Piggy bank

Uses

The general use of piggy banks is to store loose change in a quaint, decorative manner. They commonly serve as a pedagogical device to teach the rudiments of thrift and saving to children; money can be easily inserted, but is more difficult to remove. Because they can be fairly secure from casual theft, they are sometimes used by temples and churches to collect monetary donations, then remove the contents periodically.

Design

Modern piggy banks are usually made of painted ceramic or porcelain. They are popularly in the shape of a rotund pig, but come in a range of shapes, sizes, and colors. In addition to a slot at the top, many piggy banks have a rubber plug on the underside to allow removal of the coins; others are made of vinyl and have a removable nose for easy coin access. Some incorporate electronic systems that calculate the amount of money deposited. To discourage spending, some banks do not have an opening for removal of coins, requiring the owner to smash the bank with a hammer or other means, to access the money within.

Origins

The oldest Western find of a money box dates from the 2nd century BC Greek colony Priene, Asia Minor, and features the shape of a miniature Greek temple with a slit in the pediment. Money boxes of various forms were also excavated in Pompeii and Herculaneum, and appear quite frequently in late ancient provincial sites, particularly in Roman Britain and along the Rhine.

Pig shape

The earliest known pig-shaped money containers date to the 12th century on the island of Java. The Javanese term cèlèngan (ꦕꦺꦭꦺꦁꦔꦤ꧀; literally "likeness of a wild boar",A cèlèng (ꦕꦺꦭꦺꦁ) is a wild boar, with the "an" affix used to denote a likeness but used to mean both "savings" and "piggy bank") is also in the modern Indonesian language.

A large number of boar-shaped piggy banks were discovered at the large archaeological site surrounding Trowulan, a village in the Indonesian province of East Java and a possible site of the capital of the Majapahit Empire.

There are some folk etymologies regarding the English language term "piggy bank," but in fact, there is no clear origin for the phrase. The earliest citation in the Oxford English Dictionary is from 1913, and from 1902 for the variant "pig bank". The earliest known uses of "pig bank" are in newspaper articles from 1900. The popularity of Western piggy banks may have originated in Germany, where pigs were revered as symbols of good fortune. The oldest German piggy bank dates to the 13th century and was recovered during construction work in Thuringia.

Image gallery

File:Antike Sparbüchse, Archäologische Staatssammlung, München.jpg|Roman vase-shaped money box (2nd/3rd century AD). Ancient money boxes appear in the archaeological record in a wide variety of shapes. File:南宋灰陶扑满.jpg|Money box from the Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279). File:Spaarpot, collectie Raakvlak, BR09-NDS-1-13-A-84.jpg|Broken money box in red earthenware (between 1250 and 1350), archaeological find from Bruges. File:Tudor money pot green, used in late medieval Britain.jpg|Tudor money box from the 16th century, England.

Notes

References

References

1. Schroy, Ellen. (April 2023). "Warman's Americana & Collectibles". Krause Publications.
2. "DigiBank Piggy and Panda Banks Learn to Count". Gizmodo.
3. Sandy Donovan, ''Budgeting'', p. 22, Lerner Publications, 2005 {{ISBN. 0822526654.
4. Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg): "Money boxes", Hubert Cancik and Helmuth Schneider (ed.): ''[[Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft. New Pauly]]'', Brill, 2009
5. Supratikno Rahardjo. "Tradisi Menabung dalam Masyarakat Majapahit: Telaah Pendahuluan terhadap Celengan di Trowulan". In ''Monumen: Karya Persembahan Untuk Prof. Dr. R. Soekmono''. Depok: Fakultas Sastra Universitas Indonesia, 1990. pp. 203-217.
6. {{oed. piggy bank
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8. Sioux City Journal, July 20, 1900
9. Kalamazoo Gazette, September 27, 1900
10. "[http://www.bbc.com/storyworks/chinese-new-year/piggy-bank-origins Twisted tale: The great piggy bank mystery]". ''[[BBC]] Storyworks''
11. (30 October 2013). "Geröntgt: Mittelalterliches Sparschwein ist leer".