We did the same thing with my grandfathers safe. Thought it was empty, almost walked away, but worked a few more minutes and got it open. It looked empty, but found that grandpa had taped an envelope to the bottom of the shelf. It had $10,000. In it.

Years ago I worked for a company that bought businesses and estates. And auctioned off the contents. We had a customer that could open a safe in less then ten minutes, including barrel safes, cannonball safes and even bank vaults. Without damaging them. Often the safes themselves were worth more then the contents.

I just don’t know how the family could give up/sell such an important part of their family history in that military scrapbook😳😳🤗💕🦋

All those newspaper and photos should be donated to the museum. So valuable for school education purpose.

Alex, if there is an old Bible around somewhere in the hoarders house, you might look in there for the combination to the floor safe.

I read a story that someone bought a hoarders house with all contents and the hoarders had lots and lots of books. When the new owners began going through the books there were $20's and $50's at the pages where each chapter began. It was literally hundreds of thousands of dollars. They made out really well.

With so many people trying to learn about their ancestry, I continue to be amazed when wonderful scrapbooks like these are given up.

I think the most valuable thing in that room, was probably the rug! It was large, very ornate, and needs care and cleaning.

where is the lock picking lawyer when you need him lol.

The architecture and style of that home is so neat. It's like 1960s frozen in time

That was super kind of the locksmith not to charge you. I loved the mid century home!   I can imagine a party where everyone has a martini in one hand and a cigarette in the other! 😊

That house would be fabulous restored & redecorated to its mid-century glory! I am mid-century as well lol... I was hoping for a big score for you from the safes, but how awesome of that locksmith company not to charge you! I hope they get a TON of business from this ♥️

I'd love to find an old safe in a house, that I could open. Be like finding pirate treasures lol 😆

I have a friend who's into war stuff so I had to send him this. He has a working old gun passed down from World War 2. It was passed down over the years from someone who was in the war and it was maintained. they had it repaired and restored as needed but it was originally from the war.

My friend got it to work again after all this time and shot it a few times to test it. It was cleaned and put on display. A piece like that is nice.

He told me it was from a a distant family member back when the war happened and just passed down. No one wanted it and he eventually got it because he loves collecting war stuff.

He also has a Lego collection and one day when I eventually find where I had put that Lego musket he'd get because it's a great war like piece for his Lego figures. The musket is a gun from the toy soldier mini figure sold with a book that my brother had before he gave me all his Legos.

I saved a few important Lego pieces like the one I made which was me as a Lego figure and the one my brother was using as him when we played with Legos together. I also saved Starwars stuff for him and gave it to him so he'd have some Starwars stuff for his Starwars collection.


right now I'm currently working on fixing battery corrosion on a light up light saber that sat in the garage. I am finding someone who'd want all 3 light sabers because my friend who collects that stuff doesn't want them.

I just couldn’t take my eyes off that beautiful red rug that he was trying to open that safe on! It looked like a very expensive hand woven rug! I hope they keep it and don’t toss it out…? It was beautiful! Good lot of items, Alex! 👍

Alex, I was wondering if the gentleman might have been Austrian. The book in the attic called Kreisky, is about a previous Austrian chancellor. And the small booklet with photos from Abbazia would also fit in with that. Before and during WWI Austria was a big country, stretching to the Mediterranean Sea. Abbazia was Austrian, now it´s called Opatija and is a Croatian coastal city on the peninsula of Istrien. A wonderful vacation spot. If you ever need help with something in old German print or handwriting, I might be able to help you with that.

That guy was not a locksmith and should not have charged you. He didn't have a clue what he was doing, anybody could have taken a hammer and crowbar to it. He has probably damaged the other safe to the point where no one will be able to open it. A real locksmith would have picked the lock but this guy just mangled them. Sadly they trusted you to hire someone who knew what they were doing and you contacted the Three Stooges Safe Crackers!

I hope the family decided to save this house and bring it back to its mid-century gorgeousness!  This home is beautiful!

I love that house! I love all the mid century built ins, especially the little dividing walls in the living room, and all the old furniture and lamps. She just needs some TLC.

I love the little lamps you got!!  They are so mid-century!!  And, having a pair in good condition is really special!