Vintage & Antique Coin Banks

The first coins - currency in the form of flat pieces of metal with symbolic value - started to be used around the same time during the first millennium BCE in both China and the Kingdom of Lydia (which existed 1200 to 546 BCE in modern day Turkey).

Over the next few millennia, economies based on coin (and paper) currency gradually replaced barter systems and other forms of money (such as jewelry, weapons, salt and other foodstuffs). Naturally, people needed a place to store their coins. In medieval Europe, the first coin banks would have been jars made out of a common clay called Pygg. These “Pygg Banks” eventually came to be called “Piggy Banks”, which inspired potters to create coin jars in the shape of actual piggies. These early piggy banks, however, did not have a plug on the bottom to release the coins, and had to be smashed in order to access the cash. Due to the destruction required for their use, examples of early coin banks are rare.

Thankfully for collectors, coin banks in the 19th and 20th centuries started to be made with stoppers, so they could be opened without destroying them. In addition to pigs, banks were made in variety of shapes, such as miniature buildings, figurines, and safes. While ceramic continued to be used, cast iron and tin became popular materials for the making of coin banks during the 19th century.

Money was tight in 1930s America, so companies started to create advertising coin banks which enjoined people to save up to buy their products. Then during WWII, coin banks depicting patriotic or propagandic imagery were made to encourage Americans to save spare change to contribute to the war effort. Around the Baby Boom era of the 1950s and ’60s, coin banks featuring beloved characters (such as Disney or Popeye) and fun, whimsical imagery were created to foster money-saving habits in young children. Miniature versions of real-life objects that one would naturally put coins into, such as vending machines and jukeboxes, were also common.

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Sources:

Beattie, Andrew. July 17, 2020. “The History of Money: From Barter to Banknotes”. Investopedia. Accessed April 9, 2021. https://www.investopedia.com/articles/07/roots_of_money.asp

Collectors Weekly. n.d. “Antique Still Banks”. Accessed April 9, 2021. https://www.collectorsweekly.com/coin-operated/still-banks

History Blog, The. Entry from Oct 28, 2012. “The oldest piggy banks are also the cutest”. Accessed April 9, 2021. http:// www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/20945

Hurley, Terry. n.d. “Antique Piggy Banks”. Love to Know. Accessed April 9, 2021. https://antiques.lovetoknow.com/Antique_Piggy_Banks