Banks: A possible gold source?

[kalos72]

So have any of you guys thought about local banks as possible sources of precious metals and gems/jewelry or the like?

I doubt anyone would be able to break into the average bank vault solo...

Not to mention any of the federal reserve banks or larger storage facilities?

[Legbreaker]

Without effective law enforcement anyone attempting it would have plenty of time. Given access to heavy equipment such as cranes and bulldozers as well as time, no bank vault is safe.

But why? Any cash no longer has any real value, and precious stones and metals are only so much shiny landfill. Ok, there's some use for some metals, but is it worth the trouble? Wouldn't it be smarter to use your resources to put food on the table and provide security for yourself and your allies?

Ok yes, there will be a few groups robbing the banks, but how long until they realise their actions are somewhat pointless in the new world?

[kalos72]

Well, if you are looking for precious metals and the like, and using that to fund your rebuilding efforts. I imagine you would get alot of gold/silver jewelry and the like.

Not the cash, unless you were going to try use to as a local currency some how. Maybe record the serial #'s or something? Find alot of it in serial # sequence and just use those serial #'s?

The whole currency thing, past barter or ammo and oil, is a pain for me...

[Legbreaker]

So why are precious metals so precious in the first place? Gold and silver for instance are too soft to make tools with (although in the absence of a supply of lead could make decent bullets).
Probably wouldn't be until a few years on, when people again start to have a little time for leisure activities and various artisans can be supported as crop yields increase before jewellery becomes sought after again (beyond say the odd wedding ring and the like). Until then, it's likely there's more than enough supply just laying about in somewhat less secure jewellers stores, tucked away in sock drawers, and on dead bodies (some perhaps still warm...)

Metals such as good steel and copper will have a much greater value to those "lucky" enough to have survived the war.

[kalos72]

Besides the symbolism, anything is worth what people will pay for it.

If I am the bossman in BumScrew Texas and I control the food, if I say a days food is worth 10g gold, then all of a sudden gold is worth something.

Same as if I say 10 Coke bottle caps are required for a days food.

Looking forward, gold/silver/oil backed currency is probably on someones list of things to do. Fiat currency is worthless, literally.

I do suppose, talking this out, if you control the food/oil you can have the locals find all the gold there is just by requiring it to buy food.

[Legbreaker]

Sure, but then what do you do with that gold once you've got it? A great big pile of shiny yellow stuff is all well and good, but even the worst despot has to pay somebody something some of the time. Will they accept gold or will they want more of that food you're giving the plebs in return for the gold you're collecting?
Only the supremely rich (in post apocalyptic terms) can afford to collect luxuries like gold and gems.

[CDAT]

Originally Posted by kalos72

So have any of you guys thought about local banks as possible sources of precious metals and gems/jewelry or the like?

I hate to break it to you, but with the exception of what people may have in there safe deposit boxes, banks do not keep gold or silver on hand. You probably could get some, but I am guessing not much out of safe deposit boxes, I am guessing that there are two issues with this. 1st if the area did not take much damage I am thinking most people would empty there boxes as they likely also have things with sentimental value. 2nd if they did not empty them, there is going to be lots of stuff that the thief's would see as junk (paper work, things like wills and such, family photos, love letters that they saved, etc.) and some gold/silver and/or jewelry.

Originally Posted by kalos72

I doubt anyone would be able to break into the average bank vault solo...

If it is is still manned then no, if it is in an area with a competent patrol, also probably not, if none of the above then given enough time yes one person can break in, they can only carry what they can carry so that is the biggest limitation I think. both for tools to break in, and to carry stuff away. Either you have a vehicle/pack animal (that you leave unmanned as you are making lots of noise breaking in, or you have to carry everything on you back.

Originally Posted by kalos72

Not to mention any of the federal reserve banks or larger storage facilities?

Except for the NY Fed they do not store gold/silver, the NY Fed stores the gold and silver for other countries. I would expect that most of it would be gone by this time, as if the world situation is heating up, I do not think that you are going to leave your money in some place that you might be shooting at them soon. The gold/silver dealers/storage facilities might be a good place, but my understanding is that gold and silver are big sellers when things start looking bleak, so they may have sold most of what they had. Then again they may be filled to the brim, as people may have been selling off what they had to make ends meet, I can not say.

[unkated]

Originally Posted by CDAT

Except for the NY Fed they do not store gold/silver, the NY Fed stores the gold and silver for other countries.

Fort Knox!

(queue up the James Bond base line, followed by the Goldfinger theme!)

Hmmm. Anyone know where the Soviet government held their gold reserves?

(queue up the James Bond base line, followed by the Goldfinger theme!)

Now, there's a reason to head a campaign east rather than west from Poland!

Originally Posted by CDAT

I would expect that most of it would be gone by this time, as if the world situation is heating up, I do not think that you are going to leave your money in some place that you might be shooting at them soon.

No, but you may be caught unawares. While the pickings in (Communist) Poland and East Germany will not have personal supplies of gold or silver, American or Western European banks very well amy.

