An Exceptional Collection of Cast Iron Banks From The RSL Auction Company - Part 1

Thursday, December 26, 2024

-13 ° C / 9° F

Overcast and Damp

An Exceptional Collection of 

Cast Iron Banks

From The RSL Auction

 I "discovered" the wonderful world of American cast iron banks from the 1800's

long after I had started to blog. Up here in Canada, I've never seen one in person, 

but I've seen them on American auctioneers websites, and occasionally on a PBS TV station (An American Public Broadcasting System station on TV, and through American Auctions on the Internet.  These banks were made in the 1800's

and AI'm sure found a place in many houses with children, who would save their pennies in these banks.

Please click on this sentence to redirect to the RSL Auction Company's Auction 

I selected this particular bank because it would have bee very enjoyable for children. After winding it up, the horses and their riders would ride around in circles, and I'm sure they were very enthralled to see the horses go "round and round".

This particular cast iron bank was manufactured be the 

J. & E. Stevens Company.Their plant where they manufactured these banks

was located in Cromwell, Connecticut, USA.

This particular model was made in 1872.

There are a lot more banks to see on The RSL Auction Company's

website, as well as on Liveauctioneers.com

Thanks for visiting my blog,

and have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

My name is (Mr.) Stacey Bindman

I can always be reached at toysearcher@gmail.com

The RSL Auction at its 'Best

Thursday, August 12, 2024

-2° C /28.4° F

Clear skies, sun & windy

The RSL Auction Company at its' Best

Please click on this sentence to redirect to 

The RSL Auction Company on LiveAuctioneers

Several Years ago, when I was already blogging for about 10 years,  I came across an auction company that I did not know. There are 3 partners, with a successful history of auctioneering, as well as lots of experience in toys. 

Their names are Mr. Ray Haradin, Mr. Steven Weiss, and Mr. Leon Weiss.

I wrote to the company and asked for permission to use their photos, and to write about toys. I got their permission, and as the expression goes, 

"the rest is history".

What I've noticed over the years is that the team has increasingly 

become better and better as an auction company. They've expanded by

buying another auction company, and the photography changed for the better.

Items are photographed on a white base and background (seamless paper)

with soft lighting. What this does is avoid photographs that have 

too much contrast, so that detail is not lost in those darker areas. 

As such, the photography can be done faster, especially when photographing

a large catalogue of items going to auction.

They also have catalogues that can be download for potential bidders,

and they are even on Meta (formerly Facebook).

I only selected one item for today, in oder to illustrate what I already wrote. 

I'll also add that for this cast iron bank, they took lots of photographs to show 

all of the details, and condition of the bank.

Item Details

(Description)

"J. & E. Stevens Company, Cromwell, CT - 1883.

Watching the tumbling acrobats at the circus is a wonderment that never fails

to please the crowd. This dynamically colored bank aims to recreate that 

"mouth agape" experience. Pressing the lever causes the taller man to

 flip up and kick his partner in the stomach, sending him into a backflip,

which engages the trigger for coin deposit."

This fine bank was estimated to be purchased 

at between (2500- $3500) US Dollars.

It sold for $ 4000.00.

Hard work pays off!

I hope you visit the entire auction on LiveAuctioneers.

There were lots of interesting toys besides the banks, and if you're 

interested in toys, you can learn a lot from visiting the websites of

The RSL Auction Company site and LiveAuctioneers.

So that's it for today.

Thanks for visiting my blog, and as always, have a great part 

of the day or night, wherever you my be.

My name is (Mr.) Stacey Bindman,

and I can always be reached at

toysearcher@gmail.com

Cast Iron Mechanical Banks - Revisited

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Cast Iron Mechanical Banks 

(Revisited)

    Many of the early American toy companies started out as hardware companies, and then expanded into toys. Their initial hardware products were household items such as door hinges, door knobs, and kitchen cabinet handles. Many of the companies were located in  the State of Pennsylvania, where abundant iron ore resources had been discovered earlier. 

  What's most interesting with regard to mechanical banks is that there were so many made the companies, and most of them were mechanical. Each toy had moving parts that allowed an interesting motion and movement to occur. A small lever would be tensioned, a coin would be placed on a part of the small "scene", and when the lever was released, the coin would drop into the hollow bank compartment.  Access to the money was either by a key to unlock the bank, or by opening the bank with a wrench or screwdriver to open half of the bank.  

What's also interesting is that so many of these banks have survived over time. Sadly, due to the closing of many of the original companies,  patent rights and nobody to sue "reproduction" companies over design rights has occurred. Consequently, buyers have to be very careful in not buying Chinese reproductions (today). even way back, smaller companies would copy bank designs and pawn them off as those from the original famous companies of the time. 

Please click here to visit Dan Morphy's fabulous website

   I haven't described what each mechanical bank does. I decided to let you "guess" and figure out what each one does. It's best to enlarge the images in Google Blogger's slide view mode. there,toy will be able to look for the entry where the coin would be deposited inside the bank, as well as the movement that would throw or tilt the coin into the slot.  For today, I selected 5 lower priced antique toys, and 5 more-expensive ones, both relatively moderate to the most expensive one sold if you look at Morphy Auctions total sales. The most-expensive one sold for $ 148,000.000! It certainly was the rarest, but I would have been happy with any of the lower-priced  ones.  When it comes to entertaining young children, the action and the disappearance will keep them occupied for a while.  You just have to be careful thought - these toy banks are very heavy, and most still have the original lead paint on them!

Thanks for dropping by,

and have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com