How Much is a Gold Medal Really Worth?

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed)
Mar 2nd 2010 at 7:01AM

The 2010 Winter Olympics are over, with the final United States medal count coming in at 9 Gold, 15 Silver, and 13 Bronze. That's a total of 37 medals making their way back here to the States in the hands of our worthy athletes, and although the sentimental value is truly immeasurable one can't help but wonder: just how much are those medals actually worth?

Here's how it breaks down: a gold medal is made of 550 grams of silver covered with 6 grams of gold, a silver medal is made of 41 grams of copper and 509 grams of silver, and a bronze medal is made of a mix of mostly copper with some tin and zinc. This means that in today's market a gold medal is worth approx $494, a silver medal $260, and a bronze medal just $3.

Interesting to know (I thought the gold medal would be worth more).

Tags: 2010 winter olympics, 2010WinterOlympics, bronze, gold, gold medal, GoldMedal, medals, olympics, silver

Filed under: Jewelry

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)

Gord Warner Mar 2nd 2010 7:55AM

For much more information, have a look at the Royal Canadian Mint's web site where you can see all the work that went into actually creating these. Very cool...

http://www.mint.ca/store/mint/learn/medals-4400016

Beergoddess Mar 2nd 2010 6:44PM

That was really great. Thank you for the link.

Cooper Mar 2nd 2010 10:13AM

Interesting. If these numbers are correct, a Gold Medal actually has more silver in it than a Silver Medal. . . (Rigel - are you sure the silver medal isn't actually 509g of copper covered by 41g of silver?)

$3.00 for a Bronze sounds cheap - but try buying one for $3.00. . .

k Mar 2nd 2010 2:46PM

A gold medal is made of silver! No wonder the Olympics are such a farce.

epirher Mar 2nd 2010 9:58PM

the silver metal is an alloy of silver and copper.....like sterling silver it is 92% pure silver plus another metal (usually copper)to give it strength . it's not one metal covered by another.

Cooper Mar 2nd 2010 11:02PM

@Epirher: I don't know. The article says 509g Cu and 41g Ag. That's a long way from 92% pure silver. . .

John Mar 3rd 2010 2:45PM

Of course the Olympic Medal is worth far more than the metal it contains. It's the human achievement that gives boththe medal and the metal it contains their value. There is no other commpelling reason why one metal should be worth more than another.

Hoxsie Mar 2nd 2010 10:32AM

I know that we admire the athletes for their years-long quest for those medals. I know that its not the money that counts, but the honour. I know that earning a gold practically guarantees the recipient huge income from endorsement and appearances for a few years. I also know that the Winter Olympic games 2010 generated billions of dollars in revenues and the winning athletes deserve 90% GOLD and SILVER -- not thin plate!

DavidBeers Mar 2nd 2010 5:27PM

Here. Here.

They should be smaller, but solid gold. They are ugly, oversized and cheap looking.

db

William Mar 2nd 2010 5:40PM

The Nobel Prize is the only medal I know of that's actually made of solid gold.

Joel Mar 2nd 2010 11:52PM

You are right it is a shame that a Gold medal has more silver than Gold.

hotrodqd Mar 3rd 2010 12:10AM

you are so right ...I for one quit watching years ago once they started to allow american pro athletes participate and started to drug test everyone except those organisers committee members and etc....and with the added political agendas or personal issues made political it really has taken away from the once specialness of the games for me at least......

BP Mar 2nd 2010 10:43AM

Well now how much did the winter games cost the US taxpayer when it was all over? Maybe we should just make all of our own medals and give it to the participants and not have them waste all of our money.

Cooper Mar 2nd 2010 10:51AM

I really wish they'd come up with Winter Olympic medals that LOOK like medals. The 2006 medals looked like CDs. This year, they looked like oversized potato chips or - dare I say it - "rapper bling." Why can't they just make medals look like medals, like the ones from the Beijing Summer Games?

Paul S. Bottone Mar 2nd 2010 3:13PM

the medals should be standardized on the front facia; and then unique to the year/locale on the rear...don't you think...?

Suzanne Mar 2nd 2010 9:41PM

@Cooper, before you make such an opinionated judgment about the medals, perhaps you should understand that there was actually a reason why the medals looked as they did during these Olympics. They were created from recycled electronic parts, and this clip illustrates well the reason for their design:

Suzanne Mar 2nd 2010 10:18PM

Obviously, the link didn't post. Let's try again:
http://www.motherboard.tv/2010/2/3/medal-gear-turning-electronics-into-olympic-gold--2

Cooper Mar 2nd 2010 10:54PM

@Suzanne: Opinionated judgment? Sorry if my opinion - to which I'm entitled - seems to offend you. But, I don't care. Just because they're made of recycled computer parts - which I think is totally cool - doesn't mean they can't look like medals instead of snacks. It doesn't matter where the metal came from - melted computer parts, old headlights, teeth, whatever - it could be formed (forged, cast, stamped, rolled, etc.) into something that reflects the significance of the award. Thanks for the interesting link. Like I said, I think the recycling angle is great. I just think the shape of the medals themselves leaves a lot to be desired.

Suzanne Mar 2nd 2010 11:07PM

Cooper, did you even watch the video? The designers referenced the topography of the Vancouver area when shaping the medal. I would think that the Winter Olympic athletes would appreciate that attention to detail, but obviously you are not an Olympic athlete, so the meaning is lost on you. And yes, of course you are entitled to your opinion, but I tire of reading such comments as yours that compare the design to "rapper bling," when there was obviously a lot more thought put into it! That is where the "judgment" part of my comment came in!

Cooper Mar 2nd 2010 11:51PM

@Suzanne: Because I don't appreciate a bizarre attempt to make a medal look vaguely like a 3D topo map it's obvious that I'm not an Olympic athlete? Wow. A leap like that certainly makes YOU a candidate for some kind of Olympics . . .

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