A Vintage Safe In Duluth, Minnesota Finally Unveils Its Contents!

59-year-old Mark Lundblad Cracking Open A Safe Using An Illuminated Borescope (Bob King / rking@duluthnews.com)

Here at Mesa Safe, we’re always providing you with new and interesting news around the world. It’s always fun and entertaining to read articles on antique and vintage safes that are cracked open for the first time in decades. Despite not owning the safe, you still get curious and eager to know what’s inside. You get the same enthusiastic feeling as if you’re going back in time looking through old photo albums or going through your old pile of stuff from grade school.

We have posted a couple of stories that talk about old safes finally being cracked open and seeing what they have inside. We found another one that might be of interest to our readers.

In Duluth, Minnesota another vintage safe was found on the second floor of the old historic Duluth Armory. No one can remember the first time it’s been opened, but this past Saturday afternoon, the contents were finally revealed.

The main character of the story is 59-year-old Mark Lundblad a resident of Roseville, Minnesota who is a professional safecracker for over 30 years. Lundblad has been cracking open safes for over three decades, which was much influenced by the legendary magician, Houdini. His fascination with the iconic magician magically breaking free from chains and shackles, has involved Lundblad in locks and keys. His handcuff collection of over hundred shows how much he loves his job.

His assistants John Bushey, 49 and Terry Roses, 62, are as much interested in the safes, lock and key business as Lundblad is.  “I only have, like, 200 handcuffs,” said Bushey, a magician himself, teacher and a safecracker.

Susan Phillips of the Armory Arts and Music Center has expressed great interest to what was inside that safe. The organization has been trying to restore the building into pristine condition when the influential and musically talented Buddy Holly, Louis Armstrong and Bob Hope were there. “It’s always been the joke that when we finally got to the point – you know we have $1 million fundraising left that, OK, we don’t have to worry because we’ve got that safe,” Phillips said. “And it just kept us going so that we raised the rest of the money.”

They have very high hopes, and even though there might not be $1 million lurking inside the safe, anything else is possible considering the historic value and how old the safe is. Maybe even a vintage poster that advertised a Buddy Holly concert was inside, which could easily go for $20,000.

Lundblad started his usual procedure cracking the safe by drilling small holes around the lock. When asked what he usually finds he said, “Most of the time I’ve just found dust and paper clips.” But not all the time does Lundblad always find himself opening to nothing. He once was called in to change a combination lock to a safe for a bank. That safe contained a whopping $2.5 billion in cash during the “Y2K” scare. He was even asked to open a safe by the police that contained a body inside.