National Antiques Review, October, 1971
MONEY in the BANKS
by Hubert B. Whiting
Soon after I wrote the article on William Tell, I received
another entirely different William Tell Mechanical Bank from Australia. I've included a
picture, and it shows, as you can see, William with a bow instead of a gun. The bank is 4
inches longer than the American-made version, the tower is tin, the base is sheet steel,
and the figures are cast aluminum. From the size of the slot in the tower and the width of
the arrow that the coin rests on, I would assume that the bank was made for the English or
some other large coin. The coloring is not vivid, the tower originally a bronze, the base
a dark green, and the figures a golden bronze color. Although this bank appears to be one
that was a production item, I have know of no other specimen, and I do not know of anyone
else who has. Perhaps a "new find" from Down Under.
Humpty Dumpty, of course, was a well-known character in a Mother Goose nursery rhyme, and
if you have forgotten, it goes like this:
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
Not all the King's horses,
Not all the King's men
Could put Humpty Dumpty
together again.
This is probably the most widely known of the Mother Goose jingles and could very easily
have referred to Richard III, King of England. Richard succeeded Edward IV, who died in
1483. Richard was slain upon Boswerth Field, and the lines "Not all the King's
horses. Not all the King's men" could very well have been directed to this incident,
for had not Richard cried out just before his death, "A horse! My kingdom for a
horse!"?
The three banks pictured are all called Humpty Dumpty, and two of them portray him in the
traditional way, an egg-man sitting on a wall. The other is a Mechanical Bank and is the
bust of a clown. I have no idea why Humpty Dumpty should be portrayed this way, for if
indeed Humpty Dumpty was Richard III, than a clown portrayal would be a far cry from the
cruel, calculating, scheming, murdering soul that Richard was. Nor was it easy to
associate the egg with Humpty Dumpty and Richard III. Nevertheless, Mother Goose had her
own inspiration, and no one will know for sure what it was. No one knows for sure who
Mother Goose was, but a gravestone in a Boston cemetery marks the grave of a woman named
Goose, and it is popularly accepted that this woman was Mother Goose ( Ask any one of the
tour guides).
It's rather surprising to me that more of the Mother Goose characters were not portrayed
as banks. What great banks such people as Jack Sprat, Little Bo-Peep, Little Jack Horner,
and Old King Cole would have made, just to mention a few.
Some years ago, I came across what appeared to be a bank, and I guess it was, in the shape
of a Black Face. It was made of clay, decorated, and of course the mouth was the coin
slot. The face was fascinating, the sculpture excellent, and the eyes seemed to have a
message as they looked up at you. Anyway, I bought it, and when I got home, I discovered
there was something inside, not a coin, but a piece of paper. Perhaps an old one-hundred
dollar bill, or a ten dollar bill. (I could dream, couldn't I?) Well, after a long time
trying to "fish" the paper out, I got ahold of one corner, and the struggle was
over. The paper was retrieved slowly, and sure enough, it was a treasure. Not a hundred
dollar bill, not a ten, but a piece of paper on which was typed a message:
"Head Piece. Presented by King Cetawayo of Zululand to Chief Engineer Duncan Campbell
of Transport Ship which brought him to England. Given by him to William Magee, of Boston,
June 1881. Given to his son, John Magee, and given to me by John Magee February 8,
1899."
I have no idea who "me" was, nor do I know anything about John Magee or his
father William of Boston, although I've made a halfhearted attempt to identify them. But I
know who King Cetawayo was. He was a powerful Zulu Chief who had trained and developed a
great army of Zulus. The British in 1879 fought and conquered King Cetawayo and his
trained army of 40,000, who charged in the face of the White Man's rifles with all the
discipline and drill of European troops. The conflict shook the foundations of the British
rule in South Africa and makes one of the most thrilling chapters in the history of that
region. King Cetawayo was captured by the British, and after an extended stay in Capetown,
he did sail for England and arrived on July 12, 1882. There seems to be some discrepancy
in the dates, but then, who knows, perhaps King Catawayo did actually have this little
bank in his hands. I like to think that the great King Cetawayo did indeed give this
"Head Piece" to the Chief Engineer.
