Object Record
Images
Metadata
Object Name |
Bank, Toy |
Catalog Number |
2008.17.3 |
Date |
ca. 1965 |
Material(s) |
Wood/Steel |
Dimensions |
H-5.188 W-4.125 D-0.75 inches |
Description |
This is a child's owl-shaped bank. It has a wooden body with a rectangular base and a rounded top. There is a checkerboard pattern in the wood of the sides and on the top. The painted front depicts an owl's body with a floral design in the background. The owl's face is made from a separate piece of wood. The face moves and reveals the coin slot. The wooden base slides open and the inner mechanism of wood and steel controls the face piece. There is a maker's mark on the base. |
Notes |
This bank was owned by the donor when she was a pre-teen. Her family home was in the St. Mathew area of Louisville. The owl imagery on the bank was a very popular children’s motif in the late 60s in part because of a rebirth of interest in the 1870s poem The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear. Igor Stravinsky set the poem to music in 1966. In 1968 a children’s musical play based on the poem became popular. Also in the 1968 Disney animated feature Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, the character Owl mentions a relative of his who supposedly "went to sea in a pea-green boat" with a Pussycat. Other cartoons also evolved prominently featuring the owl. |
Collection |
Christina G. Benson Collection |
Subjects |
Owls Banks Hippies Children |
Search Terms |
Jefferson County (Ky.) Louisville (Ky.) St. Matthews (Louisville, Ky.) |
Physical Holder |
Kentucky Historical Society - KHS |