Collector banks up memories
By Noelle Chun
Advertiser Staff Writer
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| Gerald Kwock displays some of the prized items in his penny bank collection — a Bank of Hawai'i model shaped like a suitcase, from 1911; and a cross-armed warrior from State Savings and Loan.
Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser Hawaii All-Collectors Show 4-9 p.m. today, 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday Blaisdell Exhibition Hall $3.95 general, $2 children; Sunday free for seniors 65 and older 941-9754 |
Er, that is, a bank is a good place to collect pennies.
It would be easy to get confused, especially if you had 150 penny banks, as Honolulu collector Gerald Kwock does.
Ranging from plastic Snoopy banks to Primo beer cans and 2-foot-tall Coke bottles, Kwock has all sorts of "still banks" — what collectors call banks without moving parts — 100 of which he'll pack up this weekend and sell at the All-Collectors Show at the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall.
After 54 years of sweeping swap meets and garage sales, Kwock has stashed banks from as long ago as 1911 and as recently as 1970. The 1911 bank is a square metal piece in the shape of a suitcase, from Bank of Hawaii, worth about $500. Another prized possession is a metal cross-armed warrior, from State and Savings Loan. Its price hovers around $85.
Kwock has a reputation for collecting collections. His bank collection makes his list of 50 "major collections," which include clothes hangers, Territorial yardsticks and baseball cards. Although one of many collections, his bank collection means a lot to him.
"I keep them because there's a lot of nostalgia," Kwock said, smiling. "The buildings are no longer there. The companies are gone. It's a reminder of the past."
And that's exactly why there's a market for it.
Pick up one of his banks and you're thrown back to old Hawai'i. Many of them are from banks and companies that no longer exist, such as the Liberty Bank of Honolulu and Honolulu Federal Savings.
"There are some really dedicated collectors," said Ilene Wong, collectors show organizer, "especially the Hawaiiana collectors. The banks are a reflection of the history of Hawai'i, how the companies evolved and their names changed."
Wong, who met Kwock 20 years ago at a garage sale, describes Kwock's collection as valuable, especially because few banks were made. "They're hard to find, especially the early ones," she said. Even today, banks are hard to come by, having waned in popularity as an advertising device. At the banking institutions that do offer them, getting one takes some strategy.
"I went to First Hawaiian Bank," Wong confessed, "and they were giving away cute plastic banks. But you had to be a kid and open up an account."
