Couple seek missing Icesave piggy bank

An Icelandic couple have built a collection of about 200 savings banks and are still searching for an Icesave piggy bank, mbl.is reports. María Hjálmtýsdóttir, a secondary-school teacher, and her husband Tumi Kolbeinsson, a specialist at the Ministry of Education and Children, have collected the items for around 15 years.

The collection fills shelves along one wall of their home. The couple only collect Icelandic piggy banks, including examples from the country’s main banks dating back to the start of banking in Iceland.

The first was a bank featuring Tintin, Snowy and Captain Haddock standing around a chest. The collection grew gradually, and many of the banks date from the 1960s and 1970s, bringing back childhood memories for the couple.

They look for banks at Góði hirðirinn and on Facebook. María recalls rushing to an antique shop in Kópavogur after seeing an advertisement for a Moominpappa bank. She had not seen one since childhood, when a friend owned one.

“When we had 30, we thought the collection was complete, but we kept coming across more, sometimes from small banks outside the capital,” Tumi said. He believes their collection of Icelandic savings banks is unique in the country and says it reflects both banking and youth culture.

“There is one bank we are really missing, and I haven’t found it. It’s the Icesave bank,” Tumi said. He invited anyone who owns one to get in touch, adding that they may all have been thrown away.

María also collects Icelandic children’s books published before 2000, Fisher-Price toys, and items including napkins and childhood sticker pictures. She described the savings-bank collection as a form of heritage preservation, saying she hopes to preserve it for future generations.

The couple say the hunt brings them joy, especially when they find an item they need or discover one they did not know they wanted. Tumi added that other collectors often alert them to possible finds.