Piggy banks have long been recognized as a great way to introduce young children towards the concepts of financial responsibility and independence. Their fun shapes truly strike an emotional chord with kids, making saving dollars a fun activity instead of the chore it often is for adults! Also known as a penny bank or a cash box, piggy banks in fact appear to have an ancient history, familiar to diverse cultures the world over.

They did not seem to have taken on the now-traditional porcine shape, nonetheless, until medieval times, when, allegedly, the Middle English word for a particular kind of clay, “pygg,” which was commonly utilised to make numerous containers, became associated with the household money box. From there, the spelling changed, until, the legend goes, we have the familiar piggy bank of today.

Modern piggy banks are typically made of plastic, and have a hole at the bottom (namely, the belly) that’s normally plugged or otherwise covered for access to the savings, usually coins. Traditionally, piggy banks had been ceramic with only a slit for the deposit of cash, and it had been something of a rite of passage to literally break them open upon coming of age or some other similarly momentous circumstance.

These days, most piggies enable much easier retrieval, some featuring removable noses for withdrawal. The most modern types even have electronic counters which keep track of savings. Numerous other animal shapes have also become available, though the generic term “piggy bank” is normally still used by way of reference.

The piggy bank is so familiar these days that quite a few monetary services firms incorporate one into their advertising or even their corporate logo. Piggy banks have also become highly collectible items in themselves, with a wide variety of relatively high-priced makes and models that exist more for aesthetic pleasure than to teach any lesson in thrift!

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