Tank

Made of painted wood and tin, this tank-shaped bank is among a variety of still banks used by children to collect donations during World War I. By 1917, tanks were increasingly posited in the press as a means of forward momentum on the static European battlefields. British fundraising events known as “Tank Banks” displayed veteran tanks and touted the accomplishments of their crews in an effort to crowdsource more machines. This bank models the British Army’s trapezoidal Mark IV tank, an example of which crawled up New York’s Fifth Avenue to cheering crowds as part of the Second Liberty Loan Drive.