Old Antique Toys: More A.C. Williams Still Banks

Thursday, February 9, 2018
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More A.C. Williams

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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