Four Quarters and a Little Bit of Magic: An NYC Treasure Hunt
Two friends, a handful of quarters, and a city full of tiny treasures waiting to be discovered.
I've always been a collector at heart.
As a child, I loved collecting little treasures, and when I had children of my own, I took almost as much pleasure in their collections as they did. Tessa especially loved collecting pressed pennies when we travelled, while Willem enthusiastically participated in the National Park Junior Ranger programs, proudly adding another badge to his collection whenever he completed one.
As an adult, I've tried to resist the temptation to collect things. After all, there's only so much room in a house, and do I really need more stuff?
But I've always made an exception for art. Over the years, I've occasionally purchased small, relatively inexpensive works of art while travelling. They're among my favourite souvenirs, little reminders of places we've visited and the experiences we've had along the way.
So when I stumbled across Inciardi's Mini Print Vending Machines while researching fun things to do during a weekend in New York City, I was immediately intrigued. I don't remember exactly how I came across them—probably an Instagram post—but the idea appealed to me instantly.
Original little works of art for just four quarters? A surprise every time? And a treasure hunt that would take us around Manhattan?
I was in!
The Art of the Side Quest
My friend Natasha and I had two full days to explore New York City, and a fairly ambitious itinerary already planned. But we decided there was room for one more adventure: finding as many Inciardi Mini Print Vending Machines as we could reasonably fit into our two days in the city.
The concept is wonderfully simple.
Each machine displays a selection of miniature designs on its front. Some feature everyday subjects—fruit, food, flowers, and other cheerful little things—while others have designs inspired by the particular city or location where the machine is found.
An Inciardi Mini Print vending machine at the Whitney Museum featuring New York-inspired artwork. Four quarters buy one surprise miniature print.
Those location-specific prints particularly appealed to me. What better souvenir of New York than a tiny piece of art created with the city in mind?
But there's a catch.
You don't get to choose which print you'll receive.
Instead, you insert four quarters, push the mechanism into the machine, and pull out a little cardboard folder containing your surprise.
The whole experience is wonderfully nostalgic, from the mechanical operation of the machine to the anticipation of opening your little cardboard treasure.
Which one will it be?
Inevitably, there will be one or two designs pictured on the machine that you really want.
That's when things get interesting.
Just One More Try...
Initially, Natasha said she would limit herself to one print per machine. I thought I should probably go along with that plan.
What you get is what you get. A perfectly sensible and restrained approach.
Unfortunately, our resolve didn't last very long.
It turns out that the element of surprise is remarkably compelling, especially when the print you most want is still sitting there on the front of the machine, tantalizingly out of reach.
Surely just one more dollar wouldn't hurt.
And maybe one more after that.
Before long, I was cheerfully feeding three or four dollars into a machine rather than the original four quarters.
I began to understand the appeal of gambling, although thankfully the stakes in this particular game were rather modest. And unlike a slot machine, every attempt guaranteed a lovely little piece of art.
The collecting became even more entertaining when we encountered other enthusiasts. We chatted with fellow collectors, compared our little treasures, and occasionally traded duplicates. Shopkeepers became part of the adventure too, patiently supplying us with quarters so we could continue our quest.
Showing off the prints I got at the Casa Next Door machine.
By the end of our two days in New York, we'd managed to visit five different machines. I'd acquired fourteen miniature prints, all different, thanks in part to some trading with Natasha and a few friendly strangers.
Not bad for a side quest!
A Little Art Gallery Where We Least Expected It
Of the five machines we visited, the one that led us to the most unexpected location was at Warby Parker, an eyewear shop on Greene Street in SoHo.
I certainly hadn't expected to find myself exploring an eyeglasses store during our New York City adventure, but that's part of what made this little treasure hunt so much fun.
The shop's walls were lined with all kinds of stylish eyeglass frames, but what really caught our attention was the art.
It turns out that this particular Warby Parker location is also home to The Greene St. Gallery, a permanent exhibition celebrating SoHo’s rich artistic history. The gallery showcases work by more than a dozen artists whose creations have appeared in the company's stores around the country. Many of the pieces played with themes of sight, vision, and reading. It was such a delightful surprise!
Looking at another treasure, this time from the art print machine at Warby Parker.
