Before I start today’s post I just wanted to mark a small piece of ToyNerd history that took place since you last saw me. You may have noticed that at the bottom of each post I put a small notation that says Flickr = . So what gives?
Most of you know Flickr is just a nifty online service for storing and organizing digital images. Well for a number of years now as part of my study of the toy world I have been gathering images of collectibles for reference purposes. Many of them were taken by yours truly, but by far the majority of them have been picked up here and there on the good ol’ interweb. Apparently I have been in high gear these past six months. How do I know? Back when I made my inaugural ToyNerd post on June 3rd, 2009 the number of pics in my account was a paltry 17,195… yes you read that correctly. Hey I told you I have been doing it for a long time now. Anyway, just yesterday my count passed a major milestone. Yep I have gone by the 25,000 mark! Fireworks please. I know that seems unbelieveable but I guarantee you they are all there.
I would let you see them, but most are not open for general viewing. Why? Originally they were but to tell you the truth I got swamped with messages from people trying to buy the toys. In the end it became a total pain in the rump. Feel free to take a look for yourself. At any time there are always a few hundred that I haven’t yet stashed away. The list of images is constantly changing so pop by often, it will give you a sense of what has caught my eye at that time… either that or it is stuff from my stores that is about to be loosed on eBay.
To mark such an auspicious occasion I decided to pick something extra special. I got the idea from my friend Jen who recently turned up with a mystery surprise, I will show you that later. So what did I pick? How about a little something more from the world of the Muppets? Any time I post something based on a Jim Henson creation everone seems to get so excited. Well excitement is just what I am looking for.
Today the spotlight will shine on Miss Piggy.
She first hit the airwaves back in 1974 and since then has proven herself to be the most glamorous and talented pig in the universe as well as the de facto final word on what goes on in the Muppet Show… if you don’t believe me just ask Kermit.
Never one of my favorite characters, but she is undeniably a force of nature. It may be for that exact reason we have the phenomenon I am about to present to you… it seems that Miss P is the preferred choice when it comes to coin banks. Yes I get it that they are often refered to as piggy banks but seriously I am struggling to think of a character that has been made into more than today’s star.
Probably the most popular is the one from the early 80s made by Sigma. I wonder why though? Oh perhaps it is because you are expected to pop the coins into her ample cleavage that she is serving up by pulling her dress down… classy!
So popular in fact was this design that it got picked up by the paint your own ceramics stores and there are now a million and one home painted versions that range from OK to OMG!
No good idea goes unstolen right? Well here is some proof of that.
Basically the same as the Sigma bank above but this one has her bosom intact and has the slot in the back of her head.
I am going to make a confession about this next one made by Applause.
When I first saw this vinyl bank I immediately thought, “where does the coin go in?” Specially after the whole cleavage thing before, you can only imagine where I assumed it would go this time. Anyway, wrong I was…
If you look carefully you can see that it goes just below her right hand on the rim of the tub. Sneaky sneaky!
This next one is kinda super cute.
Piggy as a Muppet Baby. For some reason this looks about a thousand times better now that she has been realized in 3D compared to how she looked in the actual cartoon. Extra points for puting the coin slot in the back of the bank in her hands.
The next few offerings come from a different place altogether. How so? Well I am of the opinion that the ones you have seen so far fall in to the pretty cute category… the next few do not!
This piece has very little going for it. Made in 1981 by Limoges Creations Piggy looks like a cross between Mae West and a fairly juandiced Muppet has-been. Certainly not the glamorpuss that we are used to. What makes this piece worse is that it is huge and stands about 18″ tall dwarfing the banks you have seen so far. I have only seen one of these for sale on eBay and it was listed for a whopping $500, I am at a loss for words right now.
Also stepping in at about 18″ tall this huge bank is actually made of plaster. The detail is pretty good and as far as I can tell it is the kind of thing you might have won at a fairground.
Things get a little worse now with this monstrocity…
Again it is around a foot and half tall, this piece is clearly a cheap knock off of some description. It is hard to find anything of merit to this piece. That being the case I would still love to get my hands on one just so I could add it to my gallery of the grotesque.
Alright… I give up.
To finish up I am going to show you the mystery surprise I mentioned earlier.
Terrible… but yet still awesome. I do like how Miss Piggy is pulling petals from her flower in the classic he loves me, he loves me not format. She adores her frog doesn’t she. Unfortunately for her if you assume the flower method is an accurate predictor of the future, which of course it is, if you count up the petals you can see we end up at he loves me not. Sorry Piggy… maybe next time.
At about 15″ tall this ceramic bank is another hand painted treasure. With the exception of the eyes which are a little too far apart the person who painted this did a half decent job. I did laugh when I saw this though…
On the base we discover that it was made at a senior center in Rhode Island. Does this constitute entertainment for old folks? Who knew.
Flickr = 25,006
There are currently 54 items listed on the ToyNerd Exchange check it out.
Congrats on reaching 25,000! So are we going to see the most comprehensive toy book ever published in your future? As far as the Miss Piggy banks, I think that the bad looking ones are the most interesting. They remind me of the cheap knockoff superhero figures that are made in other countries. The Mae West comparison was dead on.
I have to admit, I also assumed the worst for where the coin slot was on that bubble bath Piggy. Thank the gods they had more sense than that but it’s still a pretty awful piece. I think I’d prefer some of the other banks lower on the list!
Congrats on the milestone my friend!!
I’m not a big Piggy fan either but you can’t deny her impact. Unlike The Goog, I did not assume the worst on the bubble bath version. *shudder*
Mae West rules!
Very interesting post I enjoy your site keep up the amazing posts