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August 31, 1940, NY SUN Newspaper
Penny Banks.
Mrs. Ina Hayward
Bellows of 1111 West Michigan avenue, East Lansing, Mich. (to whom
inquiries about the book should be sent) has made a start toward
developing a literature of the penny bank through the publication of a
small book entitled "Old Mechanical Banks," becoming thus a pioneer in
the field. Chiefly of value to collectors is the check list which Mrs.
Bellows includes and a list from Patent Office records of fifty-nine
banks patented together with the dates, which
serves to date various types. The check list contains more than 350
titles. Inasmuch as the first patent was issued in 1869 and mechanical
banks were made all through the rest of the century they do not strictly
come under the head of antiques, but there are a great many collectors
of them and a lively business in them goes on. Mrs. Bellows includes one
section of debatable wisdom when she attempts to classify her check list
as to value. She makes six classifications running from $3 to $75 plus.
It has been found especially in the case of Currier prints that prices
obtaining in one section of the country are by no means right in
another section. Mrs. Bellows talked with various collectors about banks
and incorporated their words of wisdom in her text. It is a pity that
she could not have seen Dr. Arthur E. Corby's collection of nearly 3,000
specimens, for a catalogue of that collection would serve as an almost
complete check list and the late Walter P. Chrysler had nearly as many.
Inexcusable errors in proof reading attest the ignorance of the
publisher.
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SUN N.Y. AUG. 31. 1940 |