An unexpected discovery: a gallery of colourful artwork inspired by vision, eyeglasses, and reading.
And as if the location itself weren't enough of a discovery, two of my favourite miniature prints came from the machine there.
One featured the wonderfully witty declaration, "All of My Glasses Are Reading Glasses."
The other was a French Bulldog wearing eyeglasses!
As the proud owner of Stella, our own French Bulldog, I couldn't have been happier with that particular find. Appropriately enough, the design is called "Warby Barker."
Two favourite acquisitions from Warby Parker: a witty tribute to reading glasses and a Frenchie named “Warby Barker” wearing glasses.
A quirky little art gallery, several adorable prints, and a shop we would almost certainly never have visited otherwise. Exactly the sort of unexpected discovery that makes a travel side quest so worthwhile.
The Artist Behind the Machines
The story behind these little vending machines is almost as charming as the machines themselves.
Anastasia (Ana) Inciardi is a Brooklyn-raised artist now based in Portland, Maine, who specializes in relief printmaking. Her colourful designs frequently celebrate food and the ordinary pleasures of everyday life, reflecting her Italian American upbringing and the importance of food, family, and community.
According to Inciardi, the idea for her Mini Print Vending Machines came to her in 2020, during a nationwide coin shortage, when she was having trouble finding quarters to do her laundry.
What if she could collect the quarters she needed by selling her artwork through a vending machine?
Remembering the temporary tattoo vending machines that had fascinated her as a child growing up in Brooklyn, she imagined a similar experience that would make art accessible to almost anyone.
Her first Mini Print Vending Machine debuted in the winter of 2022, and the idea has since spread across the United States, with more than 200 machines now dispensing tiny artworks for a dollar apiece.
The designs begin as linocuts, created by carving an image into a piece of linoleum, inking the surface, and transferring the design to paper. For the vending machines, those designs are reproduced using a printing technique called risography, allowing Inciardi to make her work affordable while retaining the distinctive character of printmaking.
I love that she's found a way to make art so approachable, affordable, and just plain fun.
The One That Got Away
While Natasha and I were busy tracking down machines in Manhattan, my husband Tim was having a parallel New York adventure with two close friends, one of whom lives in Brooklyn.
He even managed to visit an Inciardi machine at a bookstore in a very different part of the city.
This particular machine featured a collaboration with the beloved children's author and illustrator Richard Scarry, whose whimsical illustrations I remember fondly from childhood.
Tim was rewarded with an especially cute little print, and he promptly sent me a photo.
Unfortunately, he tucked his new treasure into his pocket before continuing his walk.
And somewhere along the way, it disappeared.
All that remains is the photograph he sent me.
Somewhere in New York City, there's a tiny Richard Scarry print waiting to be discovered by someone else. At least, that's what I like to imagine.
Fourteen Tiny Treasures
Now that I'm home, I'm looking forward to displaying my little collection.
I've found a frame online designed to hold children's school photos from first through twelfth grades, and I think it will be perfect for my miniature artworks. Actually, I'll need two frames, since some of the prints are vertical and others horizontal. I can already picture them hanging together, a cheerful collection of tiny works of art that will remind me of two wonderful days in New York City.
But perhaps the best part of our little treasure hunt wasn't the art itself.
It was the unexpected places the machines took us, the little shops and neighbourhoods we might otherwise have missed, and the conversations we struck up with people along the way.
There's something rather lovely about a simple dollar-a-print vending machine bringing strangers together over a shared appreciation for art, collecting, and a little bit of mystery.
And now that I know these machines are scattered across the United States, I suspect our New York adventure was just the beginning.
I've already started looking to see where we might find them on future travels.
After all, there's always room for one more tiny piece of art.
And perhaps just one more try.
Fourteen tiny treasures, each one a reminder of our New York City adventure.
Want to Try Your Own Mini Print Treasure Hunt?
Visit Inciardi Prints to learn more about the artist, explore her work, and find a map of Mini Print vending machines across the United States.
Another wonderful resource is Vault, an independent website for miniature art collectors. You can browse hundreds of designs, track your own collection, find vending machine locations, check collector-reported stock information, and connect with other enthusiasts to arrange trades. Browsing and collection tracking are free, while trading features require a membership.
It's a rather dangerous discovery for anyone who, like me, has a collecting streak!
