NOW IDENTIFIED: Palmer National Bank Souvenir Building in Sarasota Florida

Collector Bob E. has now identified a previously unidentified still coin bank as the Palmer National Bank of Sarasota, Florida. It is plate #1332 in the book, Monumental Miniatures. Bob was able to identify the building because the person who sold it to him also included with the sale a coin medallion showing the building and name. The miniature building coin bank is made by the American Art Works Company in Coshocton, Ohio in the 1920’s. Unlike many other coin banks, this one had no inscription with a name on the base. The real building in Sarasota went though varies changes over the years and has been demolished. On July 21, 1929, the Sarasota Herald announced the opening of the real Palmer National Bank building. Led by members of the Palmer family, major players in Sarasota's business life, the Palmer Bank initially occupied the vacant American National Bank building (later known as the Orange Blossom Hotel), but soon moved into the empty First Bank and Trust facility at Five Points. Palmer Bank remained solvent throughout the Depression, and with the post-World War II economic recovery, it expanded with the development of Sarasota. In 1945 GA. Miller Construction Co. of Tampa, which had built the original structure in 1924, was hired to build an annex on the east side of the bank. During 1964, the building received a new face. Any remaining decorative work, after removal of the terra cotta cornice in the 1950s, was cut away and replaced with a modern facade of marble, steel, aluminum and glass. Palmer Bank merged with Southeast Bank in 1976 and Southeast Bank merged with First Union in 1991. Sometime after 1991, the building was demolished. In this location was built a multi-storied condominium, offices, retail and restaurants on the street level called Plaza at Five Points.