Hi Richard,
As always your observations are just on the point though this is is not really a crocodile but a lizard.
Animals like birds, lizards, snakes and sea monsters became a fashionable decoration in the Renaissance period, usually the Italian High Renaissance, correspondig to the German Early Renaissance which is the early to mid 16th c. They can mostly be found on barrels, entwined in foliage and botanic scrollwork.
This zoomorphic decoration was especially employed on ironwork of all kinds, as well as by the stone masons.
In the case of the laid-on fire-gilt brass attachments of the 1548 lock, they are definitely not soldered or riveted but, in my opinion, just had one or two rectangular conical pins on the underside which were just hammered into corresponding holes in the lock plate.
Best, my brilliant friend,
Michael
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