Gold Soars To Seven-Week High
To win an Olympic gold medal is the ultimate aspiration of all Olympic athletes. It is itself priceless in historical importance, but the measured value of the London 2012 medals by composition may actually shock you. The London 2012 medals are the largest ever in terms of both weight and diameter – almost double the medals from Beijing.
- Gold: 92.5% silver, 1.24% gold, and 6.26% copper.
- Silver: 92.5% silver, 7.5% copper
- Bronze: 97% copper, 0.5% tin, 2.5% zinc.
At roughly today’s prices, that puts the value of each at (we’re assuming they weigh 400 grams):
- Gold: ~$576
- Silver: ~$322
- Bronze: ~$3
For the first time, the “silver content” amongst all three 2012 medals is worth more than the gold.
“Copper is not a particularly valuable metal,” jewellery expert Dan Cohen said in a telephone interview with Yahoo Sports.
“Copper prices have gone up recently though, so much so that people have been stealing brass cables and so on. One and two pence pieces in the United Kingdom are no longer made of copper, because they would be more valuable if they were melted down.”
London 2012 medals designed by artist David Watkins, weigh just less than one pound and at three inches across are the biggest ever awarded at a Summer Olympics. 4,700 of them will be handed out over the course of the event.
Winning a gold medal can give athletes the Midas touch with sponsors, or, for some medalists, offer an attractive resale value. Peter Carlisle, managing director of Olympics and Action Sports at sport consultancy Octagon, said the marketing value of a gold medal varies from sport to sport and country to country but could translate into sponsorships worth millions of pounds. Swimming, track and field, and gymnastics attract the most interest from sponsors.
“British athletes winning gold at London can expect over the four years to Rio 2016 to be earning into the 7 figures,” Carlisle told Reuters.
“But it really does need to be a gold medal, not a silver or bronze, to have that marketing impact, unless there is an exceptional story behind the athlete.”
Such prices are effectively irrelevant though, as any Olympic medal that comes on the collectors market can generate large sums of cash from avid memorabilia buyers.
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