Little Ricky’s Telephone Bank

telephone savings bank
Little Ricky’s Telephone Savings Bank on I Love Lucy

In the I Love Lucy episode Lucy is Envious we see a plastic toy rotary phone on the mantelpiece of the Ricardo’s living room. In this episode Lucy is short of cash and searches the house for coins. She tells Ethel she even looked in the baby’s piggy bank but only found a couple of IOU’s from Ricky inside. Little Ricky’s savings bank is a match for the two color red and white plastic telephone savings bank by Amerline.

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Amerline Toy Phone Bank like Little Ricky’s – for sale on Etsy

The toy rotary telephone savings bank is by Amerline of Chicago, IL, copyright 1945 . Currently there is one for sale online in red and white pictured above.
CLICK HERE to See it on Etsy

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Little Ricky’s two color plastic phone bank by Amerline

amerline toy phone box

Base of the Amerline Telephone savings bank
Base of the Amerline Telephone savings bank

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There is also one on eBay HERE but is it not a 2-color phone like we see in the screen capture above – it is being sold as an original prop.