Mechanical piggy bank “ARTILLERY BANK”
Mechanical piggy bank “ARTILLERY BANK”
USA, Mount Joy
The 1950-1960s
RIKSTONE
Cast iron, steel; Casting, painting
19.0 х 9.0 х 14.0 cm, more then 2 kg
On the bottom: "ARTILLERY BANK"; on the rear side: "PAT. JUNE 13. 1882"; on the stand bottom: "REPRODUCED FROM ORIGINAL IN COLLECTION OF THE BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE", "MADE IN USA"
Stone square tower with a window facing the mortar at the other end of the base is installed on a low rectangular base with rounded edges. The mortar, painted with bronze paint, and equipped with a spring striker on the rear side is mounted on the carriage and is aimed at the tower window. A figure of an artilleryman in red cap, black jacket and red pants is next to the mortar. Spring striker is cocked for the shot, while the gunner raises his right hand, and a small coin is put in the mortar muzzle. After pressing the lever at the bottom, the spring striker beats out the coin, and it flies into the tower window. Such cast-iron piggy banks were produced from the 1870s to the 1930s.
In 1957, an advertising agent named Lee Howard came to the New York publishing house The Grolier Society, Inc. with the idea to organize an advertising campaign for the popularization of the Children's Encyclopaedia "The Book of Knowledge". Howard suggested assembling a collection of original cast-iron piggy banks within the the framework of the Encyclopaedia in order to organize manufacturing of their exact copies for further demonstration and sale. The ORGAN BANK piggy bank is a part of the “The Knowledge Book” collection with the number 178. It is the exact copy of the original that was patented in the USA on June 18, 1882 and produced by Kaiser and Rex in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Инв.6285/ДПИ