Automatic teller machines (ATMs) — 500 of them — dispensing pieces of gold will be available around Germany, Switzerland and Austria by the end of this year.

That at least is the plan of German precious metals online trading company TG-Gold-Super-Markt.de. The ATMs, to be located at airports, railway stations and shopping malls, are intended to accustom ordinary people to the idea of investing in a physical asset such as gold, the thinking goes.



Thomas Geissler, the company’s chief executive, said the gold ATMs might even improve relations between the sexes.



“I have yet to meet a woman who does not like a gift of gold. It’s better than flowers. Flowers are more expensive. They wilt and you (as a man) don’t get as many points at home as if you bring gold,” he said.



A prototype ATM on display for a one-day marketing test at the main railway station in Frankfurt, Germany’s financial capital, did indeed reward your correspondent with a 1-gramme (0.0353 ounce) piece of gold.



It cost the equivalent of $42.25 — a 30 percent premium over the spot market price.