Mickey Mouse Vinyl Bank

What better way to kick this off than with one of my favorite loves...Disney! One of the oldest items I remember from my childhood was a vinyl Mickey Mouse piggy bank. Well, he was no piggy, but I still called it a piggy bank. My brother had a Pinocchio one. There were also a Donald Duck and Goofy in the series.

The bank was produced by Play Pal Plastics Inc. in 1971. How do I know this? Well, not by memory, but because the bank has the following markings:

©WALT DISNEY PROD. 1971
PLAY PAL PLASTICS INC.

As a kid, after doing my chores, it would be allowance time. The first thing I'd do is run into my room, stick in the money, then shake the snot outta that Mickey just to hear how rich I really was. Getting money in birthday cards always provided another opportunity to add to my wealth.

Of course, as a kid, you don't always do the smart thing or logical thing. When you want your money out, no way do you tip Mickey over to pull out the plug!!! No, instead, you turn him upside-down and shake and shake and shake until coins hit just right and come out that little slip on the top of his head which was only intended as an "IN" hole. But, after shaking for about a minute, which seemed like an hour to me, I would go grab that kitchen knife and pry open the bottom. And the counting would begin. Like any good kid, having 50 pennies was way better than only having 8 of those little bitty shining dimes!


Anyway, like most of my toys, my Mickey bank was thrown into one of our yearly garage sales, probably for one of those stupid shiny little stinkin' dimes. Looking in antique stores and flea markets over the years appeared to be dead-ends. Not because I couldn't find them, but, because they were way overpriced and always missing the bottom plug.

Then, about 10 years ago, my mom found one at a garage sale for $1 and got it for me. Now, every once in a while, I will put a penny in that bank and shake it just to remember those days back in the early 70s.