Maker: W.S. Reed Co.
Original Price: $2,000*
Worth Today: $426,000 in 1998*

The W.S. Reed Co., founded in 1884, made this Old Woman in the Shoebank Mechanical Bank. It’s one of just two examples in existence, which explains why it sold for so much money. The second example sold for $230,000. The cast-iron mechanical bank was around $2,000 when it was first released.

The bank’s design was based on an old nursery rhyme, according to W.S. Reed Co. You place a coin onto a boy’s outstretched hand. Press the lever, and the old woman raises a stick as the boy puts the coin into the bank. Bertoia Auctions was the record-holding auctioneer of this bank.