Summary:
Do you remember the feeling of delight that you felt when you dropped money into a piggy bank when you were a child? But how did a pig become associated with saving money?

Details or Sample:
Did you have a piggy bank when you were a child? If so, you probably also remember the delight that you felt when you heard the tinkle of a few coins dropped in through the slot on its back. But how did a lowly barnyard animal become a vessel for saving money?

A Pygg is a Pig

According to historians, during the Middle Ages metal was very expensive – so much so that common people couldn’t afford household utensils that were made out of it. Instead, they used vessels made out of orange clay known as pygg. If there happened to be a coin or two extra, they were dropped into a pygg jar to be kept for a rainy day. These vessels became known as pygg banks.

Three hundred years later, during the 18th century, people translated the word pygg as pig. Potters created clay banks in the shape of the common barnyard pig and the piggy bank was born.

Both adults and children loved the new pig-shaped banks and the piggy bank trend spread like wildfire across Britain. These early piggy banks didn’t have a hole in the bottom through which coins could be retrieved and so very few survived. They were broken so the money that was saved in them could...

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Written by: Mary M. Alward
Available File Types:Text
Words: 300