Story Lock - 'The Diana'

Here is one of the fabled class of 'Story' padlocks. I had not heard of them until recently. Clearly this is a class of lock that is highly collectable and something that people are willing to pay lots of money in order to fill that hole in their collection:

Think the pictures are bad? The description is bad as well, although he must have either gotten queries or noticed the bid on the lock rise above his expections to put these 'better' photos on the post.

Decorative padlock with key. Very Heavy - brass perhaps? Beautiful condition. Works well. Made by Creo, or Reo. No idea of age, but has been around as long as I can remember, so at least 50 years!

On Dec-30-08 at 11:19:05 PST, seller added the following information:

Made by Russell & Erwin Lock Co. Lock works well. - eBay

Of course putting the name of who made it surely clued in lots more bidders to this auction. I wonder if people like collecting these locks because they are decrative or because it is a collection that is clearly defined as what is part of it and what is not, so it is possible to get what one could consider a complete collection.

This lock sold for $1,575.53 (Plus $4.80 Shipping).
-----