Vintage NATWEST Piggy Banks

NATWEST Piggy Banks. From 1983 to 1988 the National Westminster Bank (NatWest), a bank in the United Kingdom, held a promotion to encourage young children to save their money in NatWest savings accounts. The idea was to give the kids a different bank from a family of five ceramic piggy banks, reflective of the amount of money saved. The different levels of savings to be reached had to be made within a set period of time to qualify for the next piggy bank in the family.

1) The first bank, Woody, a piggy bank baby wearing a pinned diaper, was given to the child when an account was opened.

2) The second bank was Annabel, a girl piggy bank wearing a green dress with a green and yellow striped tie. This bank was given to the child when the account reached about 25 pounds.

3) Maxwell, a boy piggy bank wearing blue trousers and a red and white striped tie, was given to the child when their account reached 50 pounds.

4) The fourth piggy bank in the series was the mother piggy bank, Lady Hilary, who wears a light blue blouse with a bow. She was given to children when their account reached 75 pounds.

5) The fifth bank was Sir Nathaniel, the father, who was given to children whose accounts reached 100 pounds.

6) In 1988, NatWest introduced a sixth member of the family, Cousin Wesley. He wore a green jacket, blue trousers, and a blue cap with one ear sticking through. He was given to children who were under age 16 and had saved at least 1000 pounds in a savings bond for at least five years. Only 5000 Cousin Wesley piggy banks were produced.

The first of the piggy banks were made by a company called Sunshine Ceramics. Later ones were produced by Wade Ceramics Ltd.

The NatWest piggy banks were a huge success and they have become highly sought after collectibles, with Cousin Wesley being the most expensive and desirable of the family because he is the rarest. Fakes and forgeries are common due to the demand for these piggy banks.

Tags: Lady Hilary, NATWEST piggy banks, Sir Nathaniel, vintage piggy banks, Wade England, Woody

This entry was posted on September 18, 2011 at 10:21 am and is filed under Cool Piggy Banks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.