"Young'n" Bank $250.00

Cast iron mechanical bank, bust of young black boy wearing red shirt with a white collar and blue bow-tie.

A Brief History of Cast Iron Mechanical Banks

Though clay toy banks were popular in Europe already in the Renaissance, they only became popular in the U.S. in the early 1800s with the introduction of hard coin currency. The chartering of the first savings bank in 1819 encouraged Americans to save. Initially, these banks were simply models of buildings, people, or animals made from a variety of materials, including pottery, wood, glass, though tin-plate and cast iron were the most common.

Mechanical cast iron banks were first produced in the United States between 1870 and 1930. Cast iron banks were made by assembling cast pieces or by pouring iron into highly detailed molds, permitting the banks to be produced at a mass-scale. To activate a mechanical bank, either a person pulled a lever or switch or the weight of the coin itself triggered the banks’ clockwork mechanics, flipping the piece into the hold of the bank. Hundreds of models were produced, though evidence of some can only be found in catalogs dating from that era. Some banks depict controversial politics and paradigms of the time.