Reading left to right —
      Upper row: "Always did 'spise a Mule" Mule kicks colored boy over; Organ Bank — Boy takes off hat -small figures turn around; Clown and Trick Dog — Dog jumps, throwing money through hoop and into barrel.
  
     Lower row: Another Organ Bank — boy lifts hat; Circus Wagon — Lion in wagon — Lion is the bank; The Jolly Nigger — Put penny in hand and he puts penny in his mouth.

ESPECIALLY during the last century, the attempt was made to stimulate the imagination by visible objects. A hundred years before, the Staffordshire and Chelsea factories copied famous pieces of sculpture in china, probably because photography was then In its infancy. Then the idea grew and changed, and objects of an educational nature were made. The first toy banks were manufactured in the hope of encouraging thrift, especially in children. These banks were made about 1830; were non-mechanical, and for the most part were made of tin. They proved so successful that they were improved upon and the first mechanical banks were made in the 1860's. Many a child would put his pennies in a bank that afforded him the amusement of seeing a mule kick his master, or an elephant lift a small negro boy from the ground. This same child would not be easily persuaded to save his pennies from a sense of duty, but once started, the saving habit grew. It was interesting to count the contents of the bank, and when it had reached a goodly sum, to take it to the real bank and start saving again in the toy one.
     The craze grew and banks were made depicting famous characters of the day — Boss Tweed, Lincoln, Garfield — some being made in caricature; others in sincere admiration. The interest reached its height in the '80's and practically died during the '90's, and was forgotten by 1900. Now it has revived, and many old banks are being reproduced and new ones made.
     It is a most valuable hobby to encourage. What child thinks of saving his pennies without a bank? Whereas his first thought in looking at a bank is to put in some money and observe its workings. The interest and object of these collections is to encourage thrift ort the part of both old and young.