Bank Robbery - 1920s style

There’s just something indescribably satisfying about taking modern knowledge and using it to build hypothetical situations in which you mess with people in the past. As such, I would propose the following exercise: let’s say you build yourself a time machine. (Or hire a mad scientist to do it.) Being the conniving wretch you are, rather than using it for something fun, like white collar crime or pin the paradox on the universe, you decide that the best use of your new toy is to travel back in time and steal people’s sht. The government’s sht, most specifically. You find yourself looking for a bank anywhere in the world between the years of 1915-1920, the robbery of which would net you the most cash. You get to do your research and put together a crew in the present, but you don’t get to take anything modern back; once you and your crew arrive, you’ll have to get period supplies.

What bank would you chose to hit, and what would your plan be?

(I hope the mods don’t mind this; anything that’d work in the 1920s wouldn’t today, so it shouldn’t be discussing or promoting anything illegal. If it is, feel free to close this with my apologies. ^^)

Well, the choice of weapon would seem self-evident…

Actually, I’m not sure that I’d classify the years from 1915-1920 as occuring in the 1920s, otherwise your plan is foolproof.
[DrEvil]Fire the laser![/DrEvil]

wow…I would think a big city bank in the West, were people tended to use gold and silver coins more, from what I’ve read. Just the coins in drawers and in the vault would have been a real fortune, and no serial numbers to trace. Even a penny was like a dime in today’s money, or maybe even $.20, and the values just went up from there.

Fetch me my 1920s-Style Death Ray, Igor…

I think I’d check with present-day numismatists to see what coins and paper currency from that era are now most valuable, and go where/when I knew there’d be a hoard. Maybe pick up a few Inverted Jenny postage stamps while I’m at it: Inverted Jenny - Wikipedia