Black Caricature Bank

KKBOC0042

Black Caricature Bank

Castiron coin bank made to resemble a caricatured black man. His ears are noticeably cartoonish, and his lips are bright red and wide with white teeth. He has an arm outstretched which is actuated by his left ear which acts as a lever; when operated, the arm raises the hand to the mouth, causing the 'tongue'-plate to move out of the way and the eyes to roll forward. This hand is also hollowed out in the shape of a coin, suggesting that a coin placed in the hand would easily drop into the bank. The man wears what appears to be a red uniform coat, trimmed in white with three gold stripes on the lever arm. The back of the figure contains no branding, and there is a hole in the bottom of the bank where you can see the inner mechanism of the bank.

Koloniale Boekjes en Artefacten

Collection of colonial booklets, memorabilia, etc. from around the world.

The Black Archives

Piggy Bank

Black Caricature

Coat

c.1880-1911?

11x14x12

England? USA

Willenhall? Cromwell?

Caricature, Piggy Bank

John Harper & Co. (or) J. E. Stevens

John Harper & Co. (or) J. E. Stevens

Richard Weaver

Doing research during the archiving process - Richard discovered that there is a strange connection between the US and UK makers of these racist castiron piggy banks, where both J.E.Stevens and John Harper & Co are using the same exact stylings and moulds for their designs despite being separated and patented by both companies.

https://www.mechanicalbanks.org/sy/schreckinger-text.htm