The Financial Fairy Tales Blog

What is the history of the Piggy Bank?

Today’s Piggy Banks can trace their origins to Europe in the Middle Ages. At the time, metal was both expensive and hard to find so families used clay to create their household pots and jars. Typically the type of clay they chose to make these house wares was an orange clay called “pygg”.

Whenever a household had coins to save, they put them in a pygg jar. Eventually, these pygg jars became known as pygg banks over time.

Later, in the eighteenth century, craftsmen were frequently asked to create pygg banks. Misunderstanding the request, the potters crafted banks in the shape of pigs and painted them likewise. These pig banks soon became popular, and  today piggy banks (shaped as pigs) are found around the world throughout many different cultures.