Gold bar (Dead Money)

The gold bar is a miscellaneous item .
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==Background==
When Frederick Sinclair began constructing the Sierra Madre Casino & Resort, in order to safely protect the guests including his lover Vera Keyes, he made backdoor deals with the scientists of Big MT to provide cutting-edge technologies that would help turn the casino into an opulent fallout shelter. As part of preparation for the impending nuclear apocalypse, he filled a secret vault with many valuables including several samples of gold bullion.
However, when Sinclair discovered the machinations of Dean Domino in trying to ruin his life, his noble vision became tainted with hatred and all his remaining wealth that was meant to supply a promising future instead was arranged into an irresistible lure meant to trap the man in a prison of his own making.
The effects of this would persist long after Sinclair's death as the legends of the Sierra Madre and the Old-World treasure it contained spread across the wasteland, attracting innumerable treasure-seekers to throw their lives away attempting to claim it.
==Locations==
The Courier can find 37 gold bars in the Sierra Madre vault, accessible only during the quest Heist of the Centuries. There are 36 gold bars on a table to the right as the player character opens the vault door together with some pre-War money and Sierra Madre chips, and the 37th is on the desk near the vault control terminal.
==Notes==
* The abundance of gold bars in the vault are meant to be a physical embodiment of Dead Moneys moral lesson, similarly exemplified by the vault's voice-lock code phrase: "Begin again but know when to let go." Under normal circumstances, attempting to take every gold bar will inevitably slow the Courier down, rendering timely escape impossible and resulting in death. The logic is, the maximum possible Carry Weight (without using console commands) is 375 lbs (with 10 Strength, the Strong Back and Burden to Bear perks and the Hoarder trait). Achieving this Carry Weight before reaching the vault permits only 10 of the total 37 bars (for a total of 350 lbs) to be taken away safely from the vault.
* Per unit value, gold bars are the fourth most valuable item in Fallout: New Vegas (all add-ons included), being surpassed only by the Tesla-Beaton prototype, Red Glare and Elijah's jury-rigged Tesla cannon. By value / weight ratio, a gold bar is 301 caps or roughly 750 NCR dollars per pound.
* The total value of all 37 gold bars is 390,239 caps, weighing 1,295 pounds.
* Monetizing these gold bars can be a challenge, as few merchants in the Mojave carry enough to match the full 10,000+ caps value of just a single one. Below are some potential buyers and the caps they typically carry:
** The Sink Central Intelligence Unit has a variable high amount, up to 24,000 caps.
** Blake will sometimes spawn with 12,000 caps or more.
** The hologram vendors in the Sierra Madre each have 2,500 units of pre-War money, sold for 12 caps per unit, which amounts to 25,000 caps in total.
** The Vendortron at the Gun Runners has around 8,000 caps.
** The quartermaster in the Hidden Valley bunker, Knight Torres, often has 8,000 caps.
** Sergeant Contreras, the NCR supply merchant in Camp McCarran, also usually has 8,000 caps or more.
** The arms merchant at the 188 Trading Post usually has around 8,000 caps or more.
** Alexander at the 188 Trading Post also has 8,000 caps or more.
** Old Lady Gibson may have 8,000 or more caps later in the game.
** The commissary terminals in the Divide will have around 6,000 caps, and will replenish anytime their reserves drop below 200 caps after the player exits the menu.
** Calamity in the Jacobstown lodge usually has around 4,000 caps or more later in the game.
* A gold bar cannot be moved with the "grab" command when dropped.
* The stamping on the gold bars reads "10 oz pure gold," which is inconsistent with their in-game size and weight. 35 pounds would convert to 510.4 troy ounces. In real life, the largest standardized tradable gold bar is at 400 ounces.
* The gold bar shares the same Pip-Boy icon as the steel ingot from Fallout 3s The Pitt add-on.
==Gallery==
Gold bars vault.jpg|36 gold bars
Category:Dead Money miscellaneous items
Category:Economy
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