Spend money to make money, say $4,000 piggybanks

Hogging a lot of Tet season attention this year, the Year of the Pig, are limited edition piggybanks costing up to $4,303 each.

One of the most common Lunar New Year traditions is the display and use of symbolic items to invoke the gods to bless a house with luck. The zodiac for the coming Lunar Year is the Pig, and there is large demand for piggybanks that carry the symbols of fortune, either etched, carved or painted.

Among the most extravagant of the piggybanks are made by a ceramic company in Bat Trang Village in Hanoi, which is famous for its traditional pottery that has lasted seven centuries and is still going strong.

Artisan Vuong The Cuong, who creates these items himself, said: “There are 4 words “Tich, Phuc, Vo, Cuong” carved on the pigs which teach children and grandchildren to preserve moral qualities and accumulate a lot of merit. The more merit accumulated, the more prosperous one becomes.”