CZ/ RO/ HU/ BG

Collection 2

Czechoslovakia/ Czech Republic (CZ)/ Floral décor/ Bulgaria (BG)/ Hungary (HU)

Czechoslovakia (1918 -1993): A piece of history

Czechoslovakia or Czechoslovakia was a republic in Central Europe, created with the collapse of the Danube Monarchy (1867-1918: Austria-Hungary) after the Great War, when the Austrian parts of Bohemia and Moravia were merged with the Hungarian parts of Slovakia. On January 1, 1993, a (peaceful) partition followed in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Before 1918, approximately 25% of European piggy bank production came from the area of what later became Czechoslovakia, then still part of Austria-Hungary. Much pottery production and trade was organized from Vienna, while the factories themselves were located in Bohemia, Moravia or Austria. This explains why the HEPP piggy banks are sometimes attributed differently to pre-1918 ones. Some experts place them under Austria, while based on factory, style or origin they could actually be Czech (or vice versa). For the dating and origin of piggy banks from this region, it is therefore important to know when a piece was made and which country name was used at the time (if it is mentioned!). The variants Czecho Slovakia / Česko Slovensko / CSR only appeared in periods when Slovak autonomy was central:

1918–1920: In the early years (First Republic), the name was written with a hyphen - Czecho-Slovakia. also abbreviated to CSR.
1920–1938 : Centralized unitary state - Czechoslovakia, also seen as Czechoslovakei.
1938–1939: In the Second Republic (with Slovak autonomy) Czecho Slovakia became official again.
1940–1945: During this period, the spelling without a link (Czechoslovakia / Československo) again became the standard for the Allies and official bodies, despite the fact that the state was actually occupied.
1948–1990: Socialist (largely centrally led) Czechoslovakia / Československo / ČSSR.
1990–1992: During the “hyphen crisis”, the Slovak side in particular used the hyphen variant again.
After 1992: Division into 2 independent countries: Czech Republic (Česká Republika) for short: Czechia and the Slovak Republic (Slovenská Republika) for short: Slovakia/ Slovensko.

These are so-called HEPP piggy banks (Hole Eyed Pottery Pig). These were mainly made in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in the period 1870 to 1918. The Monarchy (1867-1918) consisted of modern-day Austria, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and parts of neighboring countries. And a little later, the HEPP piggy banks were also made and/or traded in Czechoslovakia (1918-1920) and Czechoslovakia (until 1938). They are now (almost all) antique and come in sizes from 17.5 cm to 9.5 cm.

Length 15.5 cm. Period 1920-1938.

Length 10.5 cm. Period: before 1918.

Left: nr. 517 in Stoddard's "Ceramic Coin Banks" mould number 6507-8; right mould 6507-94. Length 14 cm. And up front mould 6457-36. Length 10,5 cm. Antique, 1900-1925;

All have geometric shapes. The hardened clay was carefully cut from the mold until a kind of tetrahedron was created. This is the case with all four. The white one from Steingutfabrik Carl Spitz, Royal Bruxonia, Brüx (length 11 cm – period 1918-1938) has areas, while the others have stripes. The shape of the other 3 is almost identical. Reason for me to also place this in Brüx, but after 1938 (period 1938-1950). From left to right: Yellow, no brand, length 12.5 cm/ green number 690, length 12 cm/ yellow number 4513, length 11.5 cm.

Czech Republic

On January 1, 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The piggy banks shown are from the Czech Republic, all from the period 1980-2001. In those days one could still buy authentic piggy banks almost everywhere. Nowadays all piggy banks have those awful plastic stoppers. Well known are the piggy banks with hats, which I found nowhere else.

Flower décor pig piggy banks (RO/HU)

These piggy banks with flowers are from Eastern Europe. Romania and Hungary (and occasionally Bulgaria) were the suppliers of former department store V&D that sold them early 1970's in large quantities, along with flower pots and dishes. The flower decorations are hand painted. To create some system in the amount of flower decorated piggy banks I made two categories: 'small and medium' up to 16 cm and 'big' from 16 cm. The smallest is 9.5 cm and the largest in my collection is 29 cm. There are some misunderstandings about these kind of piggy banks: They are not antiques (there are possibly exceptions!) , since they are dated ± 1960-70. Not special pottery, but 'ordinary' farmers pottery, folk art. And that's OK!

Bulgaria and Hungary

Troyan pottery is considered the true Bulgarian pottery. Traditionally the pottery was painted by the village women. They applied yellow, brown and green paint with a bull’s horn and feathers to achieve a peacock or butterfly like design or smeared paint with their fingertips to achieve a raindrop like effect. Today craftsmen combine traditional designs with modern techniques.
In this section examples of exchange between former communist "utopia's": In the communist countries the marginal production capacity was a big problem. In a way entrepreneurs were creative to buy the missing products or parts from college communist “utopias”. Not aware of this I always thought that some of the here shown piggy banks that were bought in the GDR were also produced there. Until I decided to ask a native speaker in my home town to translate the label on two of these piggy banks. And found out they were originated in Troyan, Bulgaria.
Hungarian pottery is still more traditional, modest almost. And to my surprise few Hungarian flower décors in my collection.

"Városlödi Majolika 1830 Hungary". White with flower decor. Length 23,5 cm.