European Creedmoor-style Mechanical Bank, ca. 1890
GUEST: I brought in a cast iron mechanical bank. I got it in western New York. A friend of mine who's an antique dealer, he borrowed money from me...
APPRAISER: Okay.
GUEST: ...and we were making a business investment into a friend of his. And a few months later, his friend died, and so did the business. He's kind of felt guilty a little bit about it, so once in a while, he'll give me a few items.
APPRAISER: So what can you tell me about the bank itself?
GUEST: Well, it's a shooting bank. It'll shoot a penny from the rifle into the tree. First, you cock the... holder back... You slip a penny on there, and see how the head went down? Now you hit the toe. (clinking)
APPRAISER: What did you find when you looked it up?
GUEST: The J.E. Stevens Creedmoor bank.
APPRAISER: Creedmoor bank. Okay.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: How about the age of the bank? Do you have any idea?
GUEST: Well, the original ones came out in 1877, as I am aware.
APPRAISER: Okay.
GUEST: But then they made reproductions after that.
APPRAISER: Sure. The entire basis of the design of the mechanical bank, was to make saving money fun for children. That way they wanted to save the money. So, by introducing a movement, it created a toy, an action. Your research was spot on. The Creedmoor bank was made by a Connecticut company, J. & E. Stevens, and we see it quite often. It's a fairly common bank, a very popular bank. 1877, 1880, that's the time frame we see that bank and associate with that bank. However, there are slight differences between this bank and the Creedmoor bank we normally see. They did make a few variations of this style shooting bank, with the figure wearing a different hat. And then right here on the front is a base plate. That's often where we'll see Creedmoor Bank, the New Creedmoor Bank, Volunteer is another name. I'm happy that yours is blank. And even though your paint is very thick, a bit drab in color, I believe the paint to be completely original.
GUEST: Oh, nice.
APPRAISER: The casting is also a little crude. A little more crude than I'd expect from the American cast iron manufacturers. This one, instead, is a cast iron mechanical bank, but made in Europe, either in Germany or in Austria. This bank was a few years later, circa 1890. This is actually much, much rarer than a Creedmoor bank by J. & E. Stevens.
GUEST: Oh, wow.
APPRAISER: Yes, much better. Much better example here. I'll turn it around, so we can see the back side of the bank as well. Another characteristic which is different is the color of his uniform itself. It's almost in a reverse painted colors. We have a red robe, and he has white pants. Uh, normally we'll see a gray, red and blue, but in a different configuration than that which he's wearing. Now, this bank is quite dirty.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: I do believe it will clean up very nicely with a little... time and energy. Uh, but you have to be careful when you're doing it, you don't want to disrupt the original paint. Now, a normal J. & E. Stevens Creedmoor--there are thousands of them out there. Of course, condition is king, but you can pick up a Creedmoor bank around $300 to $500 range. When it comes to the variations, they're much scarcer and hard to come by. The paint on this example is quite chipped and worn. However, it's authentic, and I would value this with an auction estimate of $1,000 to $1,500.
GUEST: Well, that's good news. That's awesome.
APPRAISER: Yeah, it's cool.
$1,000 - $1,500 Auction
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Understanding Our Appraisals
Executive producer Marsha Bemko shares her tips for getting the most out of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.
Value can change: The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."
Note the date: Take note of the date the appraisal was recorded. This information appears in the upper left corner of the page, with the label "Appraised On." Values change over time according to market forces, so the current value of the item could be higher, lower, or the same as when our expert first appraised it.
Context is key: Listen carefully. Most of our experts will give appraisal values in context. For example, you'll often hear them say what an item is worth "at auction," or "retail," or "for insurance purposes" (replacement value). Retail prices are different from wholesale prices. Often an auctioneer will talk about what she knows best: the auction market. A shop owner will usually talk about what he knows best: the retail price he'd place on the object in his shop. And though there are no hard and fast rules, an object's auction price can often be half its retail value; yet for other objects, an auction price could be higher than retail. As a rule, however, retail and insurance/replacement values are about the same.
Verbal approximations: The values given by the experts on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW are considered "verbal approximations of value." Technically, an "appraisal" is a legal document, generally for insurance purposes, written by a qualified expert and paid for by the owner of the item. An appraisal usually involves an extensive amount of research to establish authenticity, provenance, composition, method of construction, and other important attributes of a particular object.
Opinion of value: As with all appraisals, the verbal approximations of value given at ROADSHOW events are our experts' opinions formed from their knowledge of antiques and collectibles, market trends, and other factors. Although our valuations are based on research and experience, opinions can, and sometimes do, vary among experts.
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