Q:My family has owned a cast-iron mechanical bank for more than 60 years. I understand it originally cost about $40. The base of the bank is titled “Hometown Battery.” On the base’s platform there’s a baseball pitcher, batter and catcher. You put a coin in the pitcher’s hand, press a lever and the coin is pitched past the batter and into the catcher’s coin slot. Embossed on the bank’s bottom are the words, “Reproduced from Original in Collection of The Book of Knowledge.” What is the bank worth?

A: Several thousand “Book of Knowledge” reproductions of 30 19th-century American cast-iron mechanical banks were made between 1957 and 1972. Yours is a copy of a bank originally titled “Darktown Battery,” which featured black ballplayers (the players on your bank are white). The original bank, patented in 1888, was made by J. & E. Stevens Co. of Cromwell, Conn. The copies, made by Grey Iron Casting Co. of Mt. Joy, Pa., were cast from originals, so they are slightly smaller than the original banks. The originals used as models for the copies were in a collection assembled by Grolier Inc., the publisher of a children’s encyclopedia called “The Book of Knowledge.” That’s how the reproductions got their name. A reproduction bank like yours sells today for $50 to $100.