Collectors of mechanical banks today number in the thousands and most certainly mechanicals are a top type collectible. Where and when did it all start — most likely prior to 1900 with a few scattered individuals who thought they were interesting toys. We know of no specific individual in this period who devoted his time to the mechanicals and we must go into the 1920’s before we can really say with certainty that mechanical banks were actually being collected.

Two of these early collectors were a Mr. Evans, president of a bank in Boston, and Elmer Rand Jacobs, official of a bank in New York City. There were others, but these two men really formed pretty fair collections in their period of time. We can refer to them as pioneer collectors of the mechanicals.

In the 20’s mechanical banks were still being made by such companies as J. & E. Stevens and Hubley Manufacturing Company, among others. They were also being manufactured in England, Germany, and another foreign country or two. It was in this period of the 20’s that mechanical banks were reaching their end of popularity as a toy sold in stores and moving into the field of being a collector’s item. They were referred to as a penny bank and this was basically what they were really intended for originally — to save pennies. Pennies, while still a somewhat usable coin with fair value in this period, were slowly moving into an area where less and less could be bought for a penny. So the end result was, over a period of time, less interest in saving them and, therefore, less interest in having a penny bank.

The early collectors in the 20’s only had interest in cast iron mechanical banks, and as we moved into the 30’s this still remained so. There was no interest in German tin mechanicals — no interest in English banks, even in cast iron. In other words, foreign made banks, cast iron or not, weren’t desirable and had sort of a stigma about them. Tin mechanicals were frowned on with the exception of those made by Weeden Manufacturing Company in New Bedford, Mass.

So it was in the 30’s that cast iron mechanicals were the ‘in’ thing and of American manufacture only. This was the time that the Sewing Machine and the Camera were considered to be true mechanicals, and even then were valued for their rarity. The great mechanical banks made by Bailey in lead just were not known about or simply ignored in the 20’s and early 30’s. The same can be said for some of the wonderful German tin banks and the fine mechanicals made in England.

As we go further into the 30’s more and more collectors were getting into the field and these included a few doctors, several bank presidents, and of course, the late well known Walter Chrysler. So after the mid-30’s the banks were really getting on their way and became more and more popular and eagerly collected. A very avid collector in this period was Dr. Arthur E. Corby, and then there was James C. Jones and Andrew Emerine to name a few.

Added interest was the stimulation of Norman E. Sherwood when he entered the field of buying and selling mechanical banks. He caused quite a flurry in his time and helped to create a continually increased interest in the mechanicals. He sent out sales lists and did a fair amount of advertising, all to do with the mechanicals. He felt as the writer did that English banks deserved recognition and would place them in his lists. One of the first was the Dinah Bank, and at the time this was quite a discovery. Bailey’s fine banks in lead started to show up, and as these made their inroads tin banks started to get their foot in the door. It was from this point on that the foreign made banks and the mechanicals in tin finally started to get off the round. The early undesirable aspect still hung on some, however, and particularly so with a few of the die-hard collectors. They would have some tin banks and an English bank or two, but with a certain reservation or reluctancy.

All this business about a mechanical must be cast iron was a self defeating kind of thing. After all the greatest mechanical of all has very little cast iron in its makeup. This is the Freedman’s Bank, and all the early collectors would have given their eye teeth to have had one. Ferguson probably turned up the first one in very poor and incomplete condition. He found it in a junk shop second-hand type store in Connecticut. Then Emerine turned one up in Mexico City and Haber found one, the only all original including paper labels, in Connecticut. The Freedman’s alone helped lower the boom on the must be cast iron situation.

This doesn’t get away from the fact that cast iron still remains the desirable, somewhat preferable material for a mechanical. The far greater number of the mechanicals are cast iron and it is Americana, and it is American ingenuity that created these great toy savings devices. So while the preference still remains with the cast iron, we today have the proper recognition of tin, wood, lead, and foreign made mechanical banks.

The hobby of collecting mechanical banks has a good solid foundation to stand on with many years of establishing it in this fashion. A lot of ‘junk’ items have been kept from the mechanical category, and in spite of a few here and there whose efforts would seem to be to add items to the group that don’t belong there, we are confident that this will never be accepted by the vast majority of the collectors of mechanical banks. They would not want a well established hobby like this garbaged up just for the sake of adding to the number of mechanicals.

 [ Top] [ Back ] [ Up ] [ 77-10-Griffith ]