Puzzle boxes

Historical and technical insights about Secret Boxes

This category includes all those boxes that can only be opened by solving a puzzle, an enigma. Some require a few steps, others a real long sequence.

The first examples of this kind of puzzle in the Modern Era were nothing more than jewelry boxes and chests with compartments and openings not visible to the naked eye. One could keep valuables safe or hide secret messages.
They became a real object produced for entertainment in the Victorian era, both in Europe and in Japan.

In Japan, more precisely in the Hakone region, around Lake Ashi, famous for its thermal springs, many tourists began to buy secret boxes as souvenirs and three artisans (Okhawa, Okiyama and Kikukawa) created a very particular style of puzzle boxes, the Yosegi.
These involve the application on a smooth box of the inlay called yosegi-zaiku, with very bright colors thanks to the use of various woods.

The lock-puzzles have a long history. Chinese jewelry boxes often contain padlocks with tricks and hidden drawers. An example of this kind of boxes is an integral part of the secret map in Knights of Shanghai movie. Clive Barker, a famous English writer and director, has written several horror stories based on the Lemarchand Box, which seems to be a puzzle-lock but actually, once resolved, it opens doors to hell. Underworld, Epic and Slaves of Hell; the movie "Hellraiser: There are no limits" was based on Slaves of Hell.

In the West, a secret box that has become very famous is the Cryptex.

The term is a neologism created by the author Dan Brown for his novel "The Da Vinci Code", to indicate a portable vault useful for hiding secret messages.
It is the union of the Greek word kryptòs (secret, hidden) with the Latin one, codex (the ancestor of books as we know them today).

Brown describes the Cryptex as a cylinder comprising five marble discs, stacked and fixed together on a brass structure.
It is impossible to see inside the tube.
Each cylinder, on which the entire alphabet is inscribed, can scroll independently of the others, so that various combinations of words can be created.
By finding the correct word, the Cryptex will open and reveal what is hidden inside.
Messages can be written on a papyrus that’s in the cylinder and if you try to force the opening, a vial of vinegar will break making the message unreadable.

Another secret box that is the fruit of fantasy and has become famous is the Lemarchand Box.

Clive Barker, an English director and writer, has given life to various horror stories based on Lemarchand's box which, once solved, should open the gates of hell.
The 1987 cult film “Hellraiser” was also made based on one of these stories.

Puzzle-locks are closely connected to the lock-boxes (read the article on Pandora's boxes).