REUBEN / RUBEN S. COFFMAN (1836-1900) ATTRIBUTED, MOUNT CRAWFORD, SHENANDOAH VALLEY OF VIRGINIA EARTHENWARE / REDWARE PRESENTATION MONEY BANK, manganese- and lead-glazed, semi-ovoid form having a flared open mouth with beaded neck, a cut-out coin slot below, and beaded foot. Incised "Annie L. Dinges. / 1876" to underside. Dated 1876. 4" HOA.
Literature: For a jug with similar script see Comstock - The Pottery of the Shenandoah Valley Region, p. 389, fig. 7.28. 
Catalogue Note: In 1876, Annie L. Dinges was a 13-year-old resident of Mt. Crawford, Virginia, the daughter and only child of physician George and Elizabeth Dinges. Nearby town residents of the Dinges family included Reuben Coffman (one of five sons born to prolific potter Andrew Coffman), father/son potters Lindsay and Erasmus Morris, George Duey, James Shinnick, and Mathias Ireland. Each of these figures were associated with the pottery industry in the small town circa 1876. By 1880, Mathias Ireland was recorded as living next door to Dr. Dinges and his daughter Annie. 
The Reuben/Ruben S. Coffman attribution of this bank is based on the similarity of script observed on a R.S. Coffman signed stoneware harvest jug illustrated in Comstock's The Pottery of the Shenandoah Valley Region. Perhaps Reuben made this small bank for Annie Dinges in appreciation for a service provided by her father, Dr. Dinges. At this time, we can only speculate.  

Having a chip to mouth, otherwise undamaged.