"Teddy and the Bear" - rare piggy bank.

Circa 1914.

Cast iron. Length approx. 34.0 cm, height max. approx. 18.0 cm (excluding the extended bear’s head). 2.44 kg.

American-made mechanical money box depicting a man in yellow clothing shooting at a tree stump, representing U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. A coin can be placed on the slide attached to the rifle. When the spring mechanism is wound, the figure’s head tilts as if it were taking aim. When the release lever at the figure’s foot is activated, the coin is ejected into the designated slot, and a bear’s head with bared teeth rises from the body of the piggy bank, which is shaped like a tree stump. The bear and the rifle can each be operated mechanically independently of one another. The paint finish is clearly worn and has most likely been touched up or repainted at least once. The mechanisms are in working order. The coin compartment lacks its bottom cover.

The patent for the piggy bank with spring-loaded mechanisms was granted in 1907 to Charles A. Bailey of Cromwell, Connecticut; specific examples of the piggy bank’s marketing can be found starting in 1914. The inspiration for the piggy bank came from a story told about Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt (1858–1919; President from 1901–1909), who was very popular in his day: During a hunting trip in 1902, Roosevelt—a well-known passionate hunter—is said to have spared the life of a bear after he, with his rifle already raised to fire, noticed that the animal was tied up. Out of a sense of supposed “fairness” in the competitive spirit of hunting toward the defenseless bear as an “opponent,” Roosevelt is said to have spared it. Roosevelt’s popularity inspired, among other things, the spread and popularization of stuffed bears as children’s toys, which have since been called “teddy bears.”