OLDWICK, N.J. — “I just sort of liked mechanical banks,” said dealer and collector Tom Sage Sr. “Twenty some years ago, I bought one at a sale in New Jersey, which was the Merry Go Round bank, and that was the first one I bought to keep. I sent my daughter go to the sale and told her just to buy it, don’t make a deal with anybody, just buy it. And I was in Chicago at the time and I called her and she told me she paid $20,000 for it, and I said, “Are you crazy?!” And so Tom Sage Sr., stumbled into collecting mechanical banks head first. His renowned collection of 174 antique mechanical banks approaches the block at RSL Auction Company’s June 2-3 sale. For more information, www.rslauctionco.com.