A few days ago, I was scouting for office space around West 57th Street when I happened to walk by Stack’s Rare Coins shop…

…and noticed what looked sort of like an ATM out front.

Curious, I looked a little closer and realized this wasn’t any ordinary ATM…

This ATM dispenses gold.

Gold or silver, to be exact. Run by Stack’s Bowers Galleries, the collectible coin retailer/auctioneer, the ATM (currency exchange vending machine?) allows you to insert your debit card and buy gold bars in 1 oz ($1,327), 10g ($490), or 5g ($255) on the spot, along with several gold and silver coins. Prices are updated every 60 seconds based on the market.

You can see the actual gold bars displayed in a little window below the screen, each about the size of a memory card.

And while I like the idea of spending $1,327 only to have a little gold trinket drop unceremoniously out of the machine, possibly to accidentally bounce into a nearby sewer grate, have no fear – you also get an attractive gift box.

It certainly is an original idea, but does anyone actually use this? A part of me wanted to buy a small gold bar just to do the classic cowboy movie bite test, but I don’t think the standard Citibank ATM would allow me to re-deposit it.

-SCOUT

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