Old, unusual 'piggy bank' found inside wall of Evergreen, Ala. home

Workers found this 'piggy bank' inside home's wall.

Workers inside an old Evergreen home made an unusual discovery Wednesday of last week.

Jimmie Bradley called The Courant last Thursday morning to report that workers at her home at 112 Perryman St. in Evergreen had found an old “piggy bank” that had been sealed inside of a wall, behind an old shower, for years.

“They were in the bathroom doing some renovations and when they got into the wall behind the shower, they found the little bank tucked away in a cubby hole in the wall,” Bradley said. “It’s no telling who it belonged to or how long it has been there.”

The small, barrel-shaped bank is 2-3/4 inches tall and 1-3/4 inches across at the top. The child’s bank appears to be made out of tin or aluminum, and it was empty when workers found it.

The end of the barrel with a coin slot says “Congratulations” above the image of an oversized stork carrying a baby in a blanket. Beneath the coin slot are the words “THE MONROE COUNTY BANK, Monroeville, Ala.”

Top of 'piggy bank' features stork image.

The coin slot features a spring-loaded, saw tooth-style closure that keeps money from falling out once it’s been dropped into the barrel.

The other end of the barrel encourages the owner to “SAVE YOUR COINS AND HAVE A BARREL OF MONEY.” That end also indicates that the barrel was manufactured by Banthrico International in Chicago, Ill., a company that began making promotional items for banks and other companies in the 1930s.

That end of the barrel also features a keyhole.

“And I have no idea where the key might be,” Bradley said. “I don’t even know who it belonged to or how long it’s been here. It looks like maybe a small diary key or something like that would probably open it.”

Bradley said she doesn’t know exactly how old her house is, but it’s been there for decades, and she’s lived there since 1999. Prior to that, it was a rental house and was occupied by numerous families over the years.

“I run into people all the time who tell me that they used to live in my house,” she said. “So it’s no telling how many people have lived here since the house was first built. I imagine that one of their children must have put the barrel in the wall somehow and forgot about it.”

Those who have seen the barrel during the past week noted that the bank is all metal and doesn’t include any plastic, an indication that it was made decades ago, before plastic toys became commonplace.

Others noted that the stork-adorned barrel was probably a promotional item given away by either local hospitals or by the Monroe County Bank to customers with new additions to their families. The bank, which first opened in 1904, may have also given small banks of this type to customers who opened savings accounts for newborns.

“I just thought it was real neat,” Bradley said. “You just never know what’s behind the walls of these old houses.”

According to Banthrico’s Web site, Banthrico started making promotional coin banks in the 1940s. “Banthrico” is short for the “Banker’s Thrift Association,” which originally manufactured the coin banks. In their heyday, Banthrico made over 900 different kinds of metal banks and most were sold to financial institutions like the Monroe County Bank.