Of course, we at the Bank of Canada Museum have to be more serious about what are popularly called piggy banks. They are officially known as “still banks” and, if they have some sort of mechanism to drag money into them, “mechanical coin banks.” Really, we just call them all “coin banks.” Of the dozens of banks—of either species—in our collection, only a handful are pigs. Others resemble clowns, coins, buildings, vaults, books, cans, bank notes, ducks, mice, bears, cars, police officers, barrels, US presidents, mailboxes, automated banking machines, fast food icons and any number of versions of the lockable money box. Some even grab your pennies and drag them inside.
No matter how serious their basic purpose, modern piggy banks have another role: expressing a sense of whimsy. And all of our shelves would be the duller for their absence.
