There are very valuable gold bars in Red Dead Redemption 2, but they're difficult to locate - here's how to find them, sell them and get rich quick. Red Dead Redemption 2 has a slavish devotion to "realism" that extends to the game's currency. Just like the real Old West, most things in Red Dead Redemption 2 cost just a few dollars. Even though you’re a member of a gang in Red Dead Redemption 2, it never feels the game is giving out that much virtual currency for Arthur Morgan in order to buy new clothes, get baths and obtain the vitally important food to keep his stamina and health up. This is where gold bars can enter the picture.
Red Dead Redemption 2’s gold bars are elusive items but incredibly valuable. They are scattered through Red Dead 2’s expansive map but pay out $500 on average. This chunk of change is extremely useful in purchasing new amenities for the gang’s camp or just simple coffee grounds. There’s just two big problems: Gold Bars are hard to locate and even harder to sell in order to make a profit.
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There’s a couple gold bars that are relatively easy to locate right at the beginning of the game. Once Red Dead Redemption 2 opens up its world during Chapter 2, Arthur can go to two locations to get a sizable gold bar payout. In an abandoned town named Limpany, there’s a single gold bar located in the desk of the destroyed Sheriff's office. (There’s also a glitch that can multiple this gold bar by 30.) Likewise there’s a derailed train in the location Granite Pass that has two gold bars inside the locomotive ruins.
The other bars are a little bit more complicated to obtain. The Jack Hall Gang treasure map, which can be obtained from a NPC named Maximo who is west of Flatneck Station, will give out gold bars. This will start a side quest of finding two more treasure maps, but the third map leads to O’Creagh’s Run, which will have two gold bars. The Poisonous Trail Treasure Hunt, which is obtained after the Gungslinger side quest The Noblest of Men, and a Woman, is longer but exponentially more rewarding. By following the hunt to its end at the Elysian Pool, four gold bars will be rewarded. The third Treasure Map Hunt resulting in gold bars is the Le Tresor Des Morts hunt, but that's only available to those who pre-ordered the Special and Ultimate Editions of the game.
Another lucrative gold bar location is at Window Rock. It's northwest of Fort Wallace and near Granite Pass where the derailed train is located. There is a cave at Window Rock where a group of eight statues are inside. Seven of the statues are men who are grouped in a circle with a bizarre smaller woman/bird figure in the center. These statues will be marked as the Strange Statues on the map after Arthur finds them. To receive the gold bars, Arthur must complete a puzzle. Each of the male statues has a button on its front and a certain number of fingers. Be careful as one statue is missing its arm (it's on the ground) and technically has seven fingers not four as it initially appears. These finger numbers are key as Arthur must press the buttons of the second, third, fifth, and seventh statues, in that order. Pressing these statues will open up the center statue where three gold bars can be found.
The only objective left is to sell the gold bars, but that's an obstacle in itself. Gold bars can only be sold at illegal fences, not in any general stores. The first and easiest fence to find is in Emerald Ranch. It's unlocked after the story mission Pouring Fourth Oil in Chapter 2. The Emerald Ranch fence is the only fence that will purchase stolen wagons but there are three other fences to use for gold bars. The second fence is east of New Hanover at the Van Horn Trading Post. Another is in the Lemoyne region, a little northeast of Rhodes. The last is in the town of Saint Denis at the city's eastern edge. The reason gold bars must be sold at fences is because they're technically stolen property but Arthur Morgan is, after all, a criminal.