Vault containing eight million coins auctioned

Members of the initiative committee unwrap 160,000 rolls of CHF400,000 worth of coins in October Keystone

JamesEdition, a Swedish online market place selling anything from private jets to tropical islands, is auctioning a century-old Swiss bank vault and 15 tons of coins worth CHF400,000 ($444,000) that were used to promote a people's initiative.

The seller is a member of the committee that is forcing a referendum on whether Switzerland should introduce a minimum monthly government stipend of CHF2,500 per person, regardless of age and income.

In October, the committee symbolically dumped eight million golden CHF0.05 pieces in front of the parliament building, one each for every one of Switzerland’s inhabitants.

The vault and the coins are being sold by the luxury online auction house alongside luxury yachts, helicopters and cars.

The original bank safe with 1,619 deposit boxes, handcrafted in Switzerland in 1912, belonged to the former Schweizer Volksbank, which is now part of Credit Suisse, in Basel.

“It is in very good shape and still usable as a bank deposit safe,” JamesEdition writes on its website. “It will be removed from its original location and be replaced anywhere in the world. You’ll freely decide what happens with it.”

Several people have already shown their interest, committee member Che Wagner told Swiss radio SRF.