Why 'Piggy Bank'? Why Not Lamb, Cow Or Donkey Bank?

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ROOT OF ALL EVILWhy 'Piggy Bank'? Why not lamb, cow or donkey bank?

  • THIS originates from about the 16th century. The pig is the only farm animal that is of value only when dead. Thus the 'bank', traditionally made out of china, was so designed that it had to be broken in order to be opened - symbolically 'killing the pig'. Other farm animals do not have to be killed before they are of use. For instance, the cow can be milked, the bull put to stud, eggs obtained from hens and so on.

    R Thomas, Bridgend, Mid-Glamorgan.

  • IT APPEARS that livestock farming is not R Thomas's forte. Sows and boars produce progeny, like cows and bulls, ewes and rams. Like fattening pigs, fattening cattle and fattening lambs are also 'of value only when dead', to use Mr Thomas's unfortunate phrase, which is also, however, a far from accurate statement. Perhaps the answer is simpler:because it was only this little piggy that went to market?

    John Nix, Emeritus Professor of Farm Business Management, Wye College, Ashford, Kent.

  • AT ONE time, people used to keep their money in pots made of a type of earthenware called pigge. These so-called 'pigge banks' were not at first made in the shape of pigs, but presumably some manufacturer thought it was funny to do so.

    Peter Morris, Norwich.

  • THE PIG is an ancient symbol of wordly wealth throughout China and Southeast Asia. Pottery models of pigs were made as funerary offerings and were often stuffed with paper 'money' specially made for funerary purposes. The earliest example of a piggy-bank I have seen is a 12th-13th century Majapahit terracotta of a very chubby pig from Java. It is hollow with a thin slot in the top of its back. Similar piggy-banks were produced in Java and Sumatra between the 12th and 17th centuries. Since the earliest European example I have seen is an early Delft blue and white piggy bank dating from around 1610, I have always assumed that the Dutch imported the design from Indonesia.

    Nigel Palmer, London SW15.

  • Because it looks like a pig!

    John C, Newcastle England

  • I used to have a donkey bank, so-called because the manager was an ass.

    Pete Wigens, Stroud, Gloucestershire, England

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