It's not easy to replenish the gold bullion you spent on a hoop skirt and that Napoleonic cannon on-the-go these days. Thankfully, rare coin gallery Stack's Bowers's "Gold-to-go" ATM has got you covered, offering up solid gold bars for a mere $1,327-a-pop.
Scouting NY spotted the mini Fort Knox this week, located just outside Stack's Bowers's shop on West 57th Street. The machine allows you to use a credit card or cash [EDIT: Cash only!] to purchase one ounce gold bars for around $1,300, in addition to 10 gram bars for about $490 and 5 gram bars for $255, depending on market prices. You can also purchase gold and silver coins, along with commemorative Bronx Zoo silver coins and pieces, in case you want a memento from a tourist attraction located several miles north—all purchases come packaged in "an attractive gift box."
According to a Times piece, as of 2009 there were only about 20 such Gold ATMs in the world, slightly edging out the international Cupcake ATM count. And it appears these machines, created by German gold dealers TG-Gold-Super-Markt, were fashioned to stick it to the man, in a way. "The banks have an oligopoly,” company founder Thomas Geissler, an apparent sworn enemy of William Jennings Bryan, told the Grey Lady. “Generally, oligopolies wait too long to compete, and by then it is too late."
We contacted Stack's Bowers to find out if anyone's traded their Cash4Gold at the machine recently, and will update if and when we hear back. And before you make a beeline for Midtown to go all Scrooge McDuck on the ATM, note that you pretty much can't use gold for anything other than to show your friends how rich you are, so you might as well save your money for a bitcoin machine.
Updated 12:54 p.m.: We spoke with Andrew Bowers of Stack's Bowers, who told us the Gold ATM is used pretty frequently. "We had someone use it today," he said, noting that though the smaller gold and silver items were more popular than the pricy bars, "We've sold items over $1000 dollars as well."
Bowers says there were two other Gold ATMs in the United States as of last year, with one in Las Vegas and another in Atlantic City. Stack's Bowers purchased the machine from TG-Gold-Super-Markt about two years ago. "Lots of people come in and take pictures and use it," he said. "It catches people's eye."
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