Fabric Seller in Samarkand.

This remarkable color photo was taken by a Russian photographer 100 years ago, but the little shop and its proprietor could have come from the time of Tamerlane. This is what the Old Silk Road must have looked like. English Russia has a fantastic collection of these exotic old photos (from a Library of Congress exhibit).

Russian photographers were using color processing back then. It was a different system from the one we use now. I'll put up a post on the most famous of the photographers some time today. It's really astonishing.
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The Library of Congress has a site dedicated to color images of Russia. The process is explained there as well and there are a lot more photos.

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/

It's one of the best things I've ever found on the Internet.
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Heather,

The first permanent color photo was created in 1861, and the first practical color film "Autocrome" was marketed in 1907.

Keep in mind that photographers were pretty rare; and color photographers especially so. But color photography did exist at that time.
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Here's an example of a Siberian screw key padlock that belonged to Houdini, so it was used at pretty much the same time as the picture was taken. It's a different design, but probably worked along the same principle.
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If this picture's 100 years old, then I'm 100 as well. Can't believe everything you see, and no, that lock and Houdini's Siberian screw lock look nothing alike. That looks exactly like a pad-lock (of the Master, kind).
Sorry to rain on the parade, but taking nothing away from the picture... it is well composed.
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Joeorjoey, the picture comes from a Library of Congress exhibit based on glass plate negatives from pre-revolutionary Russia. I can't help it if they had modern looking locks.
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