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In the Middle Ages, people stored money in a "clay jar". The clay it was made from was called "pygg". By the eighteenth century, in England, the name and shape of the container evolved to "pig bank." Later, the name changed to
In earlier times in the Western society a pig was the poor man's money-box. A pigling, bought on the market in spring, could live from the leftovers of the house-hold and was ready for the butcher just before the winter. Metaphorically speaking this is also the life-cycle of a piggy-bank: the leftovers of your money are for the piggy-bank; when the capital has grown, one can harvest it by smashing the piggy-bank to pieces.
In German speaking countries, it was custom to give apprentices (youngsters who were sent out to become a craftsman) a pig as reward for a years work (and learning). The story of (the not so) "Smart Hans" (Tales by the Grimm Brothers) is based on this tradition. The saying goes that a pig brings luck. Around New-Year Lucky Pigs ("Sparschweinchen") are still given as a present in German speaking countries.
Who created the piggy-bank and when?
Nobody knows for sure. Former president of the (also former) Money Box Museum in Amsterdam stated that he "owned a 1500 year old piggy-bank from Bali (Indonesia)." If so, I am a lucky man because I own five of these creatures. The piggy-bank in Western Countries was, as far as we know, first made around 1500. It was a product of the potteries in that time.
If you are in a country where it is a custom not to eat pork, don't trouble yourself to find a piggy bank. There are none. You will have more luck in the countries were the Majolica earthware was made or negotiated. Start with Spain and Italy. Where did the Italian and Spanish mechants go to? South America, Mexico, the USA. In Europe, itself, there was a movement of pottery craftsmen all over the continent. Like France (think of Quimper), Germany (Salzburg, the Westernwald), Belgium (Flamand earthware until 1926), the Netherlands (Delft, Gouda, Makkum), England (Wedgewood), Denmark (�rhus), etc.
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