The Brothers Grimm's fairy tale "Snow White" (1812) was reflected in various works of fine art and was repeatedly filmed. For a long time, the gnomes remained nameless, and only in 1912, in one of the theatrical adaptations, the seven fabulous miners were given names for the first time. Walt Disney also picked up his own variants of names for the gnomes while working on the cartoon Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). In 1911, the German craftsman Frank Koralewsky made an amazingly beautiful lock and key, depicting a scene from the life of the heroes of a fairy tale.
Until the 1890s, Koralewski worked as an apprentice in his hometown of Stralsund. Then he moved to Boston (USA), where in 1906 he became a member of the Boston Society of Arts and Crafts. The master ran F. Krasser & Co., which employed about 30 blacksmiths. Thanks to his works, he won respect among architects and artists.
In 1915, at the Pacific International Exposition, Koralewski received a gold medal for illustrating a Grimm's fairy tale that adorned the lock. Snow White is standing on the left, where she is stirring the food in the pot. In the center is a table with empty plates. Each dwarf is busy with his own business: one carries a huge carrot, the other drags a hare, two men on the right control the mechanism. One of the dwarves dozed off under a mushroom at the top of the lock. There are six gnomes in total, the seventh figurine decorated the key to the lock. Although it is missing, an old black-and-white photograph of the key has come down to us. The creation of this masterpiece took about seven years.
