Gert’s piggy bank pages

Save the piggy banks, don’t smash them!

UK(England?)

Antique, 1780– 1810

History

In Western society, in earlier times, a pig was the poor mans moneybox. Bought on the market in spring one could feed a piglet from the household leftovers during the year and the grown pig would be ready for the butcher just before the winter. Metaphorically speaking is this also the life-cycle of a piggy bank. The ‘leftovers’ of your money are for the piggy bank and when it’s full you can smash it to pieces. By the way: there are more smart methods to get your money out and save the bank!

In German speaking countries it was custom until the 19th century to give apprentices (youngsters who were sent out to become a craftsman) a pig as reward for a full years labour. The saying goes that a piggy bank brings good fortune. That’s probably one of the reasons that in German speaking countries piggy banks are still given as a present around New Year. When the first piggy bank was made nobody knows for sure. In (rare) Dutch literature on this subject one author states that there were no piggy banks before 1600. But if that’s true……?

e-mail: gd@piggybanks.nl                        © 2010 GD projecten

The Netherlands

Painted (unknown) 1870—1930

Old and antique in the collection

 

Top

Left: Faience de Quimper (± 1930, France).

Right: Years ago bought for only one guilder on a boot fair, probably 18th century (Holland).

 

Below

Left: HEPP (Hole Eyed Pottery Pig); between 1870 and 1914 (Czechoslovakia)

Right: Piggy with typical Art Deco decoration, ± 1930, (France).

Old Dutch (±1930)