Home 

Auction $ 
Sy - Index
Grif - Index
A - Z Index
Scrapbook 
Animations 
Slide Show 
  YouTube 
Puzzles
Foundry 
Search 
Links 

 Join    

 Adv    
What's New 
Web Notes 
   Feedback   
 
MBCA
Members
Web
 
A-Z Index  
Date Index 
Conventions 
Scrapbooks   
European Tin 
Videos 
Notes  
 

 


CORONET - January, 1940

ANDREW EMERINE
WHO TAKES A POSTMAN'S HOLIDAY BY PUTTERING WITH TOY BANKS

1940_Coronet.jpg (7985 bytes)IN THE days when thrift was held before the young as a primary and heaven-insuring virtue, there was a quiet but fierce little competition among makers of toy banks. "Still banks" did not, understandably, induce as much thrift as "mechanical banks" (with moving parts, like "The Mikado," above) which grew amusingly ingenious in design. Both types are now collectors' items and Andrew Emerine, bank president of Fostoria, Ohio, has one of the finest groups extant. They fill a museum, number more than 1,700. Among them are most of the mechanicals, including such exclusives as "Red Riding Hood" and "The Whale and the Sewing Machine." Emerine learned about frugality when he earned money the hard way - harvesting. His busy home machine shop manifests his interest in mechanics.


AMERICAN ANTIQUES JOURNAL - October, 1946

BANK STOCK BULLISH
By ANDREW EMERINE

IT IS indeed surprising to the more matured collector to realize the demand that exists today and the prices offered for certain rare old mechanical banks.

There is a wide variation of prices, however, which is determined by the number of examples still available of any given kind. It is possible that there were two thousand Eagle banks made and put into circulation and perhaps there was a like number of Tammanies. These with many others classified as common, sell at prices from $8.00 to $20.00.

Naturally the survivors of the banks that were made in decidedly fewer numbers are now rare and sell readily at prices far in excess of any reasonable appraised value.

During the years 1882 to 1895 a brightly painted Breadwinner, Circus Bank, or a Professor Pug Frog and fifty other equally desirable banks were each packed in a neat wooden box with slide lid, with the name of the bank thereon and sold by the general store at $1.25 to $2.50; in many instances the sale of this merchandise was not brisk.

There is certainly a marked contrast with these former prices and those of today; a good old bank that has been tossed about by the youngster for tears, and finally stowed away in an attic or thrown on a junk pile finds ready sale at $15.00 to $100.00 according to the bank and its condition. There are a few top banks, such as the Freedman's Bank, Bread Winner, Girl Skipping Rope, Harlequin, and a few others that have been known to sell at $150.00, and in several instances in excess of this figure.

Ten years ago there were but eight outstanding collectors of banks; today there must be two or three hundred with collections ranging from 95 percent complete to a modest group of thirty or forty banks. It would seem that it is a reasonable guess that 90 percent of the surviving banks are now in the hands of the collectors, and the remaining 10 per cent will be slow in coming to the surface.

(Web note: Illustrations from a photo copy of the article were not suitable for reproduction. Fowler, Jonah Emerges, Freedman's, Carnival, Merry Go Round, and Initiation 1st & 2nd Degree - no captions)


 [ Top] [ Back ]