Pearlized Maneki Neko Beckoning Waving Cat Good Feng Shui Fortune Piggy Bank 7"

Description

Vintage Maneki Neko Beckoning Waving Cat Good Luck Fortune Figurine Piggy Bank Lucky Feng Shui
Promote prosperity, good health, and general well being harmonizing Feng Shui in your home with this
vintage opalescent pearlized ceramic Maneki-Neko pre owned piggy bank in unused condition with no chips, cracks, or crazing that measures 6.75 inches tall by 3.5 inches in diameter.  The Maneki-Neko (Japanese: 招き猫), "beckoning cat" is a common Japanese lucky charm figurine which is often believed to bring good luck to the owner.  Maneki-Neko is a Japanese Bobtail cat beckoning with an upright paw, and is usually displayed in or at the entrance of shops, restaurants, pachinko parlors, and other businesses.  Some of the sculptures are animated and have a slow moving paw beckoning.
The Maneki-Neko is sometimes also called the welcoming cat, lucky cat, money cat, happy cat, raging cat, beckoning cat, or fortune cat in and are depicted holding a a gold coin called a koban (小判), used during the Edo period in Japan.  A koban was worth one ryō, an early Japanese monetary and the koban most Maneki-Neko hold is indicated to be worth 'ten million ryō', an extraordinary sum of money.  In Japanese, the idiom 'koban to cats' is a traditional saying equivalent to the Western 'pearls before swine'.  The cat's part in bringing good fortune and wealth which is why Maneki-Neko are often presented as coin banks, a practice which goes back at least to the 1890s, much like the Western piggy bank.
The Maneki-neko comes in different colors, styles and degrees of ornateness. Common colors are white, black, gold, and sometimes red and is also sometimes called the "Chinese lucky cat" due to its popularity among Chinese merchants.