Swiss bank vault on sale complete with EIGHT MILLION coins worth £270k (2024)

• Swiss activist group selling the vault after they used it for campaign stunt
• They filled it with a five centime coin for each person in Switzerland
• Then they dumped the cash in front of the Swiss parliament building
• Idea was to raise awareness of campaign for basic monthly income
• Activists hope the cash raised will help them take their campaign worldwide
  

By Daily Mail Reporter

Published: 13:05 BST, 29 November 2013 | Updated: 14:05 BST, 29 November 2013

This genuine sale is perfect for anyone wanting to recreate Scrooge McDuck's cartoon money swimming pool.

An activist group is selling genuine vault from a Swiss bank complete with eight million coins worth £270,000

The safe is currently located in Basel, Switzerland, but the sellers say it can be removed and replaced anywhere in the world.

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It was built in 1912 and features 1619 deposit boxes with all keys available. The boxes and lockers were handmade from steel and brass.

The vault is being sold by the Generation Basic Income Initiative, who campaign for a basic income for each Swiss citizen on a monthly basis.

In October they placed eight million five-centime pieces into the bank vault, one for each citizen in Switzerland before dumping the 15 tons of money in front of the parliament building in Bern.

Now the vault and its contents are up for sale with the price negotiable on application.

Spokesman Che Wagner says: 'It is the original bank safe from the former Schweizer Volksbank and known to be one of the finest Swiss piece of craftwork in the early 20th Century.

'It is in very good shape and still usable as a bank deposit safe. It will be removed from its original location and be replaced anywhere in the world. You'll freely decide what happens with it.

'This is not just an investment in a historical, exclusive and certainly unique object but also an investment in a global cultural impulse.'

The Generation Basic Income Initiative aims for the government to give a minimum monthly disposal household income of CHF 2,500 (£1,690; $2,700) to every citizen living in Switzerland.

As well as dumping the cash in front of the Swiss parliament last month, the group also presented MPs with a 130,000-signature petition urging them to introduce the radical measure.

The Swiss Parliament must address or hold a referendum over any issue which has gathered more than 100,000 signatures.

Activists hope the sale of the vault will help them to raise the funds to take their campaign worldwide.

Mr Wager explained: 'The budget of our Generation Basic Income global cultural campaign is estimated at €10m; the amount we'll need to move on with our work to promote the idea of the basic income worldwide and especially in Switzerland, where within three years a national vote is held about the issue.

'This amount will set free possibilities of performances like the one with the coins on the national Square in Bern.'