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800 year old four-dial combination lock with over 4.2 billion possible combos made by an Iranian astrolabe maker named Muhammad ibn Hamid al- Asturlabi.
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this post was submitted on 06 Jan 2026
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4.2 billion from 4 dials would require ~256 positions per dial, which these don't appear to have anywhere near that many markings.
It looks to me like each of the four is actually two dials stacked atop one another. And eight 16-position dials is also 4.2 billion.