More A.C. Williams Still Banks

Thursday, February 9, 2018
Overcast with snow flurries
+2 C  35.6 F

More A.C. Williams

Please click here to visit Cyber Toy Auction on Liveauctioneers

The items below are called "still banks" as compared  to "mechanical banks". A still bank

is simply a bank where you put money into a slot. A mechanical bank is where a coin is placed somewhere on a part of the bank, and when a lever is pressed, the coin is moved into a slot.

Still banks were manufactured from the 1880's - 1920's. They later became less popular and the cost of shipping these cast iron banks became too expensive.  One characteristic of these banks was that they were made in 2 half parts that  were held together by a flat head screw. These flat head screws were the only type of screw at the time, compared with the many varieties of today.

Therefore, this is one way of detecting a wrong screw on a still bank, or if the baks appears brand new with another type of screw, then it is a modern-era"reproduction". Because these banks were inexpensive to produce, the manufacturers of the time were able to make all sorts of banks.  What you see here today are animals, characters from comics (Buster Brown and Tiger), and man-made figures such as buildings, boats, or streetcars.  Most of these still banks are not valuable. However, like all auction items, the rarer ones do  receive higher bidding.

Buster Brown and Tiger

Cast Iron Still Bank

Circa 1910's

Thanks for dropping by,

and have a great day or night.

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com

Antique Still Banks

Friday, January 12, 2018
Overcast With Rain
+6 C  42.8 F

Please click here to visit Bertoia Auctions on Live Auctioneers

There is an interesting auction going on today from the renowned antique toy auctioneer, Bertoia Auctions. Among the many numerous items for sale, are what are called "still banks". Still banks differ from mechanical banks in that they do not have any moveable parts like the mechanical banks. They are usually made from 2 parts that are attached together by a screw or a screw and bold. That's how you remove the money from the bank when it is full.  I haven't added any descriptions to todays photos as Bertoia Auctions didn't add much description to the toys. Their descriptions are self explanatory, such as " 2 deer still banks".

As you'll see below, the toys represented a microcosm representing things and items of the times.

These banks were very popular in the late 1800's and the beginning of the 20th century. Bank then, children were encourage to save money at an early age. Moreover, money had value back them. There were many items a child could buy for 1 cent, and for 25 cents, you could almost have a choice of 50 toys to buy for that price. Nowadays, for 25 cents, all you get is 1 gumball!

 The pair of toy banks below are priced higher than the other banks.  They

are rarer, and represent the famous cartoon character "Andy Gump", who was a very popular comic strip character in the early 1900's.

I even have one of these banks. I purchased one for my wife. My late father-in-law George, had his photo taken in the 1920's when he was a young boy. He was dressed up by the photographer in a sailor's suit. Sadly, his parents were very poor, and his mother wasn't able to buy the finished photographs from the photographer. He always had this on his mind, so I bought a  toy young boy dressed up in a sailor suit. 

I should even use it to save money for a vacation. Of course,

we don;t have pennies in Canada anymore. The government decreed them "useless" and too costly to use.  Of course, in 2018, I will have to use what are called "twonees". These represent the value of 2 Canadian Dollars. Needless to say, I'll need to refill this bank 20 times to be able to go anywhere! So much for the value of money today!

Thanks for dropping by,

And have a great day.

Stacey Bindman

Toysearcher@gmail.com