Antique Napoleon III period Bauche small safe

Small black and gold lacquered steel safe bearing the coat of arms of the British monarchy with the motto "God and my right", with the inscriptions "Bauche breveté S.G.D.G." in the center of the coat of arms, and "Incombustible. Système Bauche. Breveté S.G.D.G. Usine à Gueux" on the top.

Auguste-Nicolas Bauche made his name with this model, which he declared incombustible. He proved this in 1864, by placing the equivalent of today's 15,000 euros inside a (similar) chest, which he placed directly on a pyre. After an hour, the bills emerged intact, to the cheers of the audience. On the strength of this flamboyant demonstration (subsequently repeated seven times), Bauche expanded rapidly. Even today, under the name Fichet-Bauche, the company remains a brand renowned for the quality of its safes (it is said that when the USSR collapsed, a Fichet-Bauche safe was the last bastion of the KGB's secrets).
From the article Fichet-Bauche: la success-story du roi du coffre-fort by Capital.
https://www.capital.fr/economie-politique/fichet-bauche-la-success-story-du-roi-du-coffre-fort-1123519

Complete with key. Padded interior. Rare in this state of preservation.

Napoleon III period.

Dimensions : Height 19.5 cm x width 37.5 cm x depth 27.5 cm.

Weight : 18,6 Kg.