Vintage English Victorian Cast Iron Architectural Still Banks C. 1880 - a Pair

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A Pair of antique painted cast iron coin architectural still banks with most of their original green paint; English circa … Read more A Pair of antique painted cast iron coin architectural still banks with most of their original green paint; English circa 1880. Sold as a pair. 1
height: 5 in. 13 cm., width: 3 in. 7.5 cm., depth: 3.5 in. 9 cm.

Architecture in the late 19th century transformed far more than cities––it radically altered the design of virtually everything in the decorative arts, including penny banks. Cast-iron penny banks were first popular on both sides of the Atlantic from about 1870 to 1940. They were viewed as toys and tools to teach children thrift in the period when the middle class emerged and when saving money was on most people’s minds, an attitude that is in sharp contrast to today’s focus on spending money and buying-on-credit.
Architectural designs were favored more in still banks … Still banks tend to be more formidable in their appearance and the shape of buildings were about the most impressive shapes possible in which to cast them. ”Why did toy-bank producers use architectural designs? It’s natural, I guess. When you think about saving money, you think about a bank, which is a building.”

excerpted from: “Penny Banks As Miniature Buildings“, by Rita Reif, August 7, 1983, New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/1983/08/07/arts/antiques-view-penny-banks-as-miniature-buildings.html See less