• In ancient China, only the wealthiest had locks and keys – and Chinese emperors and other nobility had padlocks that were animal shaped as everything from goats to fish!
• Married Viking women held the responsibility of being the keeper of the family keys, which was a vast honor. Many Viking women sewed keys to their dresses to wear as a status symbol.
• The new lock designs we use today were invented in the 19th century as a way to stop thieves from lockpicking.
• The locks at Fort Knox, the place where the United States’ gold reserve is held, are protected with codes that change every single day.
• There’s an account of a parrot named Magic picking two padlocks that locked his cage in order to fly away!
• The oldest locks date to Ancient Egypt – it was found in a cave and is over 4,000 years old.
• Rope knots are also considered an early form of locks, as used by sailors to guard against tampering and to indicate when somebody was trying to meddle with their property.
• In Medieval times, towns would entrust the keys to their property to a designated keykeeper who held ALL the keys of the town!
• Locks used to be made of wood – which breaks so much more easily than metal!
• The first combination lock was invented in 1857 by James Sargent of Vermont, who started the Sargent and Greenleaf lock making company, still in operation today!
• In the Tower of London in England, there is a nightly Ceremony of the Keys in which guards ritually lock the tower’s doors!

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