Two fine late George III steel and brass keys


The first circa 1780 with a brass oval set into the bow, engraved to one side 'No Servants without their Master' and to the other with 'Hyde Park Barrs', the stem engraved 'CAPT. MORRISON', 11cm high, the second circa 1793, the bow fitted with an articulated brass fob cast with the cipher 'GR' beneath a crown, the stem engraved 'COL. MORRISON', 12cm high, (2)
|Provenance: Almost certainly the property of General George Morrison (1703-1799) or of his son General Edward Morrison (1763-1809) whose daughter Harriet married George Arnold. Thence by descent in the Coape-Arnold family. Sold 7 February 2017, Lot 176 and 28 March 2017, Lot 735.The first of these keys allowed its owner to access Hyde Park Bars, i.e. barrier, a privately-owned turnpike outside Hyde Park, London. A toll was imposed for using it, but a key could be bought for an annual fee. See W. Wallace, The Lure of the Key (2017), pp. 74-5 for a very similar example, engraved with the name Reginald Helms Esq and ibid., p. 51 for a key like the second in this lot, owned by Sir Charles Mordaunt.