The guest of honor at last week’s Mechanical Bank Collectors of America convention wasn’t a person; it was a collection of 489 incredibly rare mechanical banks – the Stephen and Marilyn Steckbeck collection. Club members had the opportunity to view the collection in the Steckbeck home one last time before all of the banks were packed up and swiftly transported to the Geppi-owned Morphy Auctions gallery in Denver (Adamstown), Pa. There, they will remain on display for public preview until October 27, 2007, the auction date circled on every bank collector’s calendar.

Acknowledged by experts as one of the all-time greats, the Steckbeck collection was built over a 53-year period, and was seeded with rarities from earlier collections of now-historic stature, such as, those of corporate CEO Edwin H. Mosler Jr., automobile titan Walter P. Chrysler and pioneer collector F.H. Griffith. There are buying opportunities to please every pocketbook; but because there are so many unique or extremely rare examples included in the collection, some observers are speculating that the sale could end up grossing between $5 million and $8 million. If that becomes the case, the Steckbeck sale will make its mark in history as not only the highest-grossing bank auction ever, but also the highest-grossing toy auction of all time.

While most of the Steckbeck banks are of cast iron, many others are of lithographed tin, white metal, aluminum, wood and other materials. Some are exceedingly rare, like the Presto Coin Disappears (one of three known), the Darky and Watermelon (one of four known), Darky Fisherman (one of two known), an extraordinary near-mint Jerome Secor Freedman’s Bank, and one of the few all-original examples of the Kyser & Rex Merry-Go-Round. The Steckbecks’ North Pole bank, ex Hegarty collection, is one of the finest known; and their Kenton Hardware Mama Katzenjammer, which came straight from the manufacturer’s showroom, is in superior, near-mint-plus condition. Among the collection’s acknowledged “unique” examples are a nickel-plated Chrysler Pig, originally owned by Walter P. Chrysler; a Safe Deposit Tin Elephant, and a stock-market-themed Bull and Bear.

Morphy’s chief operating officer Dan Morphy observed that the Steckbecks could have sold the collection privately as a whole but opted to go the auction route “so everyone can have a chance … “It is a dream come true to be handling what I consider to be one of the most prestigious mechanical bank collections of all time. I bought my first mechanical bank from Steve when I was 12 years old, and now it has all come full circle.”

Morphy Auctions will conduct the auction of the Stephen and Marilyn Steckbeck mechanical bank collection on Saturday, October 27, 2007, at the Adamstown Antique Gallery, 2000 North Reading Road, Denver, PA 17517 (on the Adamstown antiques strip). The auction will start at 12 noon EST, with a 30-minute intermission at lot 250. The entire collection is currently on display and available to preview at the gallery daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. On auction day, Saturday, October 27, 2007, the preview will begin at 8 a.m.

Bid in person (auction admittance by catalog purchase only), by phone (please arrange line in advance), by fax, absentee or live via the Internet as the auction is taking place through eBay Live Auctions. An audio/visual feed will allow Internet participants to hear and see the auction as it takes place. The special collector’s edition hardbound auction catalog is available for $80 postpaid. An electronic version of the catalog may be viewed in its entirety online at www.liveauctioneers.com or www.morphyauctions.com. For additional information, call 717-335-3435 or e-mail danmorphy@dejazzd.com.