by (unknown)
a ‘Coal Bucket’ Savings Tin
circa 1953 (?)
For whom could this have been made? Judging by the illustrations painted (or printed) along its main panels, one may assume that, in response, the tin was created for someone with an appreciation of small, delicate and ever-growing, self-sustaining things. On the tin’s shouldering panels flower two mirrored groups of bright-faced sunflowers on whose great thick leaves crawl a ladybird or two. Though crudely (or rather clumsily) painted, the flora and fauna form an image of solidity within a quiet, un-obtrusive realm of calm repetition and comfort; Nature is present always, even in the harshest of places such as coal mines and synthetic fields of manufacture, and it is for this reason that, perhaps, the tin’s maker chose to couple two such paradoxical themes in order to extract and pursue a sense of renaissance from the ashes of human exploits. It is simultaneously a light- and heavy-hearted act of symbolic pairing, and twisted within these lines is an actual twist - that of the bulrush-clinging dwarf who, apparently, is attempting to distract the peaceable frog down below with his mischievous five-fingered caterwauling. From hope and imagination stems possibility; from but a drop of water and a flow of relentless care stems growth; and from a steady, tireless dedication in the collection of one’s savings there stems, undoubtedly, a ‘growth factor’ (so-to-speak) of independent personal stability, no matter from how small an amount it may first begin to blossom. The dwarf knows this, and woe betide his stubborn stout listener should he ever stop trying to convince the frog of this fact.
