Rare small Iron Money Chest / Armada Chest – 17th Century.

Rare small Iron Money Chest / Armada Chest – 17th Century.

Size. 10 x 10 x 10 cm

Armada chests and money boxes were in demand far beyond the borders of the German states and were used to hold taxes, tariffs, and soldiers’ wages, jewelry and coin of nobles as well as treasure taken by pirates.This chest is in great condition. The locking mechanisms work nicely and the chest includes original skeleton key.

During the sixteenth and seventeenth century money chests were forged completely in sheet iron and reinforced with intersecting strips and fittings made of iron. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, a host of cities in southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland were renowned for their craftsmanship, especially Augsburg and Nuremberg. The shops were usually old family businesses in which younger generations were trained by their elders. They became extremely skilled blacksmiths, along with equally skilled colleagues in specialties such as sheet metalworking, etching, hammered inlay, steel-plate engraving, painting and rustproofing.