Shepard Hardware & Mfg. Co.
Founded in 1882, Shepard Hardware of Buffalo became a key player in the cast iron mechanical bank industry with iconic creations like Trick Dog and Jonah and the Whale. Though admired for their design, many banks aged poorly due to the company’s choice to hand-paint without priming.
Shepard Hardware: Buffalo’s Legacy in Mechanical Bank Innovation
Shepard Hardware has a history rooted in Buffalo, New York, where it was founded in 1882 by John D. Shepard. The company initially produced various products including ice cream freezers and jelly fruit presses, but later, expanded to cast iron mechanical banks. In 1892, the company sold its mechanical bank line to the J.E. Stevens Company. Later, Shepard Iron Works operating under various names like Shepard & Co.’s Foundry, became a prominent manufacturer of steam engines and other machinery for the Great Lakes area.
Shepard Hardware was one of the three major producers of cast iron mechanical banks and had a huge impact on the industry. However, collectors now regret the company’s practice of not priming banks before hand-painting them resulting in banks which did not meet the test of time, and many of surviving examples are in poor condition.
Amongst Shepard Hardware’s most-celebrated mechanical banks are the Trick Dog, Punch and Judy, Leap Frog, Santa at Chimney, Uncle Sam, Humpty Dumpty, Picture Gallery, Trick Pony, Speaking Dog, Uncle Sam, Stump Speaker, Mason, Circus and Jonah and the Whale banks.