Dating Hiatt Handcuffs

I am the exhibit manager at a small museum. I am trying to date a set of Hiatt Model 104 Darby Handcuffs in our collection. The Key is oval at the top and say Hiatt No. 14. Hiatt Best is inscribed on both cuffs as well as "Warranted Wrought" and "No 14". Does anyone know when this set would have been produced or where I could find that information.

Thank You very much for your help.

Danny

I would say 1900 plus or minus 20 years. After about 1920 the cuffs would say "British Made."
Before about 1880 the key would not be a simple oval, but would have a somewhat more complex shape.

Joe

I am the exhibit manager at a small museum. I am trying to date a set of Hiatt Model 104 Darby Handcuffs in our collection. The Key is oval at the top and say Hiatt No. 14. Hiatt Best is inscribed on both cuffs as well as "Warranted Wrought" and "No 14". Does anyone know when this set would have been produced or where I could find that information.

Thank You very much for your help.

Excellent, thanks for the help. So hard to know the exact date of things produced so long ago. I appreciate the help.

I am the exhibit manager at a small museum. I am trying to date a set of Hiatt Model 104 Darby Handcuffs in our collection. The Key is oval at the top and say Hiatt No. 14. Hiatt Best is inscribed on both cuffs as well as "Warranted Wrought" and "No 14". Does anyone know when this set would have been produced or where I could find that information.

Thank You very much for your help.

Dear Joe,

Generally, you are correct and it's a good rule of thumb, yet "British Made" never was a requirement as such. It became a requirement only if the item was exported. It often was expedient to mark all items "British Made" when they were, well, made; i.e., to mark them in advance, regardless of where they then went. Manufacturing runs of lots with known domestic destinations would not necessarily have been marked "British Made". For example (even though this example is somewhat more complex than it appears), how many broad arrow-marked handcuffs, which covers all of World War II, also were marked "British Made"? Few if any. I never have seen one.

It is more reliable to state an item dates after about 1920 if it is marked "British Made" than to state an item dates before about 1920 if it is not marked "British Made".

Cheers,

Jack
http://www.editing.org.uk/tanis/collectibles.htm

I am the exhibit manager at a small museum. I am trying to date a set of Hiatt Model 104 Darby Handcuffs in our collection. The Key is oval at the top and say Hiatt No. 14. Hiatt Best is inscribed on both cuffs as well as "Warranted Wrought" and "No 14". Does anyone know when this set would have been produced or where I could find that information.

Thank You very much for your help.

As always with enquiries like this, a photograph might help although I agree with Jack's comments and even with a good photo it would most likely be difficult to give anything other than a very broad indication of a date range.

Mike Riccard
a.k.a. Mikeintightpants
Centre of England

I am the exhibit manager at a small museum. I am trying to date a set of Hiatt Model 104 Darby Handcuffs in our collection. The Key is oval at the top and say Hiatt No. 14. Hiatt Best is inscribed on both cuffs as well as "Warranted Wrought" and "No 14". Does anyone know when this set would have been produced or where I could find that information.

Thank You very much for your help.

The presence of a pinned end plug indicates an early 19th century example.