Large early 20th century brass door handles in the form of keys for the safemaker and locksmith Alexandre Fichet of Paris, circa 1900.

Width: 40 cm.

Height: 13 cm.

Weight: 4.4 kilos.

Alexandre Fichet, 1799 – 1862, French inventor, locksmith, maker of safes and bank vaults.

Fichet founded a workshop in Paris in 1825.

In 1829 he discovered the principle of unpickability, filing a patent for his “Invincible Lock”.

Appointed locksmith to the Royal Library in 1846, and filed a patent for a “system of invisible combinations applicable to locks of all kinds”.

Fichet’s inventions are mentioned in two novels by Jules Verne; César Cascabel and Claudius Bombarnac.

In 1967 the Fichet company merged with he company of Auguste-Nicolas Bauche. The Fichet-Bauche company makes safes, safe deposit lockers, vaults and locks.