BE/ IE/ DK/ SE - Pig Piggy Banks

If we look at the harvest of piggy banks from Belgium, the focus immediately goes to the Flemish pottery, but other piggy banks will also have been made (I have a few). Poterie Flamande or Flemish pottery or folk pottery originated in the period of the British Arts and Crafts movement and the Art Nouveau around 1890 as a revival of crafts in West Flanders. These are white-fired pottery, turned or moulded, finished with lead glaze and with a typical flamed colour palette. This industry flourished until about 1930-40, including in the workshops in Ghent, Bruges, Kortrijk, Roeselare, Sint-Niklaas, Bredene and Torhout. Incidentally, this area continues to north-western France, where De Bruyn, among others, made beautiful piggy banks. Well-known names when it comes to Flemish piggy banks are Maes, Noseda and Société Belge de Poterie Flamande (Kortrijk). Discovering who made what, the provenance of Flemish pottery, is a chore and sometimes impossible. In the small area in West Flanders, craftsmen came and went from Kortrijk to Bruges, Torhout and vice versa. As far as France. The potters brought their own designs with them (that was still possible then, apparently) and identical models were made in different (competitive) workshops (this was usual practice then, apparently) and identical models were made in different (competitive) workshops.

All I have are a souvenir (1), one green SylvaC (made in Staffordshire, England by the way) and 3 of Ceramics Kilrush. I wish I had a lot more piggy banks from the Republic of Ireland. There should be many, in different shapes, but until now I have not found them. We once visited the Belleek Pottery. Nice pottery, but no piggy banks of the old fashioned type. I know of the village of Kilrush with a history of (long gone) potteries. So there are just in few in my collection.

Denmark has a history in pottery factories. Concerning piggy banks Knabstrup Lervarefabrik (translation: Earthenware factory) was well known. Nice piggy banks with the bottom stoneware and top glaze, as Muggins in the UK does. Knapstrub closed in 1989. And of course there a more Danish piggy banks.

For a long time I did not focus on Sweden as a country with a piggy bank tradition, but since 2017 I buy them on Tradera.com. Striking is that many sellers state that there piggy bank is not for export, is for Swedish buyers only. Could be protection of own heritage, but is a pity for my collection.

The red Dala Horse (Swedish: Dala häst) is a symbol of Sweden. The little wooden horse originated in the landscape Dalarna (in the middle of Sweden). The Dala piggy bank, Swedish folk-art, is made of (two parts) of wood and is as the horse an old tradition. This Dala pig was used as a model for the earthenware piggy banks, made of red clay and traditionally coloured red and hand painted with flowers. Swedish earthenware (mainly tableware) is famous with brands as Nittsjõ, Guldkroken, Rorstrand (the 3 even made/ made piggy banks!). Holmegaard, of the glass design piggy banks, is also Swedish.