Cannon Banks
Published in the April 2023 Penny Bank Post | Written by Mike Henry
In the Appendix of The Penny Bank Book, Andy and Susan Moore included a comment for the Cannon bank, #1425. It reads: "there is a variation of this bank". The bank shown in the photos on page 129, with an attribution to the Hubley Manufacturing Co., is dated to 1914.
Fellow SBCCA member, Bob Vicic, has provided me with a pair of A.C. Williams catalogue cuts (Fig. 1 and 2) showing a cannon bank which corresponds generally to the bank shown and described in the Moore book. The first is from a 1917 Catalogue Supplement, suggesting that the bank was a late addition to their 1917 line. Note that this was just about the time that America joined the WW1 conflict in Europe.
Figure 1
The second cut, from A.C. Williams’ 1919 catalogue, announces that the Cannon bank has been discontinued shortly after the end of WWI. Bob also mentioned that the Cannon bank does not appear in the A.C. Williams 1915 catalogue.
Figure 2
It is interesting to note that the bank pictured in both catalogue pages is slightly different from the actual bank shown as Moore #1425. Both the recoil, the lower shorter barrel, and the carriage behind the cannon are longer than seen in the Moore bank #1425 itself. I happen to have in my collection examples of both the Moore #1425 Cannon bank and a larger version, which I think could well be the bank made by Hubley.
If you examine Fig. 3, the bank shown in Moore’s book, and compare them to Fig. 4, the larger Cannon bank, the differences are clear. The smaller Cannon measures 6 1/2 inches long while the larger (Hubley?) measures 7 3/4 inches.
Figure 3
Figure 4
Additional side-by-side photos shown in Fig. 5 and 6 illustrate these differences well. . .
