The total value of all your mines, mills, money bins, and so fourth is one multiplujillion, nine obsquatumatillion, six hundred and twenty-three dollars and sixty-two cents!

October 25, 2007 1:42 PM

A miniature of Scrooge McDuck's money bin.(in the words of the model maker) This is a set of images documenting a model of the world's richest duck's money bin, built by me, using blueprints created by the great Don Rosa and Dan Shane.And remember Carl Barks - the mind behind the idea of a man storing all his money in a giant concrete bin.
posted by JBennett (30 comments total)

Quite obsessive. I think my cats would confuse the second photo for a litterbox, though.
posted by Dave Faris at 1:53 PM on October 25, 2007

Oh GOD earworm alert!!!
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 1:54 PM on October 25, 2007

This is such a weird thing for someone to make. I love it.
posted by tepidmonkey at 1:55 PM on October 25, 2007

hehe those blueprints are awesome. I wanna break out my elementary school fortress plans.
posted by cowbellemoo at 1:59 PM on October 25, 2007

Ah, but can you swim in it?
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 2:09 PM on October 25, 2007

Here's a moneybin-centric episode on youtube.
posted by interrobang at 2:10 PM on October 25, 2007

It's only a model.
posted by shmegegge at 2:10 PM on October 25, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Is this more secure that Al Gore's Lock Box?
posted by ericb at 2:25 PM on October 25, 2007

*than*
posted by ericb at 2:25 PM on October 25, 2007

Me—I'm different! Everybody hates me, and I hate everybody!"

Haha! It's me, Scrooge McBrautigan
posted by brautigan at 2:25 PM on October 25, 2007

There is nothing more I wanted as a child than a moneybin of my own. I still want it, only now I realize the laws of physics would prevent me from swan diving into it from twenty feet.
posted by SassHat at 2:26 PM on October 25, 2007

It's only a model.

On second thought, let's not go to the money bin. 'Tis a silly place.
posted by starman at 2:33 PM on October 25, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Scrooger McDuck was Wilbur from Mr. Ed.

That is all.
posted by dgaicun at 2:36 PM on October 25, 2007

Here's a moneybin-centric episode on youtube.

Dude, what the fuck. If he used banks he'd get interest and his money would be insured. That talking duck cartoon has taxed the limits of my disbelief suspension.
posted by dgaicun at 2:41 PM on October 25, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Time to pull out this awesome comment from XQUZYPHYR.
posted by piratebowling at 2:56 PM on October 25, 2007 [8 favorites has favorites]

...only now I realize the laws of physics would prevent me from swan diving into it from twenty feet.

No, you could dive just fine.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 3:09 PM on October 25, 2007 [3 favorites has favorites]

I am an exciting person.
posted by gorgor_balabala at 3:16 PM on October 25, 2007

That is an awesome model!
posted by CCBC at 3:19 PM on October 25, 2007

Oh... my... GOD, that XQUZYPHR comment is the greatest thing I've ever read. just brilliant.
posted by shmegegge at 3:37 PM on October 25, 2007

That was a pretty fucking great comment on XQUZYPHYR's part. This model is pretty cool as well.

I think I may need to build my next house using the giant block design.
posted by quin at 3:49 PM on October 25, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

It looks like the Kaaba.
posted by Tube at 5:34 PM on October 25, 2007

Looking over the schematic diagram of the bin, what occurs to me is how strange it is to see two floors devoted to gatling guns, acid pools and assorted death traps. No one steals from McDuck.

Also, he has separate receptacles to collect for reuse uncanceled stamps, erased envelopes and eraser dust. To fuss about saving pennies when one has squijillions indicates mania.

about_time: I have it on good authority that Flintheart Glomgold now has more money that Scrooge.

Unfortunately this might be true, since it's well-known that Glomgold is Haliburton's largest avian investor.
posted by JHarris at 5:50 PM on October 25, 2007

what occurs to me is how strange it is to see two floors devoted to gatling guns, acid pools and assorted death traps. No one steals from McDuck.

See how good it works?
posted by misha at 6:02 PM on October 25, 2007

Oh MAN! This is great, and especially timely. That McDuck family tree that was FPP'ed about a month ago provoked me into getting my hands on a copy of Don Rosa's The Life of Times of Scrooge McDuck, and I read it last night. What a great character story. I've been inspired all day to be tougher than the toughies, sharper than the sharpies, and to make my money square.

This model even has the worry room! I love it.
posted by painquale at 6:22 PM on October 25, 2007

dgaicun: "...If he used banks he'd get interest and his money would be insured. That talking duck cartoon has taxed the limits of my disbelief suspension."

Speaking as a veteran competitor for Marvel No-Prizes (I never won one but I often competed) allow me to explain to you Dgaicun why he had all that wealth outside of banks.

Elementary. That vault did not represent the entirety of his wealth. It was simply the wealth he opted to remove from circulation, and probably truly represented a very small fraction (say less than ten percent) of his entire net worth. There are multiple explanations for why any rational duck would keep a portion of wealth out of economic circulation.

First, he didn't trust banks. Scrooge didn't trust anything really, so it is plausible to assume that he would hold a percentage of his wealth outside any bank but his own, so that if all the banks in the world folded overnight (like say during a depression such as one the canon source material indicates he lived through) he'd still be high and dry with his own personal reserve. Think of his vault as his equivalent of keeping a stash of money inside a mattress.. In fact perhaps the vault began as his mattress, until it became too big for him to sleep on.

Secondly, governments and/or financial institutions may have asked him to not circulate all his money at the same time, so that he wouldn't tax their reserves and resources. There would be economic reasons for this, just as there's reasons why governments pay farmers not to sell their grain. Doesn't seem to make sense but on paper, it does.

Thirdly, if you have that much money, it'd be fun to use a part of it to occasionally dive into, just for grins. You could even afford to have a research and development dept figure out a way where you could do that which didn't disrupt the laws of physics.

Fourthly, uhm... it's a comic book? Not even a Marvel comic come to think of it.
posted by ZachsMind at 7:40 PM on October 25, 2007

and probably truly represented a very small fraction (say less than ten percent) of his entire net worth.

In the linked cartoon the earthquake destroyed the vault and he said he lost everything.
posted by dgaicun at 9:03 PM on October 25, 2007

the creator definitely reminds me of a duck.
posted by RTQP at 10:16 PM on October 25, 2007

In the linked cartoon the earthquake destroyed the vault and he said he lost everything.

The blueprints for the bin indicate that there is a large storage area for documentation, deeds, etc. With the bin gone, he has no proof of his largesse.

Plus, that's a totally different money bin, and therefore a totally different alternate universe McDuck. I would please you, sir, to specify if we are talking about the Comic Book Canon, the Cartoon Canon, or the NES Game Canon here.
posted by maus at 3:01 AM on October 26, 2007

I'm referring of course to the cannon canon.

===BOOM!===

*cough* *cough* *cough*
posted by ZachsMind at 3:51 AM on October 26, 2007

Cool post, great comments. Best of the Webfooted.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 12:14 PM on October 26, 2007