Spirit of St. Louis Model Plane Money Bank

"Melody-Bank" is a rare bank and was manufactured by "Electric Coding Machine Co., N.Y.C." in 1946. American made, this is a genuine and authentic vintage mechanical bank, albeit somewhat later, having been manufactured in 1946. It maintains all of the elements of a collectible antique mechanical bank; pleasing shelf appeal and wonderful musical action. The metal faux textured, green painted casing on five sides is fronted by cardboard on wood, filled with delightful images of "children at play with money" lithography. To operate: Wind up the mechanism by turning the brass dial in front clockwise; then put a nickel, dime, or quarter in the appropriate slot at the top. Music will play as additional lithography depicting children's nursery rhymes rotate on the interior circular dial ("Little Boy Blue", "Mary Had A Little Lamb", etc.). Coins are removed by unscrewing the metal plate at the rear bottom. Bank is in excellent all original condition with fully operable musical mechanism. Dimensions: 7" high x 4 9/16" wide x 3" deep. I am a leading specialist in the field of antique mechanical coin banks...

American pottery still bank in the shape of a pig, used for saving coins (usually pennies) to encourage children the importance of thrift. Pottery still banks are somewhat scarce since the typical way to remove coins was to smash the bank open, albeit, with this particular example, perhaps a knife was used for coin removal (note the wear to the coin slot---see images) or perhaps the additional wear is also from many coins having been deposited. The bank is in good all original condition , from an unknown potter (unmarked) circa 1880's, and probably a variant of #633 "Two Toned Pig" in Andy Moore's "The Penny Bank Book" written in 1984 when collecting pottery banks...