Piggy bank

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Image:Piggy bank.jpg Image:Kasica-prasica.jpg Image:Sparschwein Haspa01.jpg Image:Sparschwein1.jpg

For the song by 50 Cent, see Piggy Bank (song).

Piggy bank (sometimes penny bank or money box) is the traditional name of a coin accumulation and storage container, most often used by children. A piggy bank is known among collectors as a still bank as opposed to the mechanical banks popular in the early 20th century. Piggy banks are often shaped like pigs and made of ceramic or porcelain. Piggy banks are used to reinforce ideas of savings and spending to children; money can be easily inserted, but the pig must be broken open for it to be retrieved, forcing the child to justify his or her decision.

1 Etymology
2 Popular culture
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Etymology

In Middle English, "pygg" referred to a type of clay used for making various household objects such as jars. People often saved money in kitchen pots and jars made of pygg, called "pygg jars". By the 18th Century, the spelling of "pygg" had changed and the term "pygg jar" had evolved to "pig bank."

This name may have caught on because the pig banks were mostly used by children, and the pig is a child-friendly shape that is easy to fashion out of clay. Once the meaning had transferred from the substance to the shape, piggybanks began to be made from other substances, including glass, plaster, and plastic.

Another reason for the name piggy bank that has been put forward is based upon the idea that the coins given to the piggy bank represent the food fed to a pig by the farmer. It costs the farmer money to feed the pig which he does not get back until the pig is slaughtered for the meat (represented by breaking the piggy bank) which the farmer can then sell.

[edit] Popular culture

Most piggy banks are small enough to be held in the hand. However, very large piggy banks have been made, some as tall as three feet, often elaborately decorated in the form of various well-known cartoon pigs such as Porky Pig.

Although the piggy bank has generally been regarded as a craft object rather than fine art, recently some artists working in ceramics have produced elaborate piggybanks intended to be appreciated solely as modern art, which have appeared in prestigious galleries.

Most modern piggy banks feature a cap on the bottom which can be removed to extract money without breaking the pig.

A Japanese Maneki Neko sometimes serves the same function as a piggy bank.

A donation box is used in Shinto shrines to contain donations. Imitation of a donation box can also be bought to act as piggy bank.

The rapper "50 Cent" has recorded a song named "Piggy Bank".

Hamm from the Disney/Pixar animated films Toy Story (1995) and Toy Story 2 (1999) is a talking piggy bank voiced by John Ratzenberger.