Money Box
1950s (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
Pocket money is an allowance given by parents to children to enable them a small degree of financial independence, and to teach them management of money from an early age. As children get older, some parents expect them to complete certain household chores in order to earn their pocket money. Domestic boxes for saving or storing coins have a long history possibly stretching back to antiquity. Novelty money boxes have been popular with children since the nineteenth century, there was a particular vogue for mechanical metal ones from about 1870 until about 1900.
Pirates have for the past two centuries been important characters in children’s culture, alternately as heroes or as villains. This money box is illustrative of the general sanitisation of the image of a pirates over the course of this period.
Pirates have for the past two centuries been important characters in children’s culture, alternately as heroes or as villains. This money box is illustrative of the general sanitisation of the image of a pirates over the course of this period.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Materials and techniques | Hand-painted glazed ceramic |
Brief description | Money box in the shape of a pirate, probably French, 1940s-1950s |
Physical description | Novelty money box of hand-painted white porcelain, resembling a child-like pirate with a small button nose and full cheeks. Upon the head is a striped red and white kerchief, knotted above the left ear, and a black eyepatch. The other eye is a black dot, the eyebrows are also black. The figure holds a bulging sack over its left shoulder. It has a striped red and white shirt, blue trousers and black shoes. A blue cutlass is stuck into its belt on its right side. The figure's right arm is raised as though waving. On the back of the figure's head is a horizontal slot for coins. On the base is a circular opening which can be covered with a black rubber plug. |
Dimensions |
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Production type | Mass produced |
Object history | Purchased in 2017 [2017/256] |
Subject depicted | |
Summary | Pocket money is an allowance given by parents to children to enable them a small degree of financial independence, and to teach them management of money from an early age. As children get older, some parents expect them to complete certain household chores in order to earn their pocket money. Domestic boxes for saving or storing coins have a long history possibly stretching back to antiquity. Novelty money boxes have been popular with children since the nineteenth century, there was a particular vogue for mechanical metal ones from about 1870 until about 1900. Pirates have for the past two centuries been important characters in children’s culture, alternately as heroes or as villains. This money box is illustrative of the general sanitisation of the image of a pirates over the course of this period. |
Collection | |
Accession number | B.12-2017 |
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Record created | March 17, 2017 |
Record URL |
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