| |
 SIR NATHANIEL WITH A RED TIE
This
unique and unusual look-alike for Sir Nathaniel, the father of the
NatWest pig family, in unaccustomed guise without his usual red
bow tie, was supposedly manufactured by Wade for the Lombard NatWest
Bank. We know this
particular piggy bank was handed out as a gift to visitors to the
Lombard stand at the 'Institute of Chartered Accountants of England
and Wales' (ICAEW) Annual Conference in London in 1995, but they
are known to have been in circulation before that time. We have
seen him both with and without the Lombard NatWest label.
|
|
| |
 Wade always maintained that they could not find any record of the pig
being produced, and 'questioned its authenticity'. Lombard
NatWest couldn't provide any information and said that with many
corporate changes since 1995, there is no-one left who could remember
anything about them!
There
are several revealing aspects to this piggy bank which almost made it certain that it was produced by Wade:-
- Same
height, looks identical except the colour is not pure black but
has a deep blue sheen
- It
is so remarkably similar to Sir Nathaniel but with a normal red
tie instead of the bow tie
- It
is inconceivable to think that Lombard would have given away fake
Wade piggy banks
- This
one weights 705gms against our real Sir Nathaniel at 675gms -
just 1oz different
- The
Certificate looks fairly authentic, signed by Peter Mill, the Marketing
Manager
- The
underside is embossed with what appears to be a genuine Wade stamp
After
years of investigation and questioning the National Westminster
Bank, Lombard, NatWest bank managers and Wade we were no nearer
to finding the truth of this pig, but now, through
the kind intervention of Suzanne, we have discovered that Wade do
now officially admit to having produced samples of the pig, whilst
still maintaining that they never went into full production.
Wade
state that they have come to this conclusion after a discussion
with a lady who worked for the bank at the time and who apparently
produced a news article about the promotion and launch of the pigs.
However they also say that someone working for them “... seems
to remember that Wade produced samples but the plug was pulled on
this due to a kidnapping at the time of a bank manager!!!!”
We were later contacted by someone who worked
for Lombard at the time of the pigs and they confirm that an initial
order of 100 pigs was placed with Wade but that no further orders
were made. We are most grateful for the information which would
seem to provide the conclusive proof we have been waiting for.
We
are therefore convinced that Wade did produce this pig for Lombard
NatWest,
in a limited production run of only 100.
The most fascinating part of the tale has now come to light
as shown in the following extract from an internal
news
magazine from Lombard Natwest dated Sept 1995
|
|
|
