The most prolific selection of banks to ever sell in America is likely the collection of mechanical and still banks sold on Behalf of the F.D.I.C. (formerly from the Seamen's Bank for Savings F.S.B.) at Christies in New York City on March 13, 1991. The Seamen's Savings Bank served people in the maritime industry, especially seamen; it was founded in 1829 and operated until 1990, when it was seized by the U.S. Government for being insolvent and its assets were sold to Chase Bank. The bank was chartered on May 11, 1829, in New York City, as a mutual savings bank for the benefit of seamen and their families. It was one of the oldest savings banks in the country and the first to be established in New York City. The bank had $2.1 billion in assets and 170,000 depositors at the time of its closure.
A number of great red earthenware and stoneware banks from various American manufacturers that were sold as part of the Seaman's sale in Manhattan in 1991 have since been resold at other auction houses, such as perhaps my all-time favorite bank, a nineteenth century Santa Claus figural from Pennsylvania that is privately owned today, although it last sold at Crocker Farm in 2005 for $33,000, including the buyer's premium: https://www.crockerfarm.com/stoneware-auction/2005-05-21/lot-160/Antique-Pennsylvania-Redware-Santa-Claus-Bank/.
Furthermore, every now and again, I am surprised by a figural bank that I have never seen before, such as a green and orange glazed religious example that I recently acquired from an estate sale in southeastern Pennsylvania, whereas I also believe it was made in this part of Pennsylvania in the 1800s. Additionally, I believe there may be more to the story of the monk or priest figure that this object portrays and possibly even the purpose that it was manufactured.
Nevertheless, the first Benedictine monk or priest to live in America was Pierre-Joseph Didier (1763-1823). He came to the United States in 1790 from Paris and served in the Ohio and St. Louis areas until his death in 1823. However, the first actual Benedictine monastery in America was Saint Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1832 by Boniface Wimmer (1809-1887), a German monk, who sought to serve German immigrants in America. In 1856, Wimmer started to lay the foundations for St. John's Abbey in Minnesota. In 1876, Herman Wolfe, of Saint Vincent Archabbey established Belmont Abbey in North Carolina. By the time of his death in 1887, Wimmer had sent Benedictine monks to Kansas, New Jersey, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Illinois, and Colorado.
Interestingly, there were religious slip-script plates produced in Norwalk, Connecticut in the 1800s, which are probably the most recognizable form of religious red earthenware produced in the United States today, although there is also a plate that was made by John Betts Gregory (1782-1842) in Clinton, New York about 1820 or perhaps earlier that is inscribed with the religious script, "Why Will you Die." The plates that were produced in Norwalk may have a similar meaning in relationship to who this bank's figure represents; according to an article that Richard Miller wrote for the 2016 edition of Ceramics in America, titled, Norwalk (Connecticut) Slip-script Pottery, the Potters, and Related Ware, "Customers of the Asa Edward Smith Pottery (in Norwalk) could order dishes inscribed with the names of saints who served as models for a Christian life."
Note: For more information about this type of religious production in the Mid-Atlantic region and Ontario, Canada - see a feature story I wrote published on pages 42-43 in the April 19, 2024 issue of Antiques And the Arts Weekly, titled, Religious Red Earthenware Tobacco Jars Manufactured In The Mid-Atlantic Region & Waterloo, Ontario, Canada: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2024/04/new-published-feature-story-in-antiques_11.html.
19th Century Red Earthenware Figural Bank of a Monk or a Saint
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