Who invented them and why?

Question

I'm talking about Piggy Banks: those ceramic pigs that you keep your coins in as a child or, in my case, as an adult.

Who first made them? And why pigs? Are pigs usually associated with money?

Impress me people.

You guys have not let me down! I even like JeffE's fake answer. At the same time I feel so ignorant for not knowing the answer before, but hey, that's what Yahoo! Answers is all about.

Thanks for your help.

Answer 1

No one invented the piggy bank. The piggy banks' origin owes more to the history of language, than to an individual inventor. In old english (around the 15th century) there was a word "pygg" which referred to a type of orange clay. People made all kinds of useful objects out of clay, including dishes and jars to hold spare change. Around the 18th century, the word "pygg" now sounded the same as the word for the animal "pig".http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blpiggybank.htm
I didn't know this either, so I learned something.

Answer 2

WELL

As I understand it back in the thirteenth century banks were very hard to come by and ceramic pottery had hardly taken off ( there were no out of town house furnishers and fancy shops then) People used to hide their money under the bed ( I say bed usually a straw mattress.

Now then this was a very poor period in our history and livestock was extraordinarily valuable and were very much a part of the family. Pigs would come into the house and munch at the straw mattresses and also eat the money at the same time

Now several farmers saw this as an extreme way of keeping their money safe from the local roustabouts and so encouraged the pigs to eat all of their valuables

When they needed to redeem the cash they would cover the pig in clay cook it and smash it open with a large hammer

Not only did they get all of their money back but also got a very nice meal at the same time

as to wether pigs are associated with money, i suggest that you take a good hard look at your bank manager and the look he gives you when you ask for an overdraft

Note re piggy banks
In Egypt this was tried with camels but apparently they got the hump over it

Answer 3

In Middle English, "pygg" referred to a type of clay used for making various household objects such as jars. People often saved money in kitchen pots and jars made of pygg, called "pygg jars". By the 18th Century, the spelling of "pygg" had changed and the term "pygg jar" had evolved to "pig bank." This name may have caught on because the pig banks were mostly used by children, and the pig is a child-friendly shape that is easy to fashion out of clay. The actual origin of the name bears no relation to the pig itself.

Answer 4

I know there are the standard historical explanations, but I think a powerful clique of vegetarians invented them as a way of making pigs cuter and therefore harder to contemplate eating. Pigs are also greedy little buggers, I'm seen them swilling on farms and maybe that's another reason why they're a good symbol for hoarding money.

Answer 5

There's actually a long story behind this.A guy named zabeer was married to the girl yumy in the very ancient days.They tamed a pig too.The pig was given a small little home 2 live in.This was a carved rock.zabeer used 2 work hard and he kept whatever he earned(like precious stones) under his pillow.One day when the couple went out to attend a party,a dangerous thief (of the tribe) shakeela got into their home to take away his earnings.But fortunately the pig smelled shakeela`s coming long before and took those precious stones and kept them under the carved rock where he lived.Later on when the couple was informed in the party by someone that he saw shakeela heading towards their house, they hurried back.They saw nothing under their pillow.Instead they were dragged by their pet pig to see that all their earnings were safe under the pig`s rocky home.Hence forth they named it PIGGY BANK.
Hey did i impress u??
By the way it is juzz a
s---t---
o---r---
y---
made by
m---e

Answer 6

Going way, way back, there was a word in English, "pygg," which referred to a certain clay. It was used for making all kinds of household objects, including things for storing money. At the time the barbaric Saxons learned to write, "pygg" was probably pronounced to rhyme with "pug," but as the pronunciation of "y" changed, "pygg" came to be pronounced about like "pig," and the banks were shaped like pigs as a joke, or because of confusion of the meaning.

According to Charles Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things, people were saving money in kitchen pots and jars made of pygg, called "pygg jars"... and by the 18th Century, pygg jar had become pig bank, potters simply casting the bank in the shape of its common, everyday name.

By the way, clay bottles filled with hot water are still used as bed-warmers in parts of Britain, and are called "pigs" or "china pigs"; Eric Bogle did a song about them. They, too, are often shaped like pigs as a visual pun.

Pygg survived in its original pronunciation as "pug," a clay slip; and "pug mill," a mixing machine used originally for clay. Here, again, the spelling was changed to fit new ideas about spelling.

OK, after that, "bank" must be simple. Not so fast. Bank originally meant "bench"; you can probably see the connection between the words. Money lenders in Northern Italy once did business in open areas, or big open rooms, with each lender working from his own bench or table. If he went "broke," the piece of furniture was literally broken to signify that he wasn't in business anymore.

Other lenders did something closer to pawnbrokering; the Lombards, a germanic tribe living in Northern Italy, were famous for lending against collateral, and would have a storeroom full of forfeited goods and goods not yet redeemed. This lead to storage rooms being called "Lombard rooms," since they looked a little like a pawnshop. Over time, this slurred into "lumber room." Ahh, yess, lumbering through words about money...

Answer 7

British farmers in the 1800's used to mark farthings with a unique mark. Then cut the pigs on the back and inserted a coin into the pig. It was a form of branding, to prove that the animal was theirs if any other rival farmer stole them.

Not really!!!!

It sounds good enough though.

Answer 8

they were first made by monks in abbeys in ancient times. they made bank or jars out of a red earthy clay called pyg. the similaritie to the animal was soon noticed and vendors began making the jars into pig shaped which gives us todays piggy banks.

Answer 9

I did in my previous life as a barmaid. I got tired of stuffing all those coins I earned for tips in my bra...sometimes they ended up in my underwear....

Why did I call it my piggy bank!?!? Because of all the filthy pigs who left the tips in coins! LOL (hope ya like that one!)

Answer 10

pig is represented as money as you know greedy people and pigs match a bit when we speak about both.