Shepherd: Pretty rare. The Atlanta and Kansas City Feds both have one, but they all operate differently. It is quite the involved process to get a bar from the Mint. Throughout this process, I learned about the U.S. Mint’s structure, locations and operations. They were great to work with.
We had to meet both the St. Louis Fed’s and the Mint’s security requirements for the case. And then we had to get the bar here from New York. From start to finish the project has taken almost two years, so we had to stay dedicated to completing the exhibit. To that end, the bar will be under constant surveillance.
The gold bar exhibit—called “Raise the Bar”—is currently located toward the end of the Economy Museum experience, in Zone 5.
Later, it will be transferred into the museum’s expansion space that is coming soon—focusing on ancient coin and currency. We have some of these artifacts out now for people to see, like Aztec axe money and Egyptian glass money.