MORE GREAT COLUMBIANA! FABULOUS FIGURAL IRON BANK WITH FLIP OUT COIN TRAY #1`231

Description

I'm quite buried in the midst of preparing for our very large forthcoming sale focused heavily on world's fairs especially 1893 Columbian, which has been almost a full-time job for me since my first book on the fair was published 28 years ago!
I continue to to offer more wonderful items from the John Kennel collection, which is going to be a major part of my next (and third) book on the exposition. I began selling his collection in April 2019 and the rarities in the 5,000+ piece collection have been overwhelming. Even the nonrarities--just the hundreds upon hundreds of "scarce" items any collector would love to own--have been just plain fun.
This iron bank stands about 5 inches high and is also about 5 inches wide. The detail of the Administration Building of the fair is quite nice and the bank has an unusual method of putting coins in it. On the front, above the doorway, is a bright and silver colored horizontal piece of metal. It swings out and there is a tray inside on which you're supposed to put your coin and then send it into the compartment (about 3x3 inches) which hold the coins.
The bank is in beautiful condition. The only minor flaw is that the bank is missing the rubber "stopper" that closes the bank. I would guess that you could come up with something at a good hardware store that you could shape to fit the quarter-sized opening. Of course if you don't plan to put coins into the bank that would be unnecessary. It stands up very solidly and displays really well. It's certainly a treasure. And I'll have at least one other terrific bank from 1893 in the upcoming sale.
If you would like more information about the sale and my book that is scheduled to be published the end of the year, please just ask. I've never been shy about sharing a few thousand words on the subject. The sale will include some quite rare material, including several medals from the first-ever worlds fair, London's 1851 Crystal Palace. And one of the 1853 New York Crystal Palace items is a very rare original book-size guide to the exhibits. Naturally as a historian and author I gravitate to such things; it would be likely the only one of the books/guides/catalogs you will ever see from the first world's fair in the U.S., held just two years after the world's first....and 'only' 168 years ago!
I'm estimating that will cover postage on this bank as this somewhat smaller example of the 3D pieces in our sale weighs just under one pound. As a reminder, we only ship within the U.S. I am listing this Columbian piece at auction for five days which I generally feel is the optimum--not too short and not the 7-10 day events which doesn't much help the serious bidders. I think that the Buy it now price is quite modest for a rarity such as this. I could easily imagine some sellers asking three times as much. And of course the opening is very inexpensive.