Nat West Piggy Banks

The first thing to remember when collecting Nat West Pigs is that Wade were not the only company to produce them. Before Wade became involved, other potteries, also turned out many hundreds of Woodys. But of course it is those produced by Wade, of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent which were modelled by Alan Maslankowski, which have become so collectable in recent years. But remember, if your NatWest pig doesn't actually have the incised Wade England logo on the base it was made by another company and may be of less value. It was in 1983 that the promotion began. The Natwest Bank in the UK wanting to attract youngsters to save with them, devised a family of pigs for the children to collect. The collection began with Baby Woody for investors who opened the account with a minimum of £3 - with £1 going towards the cost of Woody . All the rest of the collection were given away free. After six months, if the account contained at least £25 they received Annabel, and then after one year, the account needed to have grown to at least £50 to qualify for Maxwell. At eighteen months if the account contained £75 the children were rewarded with Lady Hillary. Finally after two years, if the account had an investment of at least £100, Sir Nathaniel Westminster was given to those who had managed to stay the course. The offer ended in 1988 and altogether Wade produced more than 5 million pigs but relatively few children managed to complete the set - £100 was a large sum for a junior saver at that time. Consequently Sir Nathaniel was not in great demand and so fewer were produced. Today he is worth around £90 to £100 . It is interesting to note that Maxwell the son, was named after Sir Robert Maxwell, the disgraced newspaper magnate. The NatWest bank did little to promote that figure, the release of which coincided with his downfall. Less were produced of this figure which now reflects on his value which is in excess of £60. Ten years later in 1998 NatWest once again approached Wade to add a further pig to the series and it was Ken Holmes who modelled Cousin Wesley, the sixth in the series of pigs which was released in 1999 is 53/4" high and was produced to promote a NatWest personal savings bond for children which required an investment of £1000. Perhaps because of the high investment involved, this promotion seemed to go almost unnoticed by both collectors and investors and many people still don't know of Cousin Wesleys existence even though Wade produced in excess of 5000 Wesley money banks. Consequently Wesley is now highly sort after by collectors who are now, belatedly becoming aware of his existence. An authentic Wesley sells for between £150 and £250. Of interest, before Wade got involved in the promotion, the NatWest Bank had 25 gold Woodys produced as prizes for children in a competition which appeared in Piggy Post.  All had certificates with them and came with a personal letter to the young winner.  A list of winners later appeared in The Piggy Press.  These rarely come onto the market but would expect to sell for around £1000 if they included their rovanance. But beware there are, shall we say ‘suspicious’ golden Woodies about. Finally, Beware! There seem to be a number of counterfeit Wesley's on offer both on the internet and at collectors fairs. This entrepreneurial Wesley was not produced by Wade even though he carries their backstamp. He is smaller than the genuine Wesley and his colouring can also vary from the original. If in any doubt contact the Official Wade Collectors Centre or The Wade Collectors Club for advise and finally, remember as always buy from reputable dealers. ©2005 C&S Collectables Direct.

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