A Short History of the Ceramic Piggy Bank

Have you ever thought about why piggy banks are called piggy banks? What does a pig have to do with saving money in the first place? With its voracious appetite, a pig would certainly be the last animal you’d associate with saving. Why not a doggy bank or a bunny bank? Why an animal at all? Piggy banks also sound like they were intended for a child’s use, as how many adults would use such a thing for collecting change?

Piggy banks are most often made of ceramic or porcelain and serve as a device to teach children the value of thrift and saving. Money, specifically loose change, can be inserted easily, but traditional piggy banks must be broken for it to be retrieved. Modern piggy banks, however, have a plug located on its underside.

One of the most popular theories suggests that a piggy bank, in fact, has nothing to do with a pig. Back in the fifteenth century, a certain type of orange clay was called “Pygg.” In the Middle Ages when metal was expensive, this orange–colored clay was the most common medium for making pots and jars. They were, in fact, referred to as pygg jars. Whenever someone would have extra coins, they would drop it in one of their pygg jars.

Many years later, a potter was asked to create a pygg bank. Not knowing exactly what it was, and with a sense of humor, the potter made the bank in the shape of a pig. The idea caught on, and the potter was asked to make more. Thus, wholesale ceramic piggy banks were born. The trend continued to the 18th century where the popularity of the piggy bank was at its highest.

However, the oldest record of wholesale piggy banks in the shape of a pig is claimed to be 1500 years old from Indonesia. If this is the case, then it precedes the pygg jar theory by around 1000 years. Perhaps there were some cultural idiosyncrasies in Indonesia that permitted the connection between pigs and saving that did not influence Western culture.

Modern wholesale piggy banks, whether made from ceramics, porcelain, plastic, or metal, have been a very popular collector’s item and gift for children due to their engaging and humorous appearance. Whenever we drop a coin into our piggy banks, let us be reminded of the lesson it gives.

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