Sir Nathaniel
Lombard NatWest

   

 

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.

 


Regrettably Wade have always maintained that they cannot find any record of the pig being produced, and have 'questioned its authenticity'. Lombard NatWest couldn't provide any information and say that with many corporate changes since 1995, there is no-one left who could remember anything about them! We are now waiting for a reply from NatWest to see if they can help.

There are several puzzling aspects to this piggy bank which really do need clarification:-

  • It is so remarkably similar to Sir Nathaniel but with a normal red tie instead of the bow tie.
  • The pig is embossed Wade England just like the original.
  • Same height, looks identical except the colour is not pure black but has a deep blue sheen.
  • This one weights 705gms against our real Sir Nathaniel at 675gms - just 1oz different.
  • The Certificate looks fairly authentic, signed by Peter Mill, Marketing Manager.
  • It is inconceivable to think that Lombard would have given away fake Wade piggy banks.
  • It is hard to imagine that Wade can't remember something so like their famous NatWest pigs.

*UPDATE*

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 all along we have remained totally convinced of his authenticity.

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!!!!”

UPDATE FEBRUARY 2007 - We have been 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.

If anyone can throw any further light on this rare character please do e-mail us.
 

Certificate of Authenticity



Lombard NatWest piggy bank

Certificate of Authenticity

 

  Our sincere thanks to Mark for bringing Sir Nathaniel to our attention and for providing the original photographs for us to include on the Piggy Bank Page.


 

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