Ceramic Ernie money box

Ceramic Ernie money box

The electronic random number indicator equipment, named ERNIE was built at the Post Office Research Station, Dollis Hill. This fantastically innovative machine was developed to randomly select Premium Bond numbers, a new scheme launched in 1956 by the post-war government to reduced inflation and encourage more people to save. The public had the chance to win life change sums through tax-free prizes in monthly prize draws. For many people it was the first ‘electronic brain’ they had ever heard of. ERNIE was represented with an increasingly human form, like this money box, as the machine became a household name.