Rand Eason, center, who purchased the mystery safe along with his wife, Terry, left, peers through locksmith Bill Curtis’s borescope to see down into the bottom of the safe.

Starla Pointer / News-Register

At 12:05 p.m. Friday, locksmith Bill Curtis threaded a slender borescope through a slot in the lower lid of the mystery safe Habitat for Humanity ReStore volunteers had discovered during a dismantling project.

"Just what I was expecting," said Curtis, who has been cracking safes for three decades.

Earlier, Curtis picked the lock on the top lid of the safe, which the ReStore auctioned off unopened to benefit Habitat's construction program. The lock proved so tenacious, though, that he ended up breaking it in the process.

Instead of attempting to pick the lock on the lower lid as well, he suggested that winning bidders Rand and Terry Eason drill a hole in its side once it was freed from its casing of concrete. That way, any contents could be removed without damaging the other lock.

The round, double-door safe originally was buried in the concrete floor at Barker Petroleum.

Curtis said the 12-inch lower chamber would have been used to store valuables and the 5-inch upper chamber, which he opened, to store day-to-day things. "It's a very tough, excellent money safe," he said.

Current Barker Petroleum owner Steve Weiher donated the building to the ReStore. That would serve to get the site cleared for other uses while allowing the ReStore to salvage and sell pieces of the building, realizing about $5,000 profit for Habitat.

When volunteers pulled up the floorboards, they found the safe. It's been on display at the ReStore all month, and five people bid for the chance to own it and whatever might be inside.

As Curtis threaded his scope into the safe on Friday, spectators guessed at what he might find.

"Old gold coins?" wondered Trish Brister, a ReStore customer.

"Stocks and bonds?" guessed Dawn Witt, ReStore director.

"A time capsule?" suggested Allison Brosius.

"Maybe keys to the top, maybe air," said Curtis, owner of Curtis Safe Co. in Sublimity.

Former owner of a lock and safe shop in Salem, he has opened countless safes. And he's found something valuable - a gold watch - in only one.

The Easons were braced for that eventuality.

Terry Eason read about the mystery safe in the News-Register and showed the story to her husband. He immediately suggested bidding on it as a way of helping Habitat.

They submitted two bids, upping their offer to $450 the second time around.

"I firmly believe there's nothing in it, but the money's for a good cause," Rand Eason said as Curtis went about his work.

Curtis agreed with that assessment.

"Usually, when people leave safes, the last thing they do is clean them out," he said. Still, anything's possible, the locksmith said as he continued threading his borescope into the safe.

"I can see in there pretty well," he said. "It's just an empty compartment. Just nothing."

He stepped aside to let the Easons take a look.

"Yep, exactly what I thought," Rand Eason said. "I figured dust at the most."