogance! One mans JUNK, JUNK, JUNK is another man Treasure. If there is anyone that can connect with authentic Thumbscrews for sale please feel free to contact me @ Harrisburgmd@verizon.net and to Joshua you call my post pointless, incorrect and ignorant? Dud! Your post is primitive, unsophisticated and no match to my superior post. When it comes to Health, Family and whatever your faith is this stuff is of No Value they are just "THINGS". Unless your Steves LOVER of some sort I suggest you let Steve defend himself.

Could someone on this great forum please help me out identifying these thumbcuffs. I'd like to know what era they're from, current 'worth' price and whom they were manufactured by and what service they would of been used for, as in would these of been issued to the Police/ Prison service/ Army etc.

Any infomation as stated or additional would be great. Thank you Gents.

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Mike, take your meds.