| History of Mechanical Banks Told By CHARLES MESSER STOW. Black cardboard covers inclose 146 apparently typewritten pages in a loose-leaf binding, and this is a book, "Mechanical Toy Banks," by Louis H. Hertz. The publisher is Mark Haber, 12 Kenwood Road, Wethersfield. Conn., who has issued an edition of 300 copies (only 275 for sale at $10). Two factors account for this novel form of a book—scarcity of paper and the clamor of collectors for the results of Mr. Hertz's research. He explains in his introduction that all the material has been obtained from original sources, much of it from the men and women who were actually concerned in the manufacture of toy banks, more from authentic documents, factory records and catalogues. Though other works on the subject have been published, Mr. Hertz does not think them authentic enough to warrant a bibliography. By way of a couple of iconoclastic pronouncements, the author states: "First, very few types of mechanical banks were manufactured prior to about 1875. From 1875, through the'80s and '90s, mechanical bank production soared.... Second. the twenty-five-yearr period following 1906, which was formerly believed to have been devoid of banks, was actually the period in which the greatest quantities of any bank were turned out." Quoting various catalogues the author shows that many types believed to be fairly old are fairly recent. By 1926 the cost of iron was slowing down production. The Stevens line was discontinued in 1928 because cap pistols were more profitable to make. Thus, though toy banks cannot be called antique, those who collect them wi1l not worry, because the great number of styles and mass production insure good hunting. Though there is no index, the chapters cover thoroughly the makers and their products, and the work as a whole is a practically complete history of the manufacture of mechanical banks in this country. |
