Bank, Mechanical, Duro, Destination Moon

This commemorative Destination Moon mechanical bank was manufactured by Duro Mold & Manufacturing of Detroit, Michigan, based on a design patented in 1959. One of several space-themed banks produced by the company, the bank featured a Moon atop a rocket. A spring-loaded mechanism allowed the owner to fire coins into the Moon globe. The ring around the Moon celebrated the flights of the first American in space, Alan Shepard, and the first American orbital flight, made by John Glenn in 1962.

The label on the base from the Wichita State Bank of Wichita, Kansas shows how this bank would have been awarded as a premium for opening an account at a conventional bank.

This bank model also came in a non-commemorative version (without inscriptions on the ring around the Moon globe) in addition to serving as the basis for a different bank model produced by another company, R.M.S. Sales Corp., that replaced the Moon with a miniaturized Unisphere from the 1964 World's Fair.

Raymond Reines donated this bank to the Museum in 2011.