Maker record
Shepard
Shepard Hardware Company was an American maker of cast-iron mechanical banks in Buffalo, New York. From 1882 to 1892, it produced fifteen toy banks with moving figures and mechanisms that deposited coins. Its designs included comic characters, animals and scenes such as Punch and Judy, a trick pony, and a picture gallery. The banks were marked with the Shepard name, and the Picture Gallery model combined a coin bank with letters, numbers and words. The company sold its bank line to J. & E. Stevens in 1892.
- Founded
- 1882
The story of Shepard
Shepard Hardware Company made cast-iron mechanical banks in Buffalo, New York. Its toy-bank activity began around 1882. Charles G. Shepard and Peter Adams, Jr. held patents for many of the designs; Adams assigned his rights to Walter J. Shepard. The banks used moving figures and levers to deposit coins, with subjects drawn from popular entertainment, animals and comic scenes. Examples included Punch and Judy, a trick pony, Santa Claus and a leap-frog game. The Picture Gallery bank, introduced around 1885, also displayed letters, numbers and words as a wheel turned.
By 1892, Shepard had produced fifteen mechanical-bank designs. It sold the toy-bank line to J. & E. Stevens Company of Cromwell, Connecticut, which continued making some Shepard models. Shepard Hardware itself remained in business after the sale, holding hardware-related patents. A 1897 bank design associated with Charles Shepard and Adams was produced by Stevens rather than by Shepard Hardware. The sale therefore ended Shepard’s bank line, not the company.