COLLECTING [Three for Thursday]: Keys

Unlocking a Bit of History
It was a blustery Saturday that sent us inside a local  craft fair where we found not only new crafts for sale, but tables stacked with second-hand goods.

On one table we found two small boxes holding about 100 keys. The keys, we were told, were from the "Mother House," a former convent located on the grounds where the crafts fair was being held.

The Mother House? Well of course we wanted to know more.

The woman behind the table pointed us across the room to Sister Maria.

Sister Maria not only knew what the keys were for, she had at one time, lived in the convent. The keys, she said, were from the living quarters and lockers, and a few (like the pointed key second from left) were for clocks in the building.

No longer home to the nuns, the convent is being sold along with the keys, and with it goes a bit of history. Knowing where the keys came from makes this collection a bit more valuable because we have provenance: the history of ownership.

Do you have a collection with an interesting story of provenance?

We'd love to hear it, make a comment and tell us about it!