For Your Pleasure
     during the Centennial Celebration
           in Kansas City, Missouri
A Collection of Unusual Rarity
 
OLD MECHANICAL BANKS
     WE HAVE BEEN ABLE to secure through the courtesy of Mr. I. A. Long, Vice President of the Mercantile Commerce Bank and Trust Co., St. Louis, Missouri, part of his mechanical bank collection.
     The oldest bank of this type is the mechanical alms box now in the possession of the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Made of pottery, it was made during the Han Dynasty of China in the second century B. C. Savings banks of one kind or another appear to have been made and used throughout practically every country and every era.
     Our forefathers, not to be outdone, began in 1869, to popularize the cast iron mechanical banks. Ingenious craftsmen tried to outdo themselves in designing banks which would out-rival those previously made — and it is this type of bank which has captured the eye of the collector of today.
     There have been many excellent collections and such collectors as Henry Ford and Walter Chrysler are known to have owned very extensive ones. Mr. Long's collection has received some very fine publicity wherever it has been exhibited.
     You will see on display in our lobby some twenty-five mechanical banks. These will be displayed and demonstrated for your enjoyment.