Early 50s: My grandfather, a self-employed jeweller, worked from his peg (jeweller's workbench) in the front room of our terraced house in Heaton Street, my mother and me were regularly pressed into service to purchase gold ingots for him from the bullion dealer, Johnson Matthey, in the Jewellery Quarter, about 20 minutes walk distant - no special security precautions, we just returned with the gold bars (each about the size of a small bar of chocolate) in a carrier bag - probably the best security measure of all: being inconspicuous.
Looking back it seems incredible he had no security arrangement at the house save normal household locks - because crime was rare? - I'm afraid not, gas meter theft (usually positioned in the cellar) was rife, and it was not unknown for people to burgle their own meter if they were a bit short.
Peg