Hubley Robert The Robot Cast Iron Bank

Hubley Cast Iron Robot Coin Bank - 1950's

This fantastic 1950s robot design coin bank by Hubley has a real penache: cast in heavy iron, painted red and silver, the lever action on the back of the robot lifts the robot arm, closing the robot's eyes as the coin is fed into the mouth.
The robot holds his right leg in his left hand with a plaintiff expression that makes it the perfect teaching bank for a child; the back of the robot has cast iron imprint of 'Robert the Robot 1950' with 'HUBLEY' printed on the base. This coin bank makes a elegant piece to a collector's collection. I have only seen 4 or 5 others since I found this one.

CURRENT STATUS: Excellent (some signs of use - the red paint has been scuffed in places but this does not detract; the lever action remains smooth.)
YEAR: 1950s
COUNTRY: Made in England
DIMENSIONS: 10 1/4 inches[height head-to-foot] X 4 3/4 inches [width] x 7 1/3 inches [depth]
Weight is 8 pounds.

History of Hubley ( Sourced from Collector's Weekly )
Cast-iron toys made by the Hubley Manufacturing Company of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, include wagons and carts pulled by circus animals and horses, fire engines, motorcycles, construction vehicles, and mechanical and still banks in the shapes of animals and figures. Antique and vintage Hubley toys from the 1890s to World War II are the most prized by collectors.

In 1894, when John Hubley founded the company, the business plan was to get into the model-train business, which had been pioneered in the United States by Ives and in Germany by Märklin. In those days, model trains were still pulled or wound up by young engineers, unrestricted by the tyranny of tracks. That changed, though, in 1900, when Joshua Lionel Cohen ( Lionel trains ) sold his first electric train that ran on a small track. That same year, Ives created tracks for its model trains, and by 1910, Ives was offering electric trains on O-gauge tracks.

Alas, Hubley was unable to capitalize on the electric-toy-train revolution, and so, in 1909, it sold off its train inventory and shifted its attention to its lines of cast-iron toys. These ranged from firefighting vehicles such as hook-and-ladder wagons and pumpers to transportation modes such as gigs, surreys, and phaetons, all of which were pulled by cast-iron horses spurred on by cast-iron drivers.

After World War I, Hubley became known for its cast-iron circus toys, which depicted a fictitious company called the Royal Circus. Toys in this series typically included a pair of black or white draft horses pulling calliopes, caged animals such as giraffes, and vans honoring farmers or showing off clowns. In many cases, the painted cast iron is supplemented by cast aluminum, stamped tinplate, and even glass.

Another genre of vintage cast-iron vehicles for which Hubley is known are its police wagons, which feature a quartet of uniformed officers and a pair of horses that bob up and down as the wheels under the animals turn. Other vehicles common to early
Another genre of vintage cast-iron vehicles for which Hubley is known are its police wagons, which feature a quartet of uniformed officers and a pair of horses that bob up and down as the wheels under the animals turn. Other vehicles common to early 20th-century cities were also given the Hubley treatment, such as the company's "Crystal" brand ice wagon, whose red rear wheels had 16 spokes. In the late 1920s and through the beginning of World War II, when Hubley had to pause in its toy making to help the war effort, the company also produced a popular line of construction vehicles, from steamrollers to the much-sought "Elgin" road sweeper.

Some of the earliest Hubley toys are its mechanical banks, which were produced in large numbers through the 1930s. One of the most common is the "Trick Dog" bank. To animate this cast-iron contraption, the user would place a coin in the dog's mouth and then press a lever behind the dog. That would cause the dog to jump through a hoop held by a clown before jerking to a stop over a red barrel, which would free the coin from the dog's mouth before it fell into the barrel (the barrel could be unlocked from the bottom of the toy). Hubley's other mechanical banks employed monkeys and elephants. Hubley's vintage still banks took the shapes of sailors, dogs, and roosters. In fact, Hubley's rooster bank was in such demand that after Hubley had finished selling the bank throughout the 1920s, the exact same bank was made for A.C. Williams of Ohio in the 1930s.