Lot number 3142 - Auction 150
'DER KNOCHENSÄGER' ALS SPARDOSE

JOHN E. STEVENS Active in the 19th century Cromwell, Connecticut, USA 'THE BONE SAW' AS A MONEY BOX 1865 Cast iron, metal, polychrome painted, multi-part construction, mechanism. H. 21, W. 18, W 14 cm, weight approx. 2.44 kg. Marked 'J.E. Stevens PAT. 459' and dated '1865' on the reverse. Rare and particularly early money box with a Halloween theme: a skeleton saws at the neck of a body when a coin is inserted. The money box is shaped like a chest with a spider's web. The animated figure serves as both a deterrent and an entertaining guardian of the savings. The J. E. Stevens Company was a US manufacturer of mechanical toys and cast iron money boxes, founded in 1843 in Cromwell, Connecticut. It became particularly famous for its imaginative, mechanically animated money boxes. The so-called "Skeleton Bank" dates from the early phase of American mechanical money boxes in the 19th century. Part of the frame is missing, but the mechanism works.