Circa 1880: Cromwell, Connecticut cast iron bank manufacturers J. & E. Stevens Company relied on James H. Bowen to create the visually formidable Bull Dog Bank or, as it was first named, the Bull Dog Bank, Coin on Nose. It is easy to see that any youngster of the day would consider the fearsome bulldog with its penetrating glass eyes and disturbing toothy jaws a perfect receptacle to guard his hard-earned coins. After all, one would have to be out of his mind even to consider stealing from a creature so ferocious as the ever-attendant bulldog.