-The Sportsman- mechanical bank c. 1950

This mechanical bank, called "The Sportsman," was made by Duro Mold and Manufacturing Inc. Look at how the designers played with form and function. The sportsman is crouched, taking aim, but he’s also a study in stillness, cast in this golden metal. And the way the coin drops into the tree stump after the shot, it’s a little absurd and also ingenious. The metallic surface has a tactile quality, a bit worn, which speaks to its history, right? It's a coin bank. Think about who touched it, the weight of the coins it held. The sportsman's posture is everything. This tension, this pause, before the action. It reminds me of Eakins's paintings, like "The Gross Clinic," where you feel this moment of high drama, but everything is frozen, waiting. Mechanical banks like this share an aesthetic with folk art; they’re not high art, but they're deeply inventive and culturally telling, reflecting our relationship to money, nature, and each other.