Metal Toy Banks were very popular in the late 19th century to encourage thrift in children. They were fun and collectible now. A lot of replica/reproductions have been produced so be careful when you buy one.
Here is an interesting bank which has a huge hat ready to be brought down on the head once the coins are deposited. This is a kind of reverse ducking stool?
Here it is, patent 13,401 dated November 7, 1882 by Charles Richel.
It’s a lot of fun. According to the description:
“The general feature of the design consists of the figure of a boot black sitting on his box, in front of a street hydrant, with outstretched hands holding a brush, between which and the top of the hydrant the coins are to be placed by the depositors for discharge into the bank, when another boy, standing behind the first, swings down a huge hat upon the head of the latter, the said figures being mounted on the top of the case or box of the bank” GASP!
A lot of fun but political correctness was not the order of the day. Please take it in the spirit of history.
It occurs to me that this big hat is a sort of variant of the famous ten gallon hat invented by the Stetson Company. I think the oversize hat is somewhat bigger. By the way the famous ten gallon hat does not hold ten gallons of liquid of course. According to the Stetson Hat site the hat holds three quarts of liquid. Hat abuse I say…
A word of caution about these patents. Although they may have expired there may be derivatives that are registered. See my previous post on this. This is presented for education and entertainment.
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