Montgomery Ward 1966 Catalogue page showing Toy Cash Registers

This page features the Marx Bonus Bank, the Fisher Price Wooden cash register and two Tom Thumb registers. These catalogue pages are one of the only ways to date toy cash registers for sure.

Interestingly, the child's hands suggest that the toy is small like most three coin registering banks which are usually about 5" 6" high, but this one is quite heavy and giant at over 9" high. The photo in the catalogue also shows the prize as a teapot which is most definitely NOT one of the bonus prizes! The prizes are a racing car, checkers and board, dominoes, horseshoe game, and ring toss.

An interesting note is that because this was made in 1966, it didn't follow laws concerning choking hazards in toys for children 2 through 8 years old. You can see this clearly in the size of the bonus toys which you'd never see in toys today. The U.S Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) was established in 1973 by the Consumer Product Safety Act. The jamor regulation issued under this act in 1979 was the Small Parts Regulation which bans any toys which present a choking, aspiration, or ingestion hazard because of small parts having an interior diameter of less than 1.25." 

Full report: http://www.cpsc.gov/businfo/adg.pdf  
CSPC Website: http://www.cpsc.gov/  

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See the actual register on this page

F.A. Patrick & Co, Duluth Catalogue 1910
 showing Toy Cash Registers

This page features several popular and beautifully designed antique toy cash registers. What's particularly interesting here is that they are sold by the dozen, telling us that this is a wholesale catalogue. Also interesting is that these toys do not have brand names. 

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This is a reproduction of the actual patent for this glass cash register candy box below. How amazing is that?

More information and a photo of the actual register.