I know that in the United States, many banks have safe deposit boxes. The small, local branch banks I have used most of my life have them. The yield in a given box may not be high or interesting , but if you have sufficient tools and time, you can collect an amount of jewelry, diamonds, or perhaps silver or gold (antique) coins. Certainly a higher concentration of such than simply hitting up houses. Of course, I'd advise such a course of action only in deserted places.

Larger banks in cities would likely have a better haul, simply from the concentration of customers.

And yes, places that did not go to hell suddenly likely had people remove their valuables.

The problem, of course, is that it is quite likely that someone has been there first, probably while your PCs were still off soldiering.

An interesting (if dangerous) possibility is (large city) banks in places that were near nuke strikes. Dutch cities around Rotterdam come to mind, though if you use the V2 set of nuke strikes, you had best stick to the cities near the fringe of the region, or you are likely to fry before completing the heist...

And yes, all of this depends on the region where you campaign is. If food is a genuine issue, gold and silver are of secondary value. If life has gone back to the point where people believe there will be a morning after, then gold and silver may have value, probably not to the immediate population, but a means of exchange with other folk more portable than say a ton of wheat....

Uncle Ted

"A Telefunken H-bomb? Ja, ja, it looks just like a Telefunken radio. Except (heh, heh), when you a trying to get England, you are trying to get England!"

[StainlessSteelCynic]

It will definitely depend on the region you're in.
From what people are saying here, safety deposit boxes are relatively commonplace in banks in the USA but in other countries they are not so common.
For example, it's only major banks in Australia that bother with maintaining such boxes and even then, they are usually only to be found in the major cities and from what I understand, in some cases they are nothing more than locked boxes within the vault rather than the separate deposit box rooms you see in the movies.
So in Australia, you are not going to find a bank in a large town with any safety deposit boxes. I have no idea about Europe, any members from that part of the world able to tell us about safety deposit boxes in Europe?

[CDAT]

Originally Posted by StainlessSteelCynic

It will definitely depend on the region you're in.
From what people are saying here, safety deposit boxes are relatively commonplace in banks in the USA but in other countries they are not so common.
For example, it's only major banks in Australia that bother with maintaining such boxes and even then, they are usually only to be found in the major cities and from what I understand, in some cases they are nothing more than locked boxes within the vault rather than the separate deposit box rooms you see in the movies.
So in Australia, you are not going to find a bank in a large town with any safety deposit boxes. I have no idea about Europe, any members from that part of the world able to tell us about safety deposit boxes in Europe?

I am not sure that I would say that they are common place in the US. My brother works for a bank and talking with him, only one of there branches has any. My bank also only has them in one branch, there main office, and thinking back last time I was in the bank it looked like they had maybe 25-30 boxes total.

[Slappy]

I think interest in gold depends on your outlook and planning horizon and will be u shaped through time in 2K.

Let me explain. Gold and jewels are highly likely to be valuable again someday, if things recover even a little. So, if I think I'll make it to then, they're valuable to me. They also have a powerful psychological pull. They'll be valuable to many, at least a little bit, for that reason. But, when I'm starving, I plant turnips. I don't rob banks. When really in the shit, they have nearly no value.

So, I think they have value early on when people expect things to bounce back quickly, very little when people are living at a subsistence level, and more later on as conditions improve. They will have value throughout to speculators who have the resources to plan for a longer term. But no one without food, a weapon, or a functioning market will give a damn.

[Silent Hunter UK]

Originally Posted by kalos72

So have any of you guys thought about local banks as possible sources of precious metals and gems/jewelry or the like?

Only if they have safety deposit boxes of course.

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by Silent Hunter UK

Only if they have safety deposit boxes of course.

Where I am (a town with roughly 100,000 people) I don't know of any. There's just no call for them.
Most people tend to store valuables at home or at work. The number of privately owned walk in safes in the CBD is absolutely astounding even though most people don't even know they're there! I know this because I've seen almost half of them over the years through work.

[CDAT]

Originally Posted by Silent Hunter UK

Only if they have safety deposit boxes of course.

I think that you are much more likely to find them in the bigger cities, on the east coast. Where most things are tighter. Out here on the west coast, some of the banks have them, but even then there are not that many. Talking with people that I know in the banking industry not many are even are rented.

[Matt Wiser]

If you're doing an adventure based on Kelly's Heroes, it's pretty much a given that the loot (whatever it is: gold, diamonds, whatever) is going to be kept in a bank. When the CSU Fresno group did that one, the gold was in a bank, but not in the safe: someone had blown the safe before the KGB convoy arrived, and so the gold was stored inside the bank, covered with tarps and the building guarded around the clock.

[Olefin]

actually some money might still be worth grabbing - i.e. French francs and British pounds - both are still being used as currency in their respective countries - and while you cant buy much in Britain you sure could in France

and there is always a market for gems, jewelry and gold - even during the Dark Ages after Rome fell they still had value

[CDAT]

Originally Posted by Olefin

actually some money might still be worth grabbing - i.e. French francs and British pounds - both are still being used as currency in their respective countries - and while you cant buy much in Britain you sure could in France

and there is always a market for gems, jewelry and gold - even during the Dark Ages after Rome fell they still had value

I am not saying that I think they would not have value, I am saying that I do not think that the banks would be a good place to find lots of gold/silver/gems. Cash I do not think would have much value, some maybe depending on where you are.