-Tiny-Mite- safe still bank c. 1920s - 1930s

This "Tiny-Mite- safe still bank" was made by Arrow Specialities, but at what time is unknown, using cast iron. This thing feels really solid, doesn’t it? Look at that kind of pinky-orange color, and how worn it is. You know, I always think about how much time an object spends in darkness versus in light. This one looks like it’s been in the sun and the dark, over and over, for years. Check out the rust. It’s like a painting that has been scrubbed and scrubbed until only the ghost of an image remains. Or, like a beautiful mistake. I wonder, do you think the makers knew that the thing they were making would end up looking like this? I mean, you can’t really plan for that kind of disintegration can you? It makes me think about the work of someone like Richard Artschwager, who makes art out of industrial materials. But with his, it’s all about the clean lines and perfect surfaces. Here, though, it’s all about the opposite. It’s about what happens when things fall apart. And how beautiful that can be.