CHAINS is a MacGuffin podcast by Alix de Massiac that explores the Amsterdam municipal pawnshop through the voices of people who go there, people who work there, and the objects pawned there.

The Stadsbank van Lening, as it is called in Dutch, receives items of jewellery from all over the world from people who have to part with a piece of their history, in exchange for quick cash. A broken washing machine? Get your necklace out of your nightstand.

Part business and part social service, this 400-year-old institution has evolved with the city and its inhabitants. Of the 24 outlets that once existed, only three remain: one in the city centre, one in the Bijlmer, and one in Osdorp. But the chain of customers queueing up outside hasn’t grown shorter.

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