When a ceramic piggy bank is worth more than its contents…

L to R: Maxwell, Annabel, Sir Nathaniel, Woody, Lady Hillary. (Photo credit: wwarby, http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwarby/)

I was feeling a little nostalgic last night and started thinking about my family of piggy banks from yesteryear. I remember I got them when I was in England many many years back. I think I was about 3 to 5 years old then. Strangely etched in my memory was this name “Nathan Natwest”. My pigs, as I recall actually have given names. I was curious to find out their names. So,I started googling the term “Natwest piggy banks” and that led me to a pleasant surprise. (… the wonders of Google! ) My childhood piggy banks have become collectors items!

From 1983 to 1988, this family of 5 pigs were given out by the National Westminster Bank (Natwest), a commercial bank in the United Kingdom to encourage young savers. The idea was to give the kids a different piggy bank reflective of the amount of money saved. The collection began with Baby Woody Westminster for children who opened the account with a minimum of £3 – with £1 going towards the cost of Woody. All the rest of the collection were given away free. After six months, if the account contained at least £25 they received Annabel Westminster, and then after one year, the account needed to have grown to at least £50 to qualify for Maxwell Westminster. At eighteen months if the account contained £75 the children were rewarded with Lady Hillary Westminster. Finally after two years, if the account had an investment of at least £100, Sir Nathaniel Westminster was given to those who had managed to stay the course. 10 years later in 1998, Cousin Wesley, the sixth member of the family was introduced to promote a NatWest 5-year personal savings bond for children which required an investment of £1000.

The first batch of piggy banks made for NatWest were produced by a company called Sunshine Ceramics. They were soon overwhelmed by the demand for the banks, and production was shortly thereafter taken over by another company, Wade Ceramics Ltd. The family of 5 are worth up to £200 in good condition.

• Woody in his white nappy and either a silver or grey safety pin is worth about £20.
• Annabel in her green gym slip and white school blouse carrying behind her a blue duffle bag has a price of around £30.
• Maxwell is wearing a red and white tie and blue dungaree trousers. For him the value is £45.
• Lady Hilary in her elegant light blue blouse complete with dark blue bow, navy skirt and grey handbag is £35.
• Then lastly Sir Nat in his jet black suit, with red bow tie and rose is worth a staggering £75.
• Only 5000 Cousin Wesleys, wearing a green jacket, blue trousers, and a blue cap with one ear sticking through, were produced and therefore can fetch a price of £150 to £200 on its own.

Here’s the TV advertisement promoting the piggy banks.

Because of the demand and the value of these piggy banks, fakes and forgeries abound on the open market.

• Firstly and most obvious, check the colours used on the pig itself.
• Now check the pigs base as all genuine Wade pigs have a “Wade England” stamp clearly marked on the base.
• Thirdly, the base of all the pigs are pink except for Woody’s base which is white.
• The bung of the piggy bank should bear the Natwest logo and name and be a good tight fit, as fakes tend to have a larger hole so that the bungs do not stay put.

More info about the piggy banks here.