SOLD Naumkeag Trust Company Celluloid Dime Bank

Collectibles : Banks : Celluloid

 

Here is a celluloid dime bank that dates after 1926. How we know this? There is a patent date of May 29, 1917 on the back half of the bank AND a patent date of February 23, 1926 on the front half of the bank.

Both halves were made by the Parisian Novelty Company of Chicago, Illinois. This is fortunate because if one half had been made by one of the other celluloid bank makers, we would have considered this bank to be marriage. Oddly enough, though, we suspect that there are other banks with the same back half as this bank. But certainly not the front half!

The bank is in very nice condition, showing some age spots on the back side. The lithography on the front is well done, and would be well represented today as the trademark or symbol for any institution.

Naumkeag Trust Co. was formed in 1909 by the five banks and a trust company in Salem, Massachusetts. They took the name of the Naumkeag National Bank which began in 1831. The word “Naumkeag” is an American Indian word meaning “place of rest”. Odd, or maybe not so odd, that a bank would be considered a place of rest. But then interest rates at banks have always been dead compared to other investments!

Item ID: 0564