By Kelley Summers Jent While few people, other than children, save their money in a piggy bank, collectors still bank on cast-iron devices that once held money to keep their value. Cast-iron was a favorite material for banks from the late 19th century into the early 20th. There were two basic types of cast-iron banks, still and mechanical. A still bank is as it sounds, a bank that doesn’t do anything; while a mechanical bank has some type of motion involved when a coin is deposited. Still banks were made in many different shapes. They were made into everything from trains, buildings, animals, clocks, safes and of course pigs. They were made into almost every shape or monument you could think of. Even GE made one that looked like a refrigerator to encourage people to save for a refrigerator. The Kenton Hardware Co. manufactured banks looking like safes from 1900 until 1932. Kenton started out as the Kenton Lock Manufacturing Co. and added toys and banks to its catalog line in 1894. Soon after that they changed their name to the Kenton Hardware Co. Their safe banks are known for the quality of the lock on them. It is actually a combination lock. If you do not know the combination it can be a challenge to open. The Kenton Bank of Industry Safe was 5.5 by 4.5 by 4.5 inches and weighed 2.5 pounds. It was produced in two finishes one with a nickel-plated front door and red paint on the exterior or electro oxidized. In good condition and with a working lock they can go for between $250 and $300. Brothers John and Elisha Stevens formed the J & E Stevens Company in 1843. They intended on manufacturing cast-iron hardware, hammers and a few toys. The toys brought the brothers so much success that they changed their business plan and they became the largest manufacturer of cast-iron toys in the country. The turning point for the company came in 1869 with the production of their first mechanical bank. The bank which featured a monkey popping out of a building inspired many competitors to make similar products and a whole new genre of product was created that sparked the imagination of designers. An iconic bank is the J & E Stevens “Always did Spise a mule.” There were two versions of the bank: One that had a jockey sitting on the mule and the other had a jockey sitting on a log near the mule. The one with the jockey on the log, you insert the coin in a slot under the boy and push a button and the mule swings around kicking the boy over and depositing the coin into the bank. It is an excellent example of a mechanical bank. The time between 1869 and 1930 is known as the golden age of cast-iron banks. J & E Stevens’s mechanical banks enduring value is testament to the quality and creativity that made them a power house in production of mechanical banks for most of the 19th century. Both mechanical and still banks were made to make the act of saving money fun and they did exactly that. |