Cast Iron Bank Exhibit Ended May 26

Thanks to all, especially sponsor Member One Credit Union, that helped make the vintage banks exhibit, “You Can Bank On Us: Mechanical and Still Banks from the Collections of Stephen and Tom Broker” a success. The collection included banks manufactured from the earliest 1900s through the 1930s by such toy companies as A.C. Williams, Arcade, Hubley, Kenton, Grey Iron Casting Company and J&E Stevens.

Reproduction banks were provided so children — and adults — could try their hands at dropping, or catapulting, a penny into a bank. Also, children’s groups made their own banks.

The bank collection was inspired by the Tom and Stephen Broker’s parents, Thomas O. and Evelyn F. Broker, who loved visiting antique shops on Cape Cod, Mass., throughout New England, and in their home state of Ohio. Evelyn Broker had been given a Boxer (Bulldog) bank as a child, and when the boys went with their mother on antiquing trips, she would direct them to the metals sections where they would be less likely to break things. The greater part of Steve’s bank collection was assembled during those trips. Tom continued collecting banks in later years, often bidding on auction house sales of collections by such well known collectors as Hubert Whiting.

The Roanoke connection dates to 1965, when the parents moved to the city where Thomas Sr. served three years as General Counsel to the Norfolk and Western Railroad (now the Norfolk Southern), then headquartered in Roanoke. He later taught at Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke. During the Brokers’ more than 20 years in the Roanoke Valley, the sons got to spend summers in the Blue Ridge Mountains community and make friends, such as David Lemon. Lemon, a member of the, Historical Society Board, was responsible for bringing the Brokers’ collection to Roanoke. Stephen Broker, retired, lives in Cheshire, Conn., and Dr. Thomas Broker Jr. is emeritus faculty at the University of Alabama School of Medicine in Birmingham. Both Brokers attended the reception.