NEW YORK SUN, AUG. 31,1940

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 in 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 catalog 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.