Bidspirit auction | I Always Did 'Spise a

I Always Did 'Spise a Mule - Cast Iron Mechanical Bank with Box - Young Boy Seated on Bench. Made by J. & E. Stevens Company. Cromwell, Connecticut - Circa 1897. At first glance, this toy bank seems to portray a harmless vignette of life on the farm. When, in reality, the imagery is clearly marked by awful racial misrepresentation. A young man is seen giving his mule some form of disciplinary action. He wields a rigid stick to emphasize his lesson. But the mule outwits him by swinging around and kicking him in the face, flipping him onto his back. Children playing with this bank in the late 19th century would have understood its narrative implications to mean that even a lowly mule is brighter than a black boy. Condition: Near Mint with Original Box.