Rare J.& E. Stevens 1878 Butler Cast Iron Still Bank with Framed Peoples National Political Ticket Stub

This still bank reveals a comical image of General Benjamin Butler (1818-1893).  The framed National Ticket stub documents his unsuccessful run for the President of the United States in 1884. Butler was elected to Congress in 1867 and he served as the governor of Massachusetts for a one-year term that commenced on January 4th, 1983.

Butler was a major general in the Union army, a lawyer, and a businessman. He also had a leadership role in the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. He passed laws to provide harsher enforcement actions against the Ku Klux Klan (1873)  and helped write the important Civil Rights Act of 1875. 

In our opinion, his greatest quote was “I was always a friend of Southern rights but an enemy of Southern wrongs.”  Butler was known to personally confiscate land from former Confederate soldiers who did not renew their pledge of allegiance to the United States and he once executed a man for tearing down the American flag and passed a general order that would allow any Soldier to treat a woman as a prostitute if the woman did not show respect for U.S. Army personnel.

Butler and the vice president candidate Absalom West (1818-1894)  were part of the Greenback Party (founded in 1874, and ended in 1888).  the Greenback Party believed that gold was not needed to support the dollars printed by the government. 

This still bank is in good condition. Most of the original shades of yellow and green paint have faded. The general's face mounted on a frog's body is very clear.  The 7-inch tall bank does have its original coin cover marked with the patent date. General Butler's poor performance in the presidential election allows this bank to provide a history lesson to future generations of America of what happens if you do not reciprocate respect with the opposite sex.