Designer: Unknown

Item: Collection of Eleven (11) Kounoike Leather Coin Banks

Manufactured by: Ikeke Seisakusho

Country of origin: Japan

Year made: 1960s

Materials: Leather, brass and steel

Dimensions: Highest is about 7”, widest is about 4” and deepest is about 8”

Description: Here is an excellent collection of eleven (11) vintage original and fully authentic Kounoike leather coin banks in the shapes of various animals.  This collection includes an elephant, pig, owl, whale, lady bug, the much harder-to-find authentic dog, bull, two rhinos, and two penguins including a very rarely found penguin in all black. All are marked with either the impressed Kounoike symbol of a bird, the foil Kounoike label, or both, as shown and some have their original locks and keys. We have handled many of these banks, but collections such as this are hard to come by and generally command high prices, as can be found on the Internet. It is also important to note that we have seen many many period knockoffs of these banks being sold as real Kounoike, sometimes mixed in with collections of banks. Truly authentic Kounoike banks never used brass or metal around the opening of the coin slot, just a slot in the leather.

According to the limited amount of information available on the Internet, Ikeke Seisakusho was a long established leather manufacturer that began making these banks in 1965.  However, we have also found some information about other long established leather goods makers in Japan with the surname Seisakusho. We hope to gain more information about the firm that manufactured these and who actually designed them. But we do know that these were sold in higher-end stores in Japan and possibly Hawaii, because we have seen a few with the retailer sticker of Shirokiya Department store in Japan.

Shirokiya Department store was originally founded in 1662 as a dry goods store and over the next four centuries evolved into a specialty retailer starting in the very early 20th century. In 1959 Shirokiya opened its first branch outside of Japan in Hawaii, where two more locations would eventually be opened; the second in 1973 and the third in 1981. Given the timeline of their manufacture and the opening of the Hawaii location in 1959 and move into a larger location in 1966 (now a Macy’s), it is likely that some of the Kounoike leather banks found in the United States were sold from one of Shirokiya’s Hawaiian outposts. The English language printing on the foil labels and the two Kounoike boxes we have seen with English printing is also suggestive that some of these were manufactured and marketed for the American market.

Condition: Excellent overall.