NEW YORK — The stock market was in the middle of another spectacular gyration — up more than 500 points one day after dropping more than 400 — and President George W. Bush had come to calm Wall Street, urging world leaders not to overregulate free markets.
The economic crisis was palpable throughout Manhattan’s downtown financial district, yet the atmosphere inside the Federal Reserve Bank of New York was eerily serene, almost like a church.
It was fitting, for money is worshiped at “the Fed,” as the central bank is known, and a visit to the nation’s central bank feels like a trip to capitalism’s cathedral. Where the bodies of saints would otherwise lie, the bank’s catacombs are stuffed with about $180 billion in gold bars — more than is stowed in Fort Knox, and almost one-quarter of the world’s supply.
As New York tourist destinations go, the historic landmark on Liberty Street attracts a fraction of the visitors to the city’s more famous spots. But the bank plays a much more vital part in our daily lives: The Fed implements monetary policy and, in the New York building’s open-market trading floor, handles billions of U.S. government debt. After the bank’s free 30-minute guided tour, you will leave knowing a lot more about money than when you walked in.
The first thing you come across is what looks like an unguarded gold bar, slowly spinning, with the invitation, “Help yourself!” But the bar turns out to be a hologram, your hand passing through it like fog.
Although the tour is largely humorless and strict, the displays in the lobby are surprisingly fun even as they’re informative. Used bank notes are no longer burned but shredded, and there’s $48 million in minced $100 bills in one display. Not far away, an exhibit about counterfeiting presents some really good fakes.
Hundreds of rare coins and currency to illustrate the history of money are on loan to the bank. The highlights include a shekel from 109 B.C., and the most valuable coin ever sold, a U.S. 1933 Double Eagle that fetched nearly $8 million in a recent auction.
The bank’s top historical exhibits are interactive. The best is called “Match Wits With Ben” (as in Franklin), a computer game in which your knowledge of monetary policy is measured against a clock. There are only seven questions, but you probably will miss about half of them unless you dream of stock tables in your sleep.
Sample: What organization did the United States create in 1865 to suppress counterfeiters? Answer: the Secret Service.
After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 the Fed tour eliminated a stop on the bank’s trading floors, making the trip down to the gold vault the centerpiece of the visit.
Two dozen business graduate students were in my group, traveling five stories below street level to see the vault, and they nearly swooned when they saw all the gold bars (each worth about $320,000) neatly stacked to the ceiling.
Ninety percent of the gold belongs to foreign countries, stored in the Fed’s little cells for safekeeping. The bricks are so heavy (about 28 pounds each) that vault workers wear $500 magnesium boots to avoid smashed foot bones, and the concrete floor is dented from bars that once toppled over.
As soon as the tour is over, guests are given a free little bag of shredded bills. It’s a funny souvenir of one of the bank’s functions, but a more sobering — though unintentional — reminder of the status of the economy.
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Address: 33 Liberty St., New York, N.Y.
Tours: Reservations can be made online, but reserve several weeks in advance. Tours are offered Monday through Friday, excluding bank holidays, six times daily.
Information: , call 212-720-6130 or e-mail frbnytours@ny.frb.org.
