One thing I have always been completely useless at is saving money. There's always something I want to buy or collect and even as a child, my pocket money was spent before I had got it. Although I always seemed to have a moneybox of some kind on the go, they were always emptied very quickly. Nowadays, I have a number of moneyboxes and they are all empty still, but for a different reason.
These are my small collection of space themed boxes, which I've managed to find over the last few years - none of them are from my childhood though!
The first is a Trustee Savings Bank Moon Landing Globe and is a plastic sphere with a cratered moon globe inside an orange perspex case. It has a neat little red triangle pinpointing Tranquility Base! It has a locking base, but no key. From the same stable come these two Nat West Globe banks, again keyless and a bit more modern.
Next we have a selection of rockets - the first is a tiny dime-sized bank from Unity Savings and stands about 3 inches tall. The small blue 'mercury capsule' pops off to allow access to your hard-saved dimes.
Alongside it is a plastic rocket with a combination lock on the base, consisting of three rings of numbers. On the side is a spring launcher to fire your pennies into the nose cone! Is taken a beating over the years since the mid sixties and is quite fragile now.
Ready for launch next is a simple toy issued by the TSB Bank in the UK. Again a sixties issue with removable base. Slightly stronger perspex-like material has allowed this beauty to survive with just a chip out of one fin.
Finally we have the grandaddy of them all, a die cast american rocket which probably inspired the plastic one before it. Missing a rubber nose tip and possibly feet, its been painted a few times in its history. These commonly turn up on ebay and dates from the late fifties.
Beneath the rockets stand the Mercury Capsules - as we've seen earlier on the blog, these light vinyl banks commemorate Alan Shepards flight in Freedom 7. Cast with slightly different designs on the base of each colour capsule, but essentially the same message. Its not clear where they were issued from however.
A much later addition is this metal bank which has a spring loaded launcher to shoot pennies into the moon. Missing the cover for the hatch and any labelling on the front. Still a nice piece.
A nice collection following a theme as apposed to my random collection that wasn't even 'collected.'
ReplyDeleteWell these weren't conciously collected, they just kind of appeared on my radar. There are some fabulous space money boxes available in the states, but hellishly expensive on ebay.
ReplyDeleteI've got the second globe bank in the second photo, though it says The Royal Bank Of Scotland on it, not National Westminster. I used to have the third rocket bank in the third photo, but can no longer recall if it said TSB or not.
ReplyDeleteI had that three-ring combination on my childhood Hong Kong GPO 'Pillar Box' which comes up on feebleBay occasionally and I'm always tempted! My brother had Rupert the Bear, which I think I've since seen in Codeg packaging?
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That's a lovely collection of space related money boxes you've accumulated, Bill. Unfortunately I can totally telate to the stuggle to manage money when there are so many cool things to collect :)
ReplyDeleteThere is a serious danger that I may be tempted into becoming a money box collector once fairs start up again. These are great, especially the little Mercury capsules.
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