Newly Discovered Antique Mechanical Bank Sells at Auction for $266,500

The mechanical bank known as "Baby on a Sled" or "Coasting Bank" has been almost a myth among bank collectors in the United States. In 1955 a dealer found an 1884 ad that pictured the bank, made by J. & E. Stevens, and listed its price at 95 cents. But no one found an example of the bank itself until 2013, when a woman discovered one in an attic in Scotland. She took it to the BBC Antiques Roadshow. She sent it to Lyon & Turnbull, an auction house in Edinburgh that worked with Freeman's Auctioneers in Philadelphia. The bank sold in November 2013 for $266,500.

Photo: Freeman's Auctioneers & Appraisers