We felt it important enough to extend last month’s thoughts on mechanical banks on into the present month. We have covered that a bell caused to ring by a coin hitting the bell does not qualify as a mechanical bank and we covered the 1935 break-off date for the old or antique mechanicals.

In the bell ringing phase another example of a mechanical should be mentioned. This is the Memorial Money Bank of the 1876 Centennial. This bank has the Liberty Bell on a platform or base. There is a lever in front of the bell. When a coin is inserted or pressed into the slot, this lever is pushed back and as the coin goes into the bank the lever snaps forward causing the bell to ring. This bank then fully qualifies as a mechanical. There is moving mechanism and a lever causes the bell to ring when a coin is used.

Let’s take the still bank Independence Hall Tower for comparison with the Memorial Money Bank. You can drop coins in this bank and nothing happens. It is necessary to push the bell ringing lever by hand to cause the bell to ring. This bank has no area to qualify it as mechanical. There are those who class it as a semi-mechanical and there is no harm done if somebody as an individual collector wants to do so. But to have a semi-mechanical group established and recognized as such seems like such a waste of time and always leaves the line of demarcation between mechanical and still less defined. There are probably 20 banks or less that would, if we stretch a point, qualify as semi-mechanical. Then the next thing would be still banks with wheels. These have parts that move, and shouldn’t they be semi-mechanical. What we are trying to point out here is that a semi-mechanical group would only serve to confuse the issue, rather than clear it. There is no real need for such a group to exist and no real purpose to justify having it.

A sticky situation does exist around several still banks that are classed as mechanical. Two outstanding examples are the Sewing Machine and the Camera. One can drop coins in either bank all day and nothing happens. So why are they classed as mechanical? — simple — years ago with no particular ground rules established they were called mechanical banks and recognized as such. They really aren’t, however, as at the present time there is no way to justify classing them as such. On the other hand, why change tradition? — why change their position today? Here, again, there is nothing to be gained by doing so, and several exceptions to the rules as established have a certain interest. What harm is there in leaving the Camera and Sewing Machine stand as they are? — None. They are wonderful banks with nice action and there is just no real reason to put them in the still bank category after all their years of background tradition as mechanical banks. And even worse would be to relegate them to limbo and class them as semi-mechanicals.

Now we get into another ‘is it a still or mechanical’ when we come to a bank where a light bulb is caused to light when a coin is inserted. Let us take, for example, a lighthouse type bank where the insertion of a coin causes the bulb to light. Is this mechanical action? — the lighting of a bulb. There is certainly no animation or moving mechanism involved. There is some wiring, a battery or two, and contact points for the coin to cause the light to go on. Visually, you see the light go on and off — is this a mechanical bank? — how can we justify its being so? — we can’t, and no one should delude themselves into trying to do so. Certainly a bank of this type is a collectible item, but it really belongs in the still bank category. Of course, some of the die-hards who insist there should be a semi-mechanical bank group would place this type bank in that category. When one thinks of it in its proper perspective there aren’t that many banks that light a bulb to really worry about anyway. Even if there were only one, however, it should be clarified as to its position.

It is rather important at this time to give recognition to a number of the mechanicals that, based on their patent date, are now in the 100 year old category. There are a few of them and this most certainly justifies, or at least adds, to the usage of the terminology ‘antique,’ rather than just ‘old’ when referring to these particular banks. So we now have a nice small group of banks whose patent dates put them in the century old division. These banks are as follows:

Type I and Type II of the Serrill Bureau, Hall’s Excelsior, Horse Race Type I and Type II, Frog On Arched Track, Home Bank Type I and Type II, Frog On Round Base, National Bank, Novelty Bank, Tammany Bank, Cupola Bank, Hall’s Lilliput Types I, II, and III, Panorama Bank, Memorial Money Bank, Bank Teller Bank, Preacher In The Pulpit, Target Bank, Guessing Bank, and three that will qualify in November of 1977 — Creedmoor and Hold The Fort Type I and Type II. So that totals 25 banks with a patent date of 100 or more years. A nice group and may we point out included are several really rare banks that are particularly tough to come by.

In closing for now, let’s go back to the semi-mechanical situation for a moment or two. This small group of banks was gradually formed years ago when the finest still bank sold for around $2.50 and some of the mechanicals could be bought for $5.00 to $7.50 each. In calling a still bank semi-mechanical at this time, a dealer, or whoever, could charge a little more for it. There was no other reason whatsoever, that’s all there was to it, just to sell the bank for a small amount more. By calling a bank semi-mechanical it sounded more important than ‘still bank,’ which was not a very important terminology at the time.

Today the whole situation has changed. Still banks have come into their own and many of them sell for more than some of the mechanicals. So what earthly purpose does semi-mechanical serve in the present time? There are thousands of still banks, over 300 old mechanicals, and hundreds of registering banks. In a group of so called semi-mechanicals there would be around, give or take a few, 20 banks. Banks are now defined into three groups: mechanical, still, and registering, and this adequately covers the situation and leaves good lines of demarcation between each of the three.

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