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WITH £88,000-worth of gold glittering in front of her, the challenge was irresistible for my ten-year-old daughter, Flora.
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She pulled and she heaved, but at 13 kilos, the ingot proved too heavy for her and the Bank of England kept its treasure.
Luckily, Flora was not showing early leanings towards a life of crime - she was just enjoying a day out at the Bank during the school holidays and learning about money rather than spending loads of it.
Flora and her sister, Isabella, 8, were greeted by a door-lady in pink frock coat and top hat before they entered the City's most famous institution, in Threadneedle Street.
Isabella was immediately drawn to a display about Wind In The Willows author Kenneth Grahame, a former Bank of England Secretary.
Flora preferred to get to grips with the money at a hands-on foreign exchange dealing desk. She also jumped at the challenge of picking up the solid gold bar and looked amazed when she was told its value based on that day's gold price.
While the gold bar defeated them, both came away with some free booty. This included replica Saxon coins, 'enough for four gallons of beer', minted on the spot by Grunal the Moneyer, a real-life coin and jewellery craftsman dressed in full historical costume.
His stories and coin-making kept them amused until an actor dressed as Charles Darwin - the face on the reverse of the £10 note - regaled them with tales of the scientist's own wealth that funded his expedition to the Galapagos Islands aboard HMS Beagle. This week, it is Charles Dickens' turn to entertain, despite recently disappearing from the £10 note.
While the complexities of the Bank of England's role in maintaining financial stability and setting interest rates eluded my children, they came away enthusiastic and happy, especially with an extra gift of a badge in the shape of the Bank's doorman.
The increasingly complex financial world faced by adults means that most youngsters would benefit from a head-start in becoming financially aware. Museum visits can help the learning process, but school is probably a more fertile ground.
Wendy van den Hende is chief executive of the Personal Finance Education Group, a charity that promotes the teaching of personal finance in schools.
'The levels of adult financial literacy are low in Britain,' she says. 'Given that children pick up much of their information from parents, it makes sense to teach it in schools.'
There is no obligation to give lessons in personal finance at school, but growing numbers of teachers are adding it to classes in the personal, social and health education and citizenship sections of the curriculum, as well as to more traditional areas such as maths, science and geography.
The PFEG is three years into a four-year programme with secondary schools in England to devise appropriate teaching packages and materials.
'Financial life is so complicated now. There are hundreds of different credit cards and 4,000 mortgage products,' says Van den Hende.
'Mobile phone tariffs can tax the most financially astute. We are also living longer and that means it is important to know how to cope financially with retirement.
'There are also the financial problems created by a growing tendency for relationships to break down. And then there are student loans. People have got to learn earlier how to deal with these issues.'
• The Bank of England Museum entrance is in Bartholomew Lane, London EC2. Open Monday to Friday, 10 am to 5pm. The banknote characters and Grunal the Moneyer are there until 29 August. www.bankofengland.co.uk, www.pfeg.org
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