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BROS, for those of you who have won an Olympic gold medal, SELL THAT JUNK. Only about six grams of your medal are 24-karat gold; the rest is sterling silver. In today’s values, that makes the average gold medal worth around $366, according to TIME.
What’s more is that the medals awarded in Rio are suffering from defects, as their coverings are made from recyclable materials. Athletes have complained their medals have “either suffered unsightly staining or had the covering fall away.”
“We’re seeing problems with the covering on between six or seven percent of the medals and it seems to be to do with the difference in temperatures,” Rio Games communications officer Mario Andrada said.
“Together with the IOC we’re setting up a system for replacing the defective medals,” he said, adding that the problem was prevalent mainly with silver medals and that the makers, the Brazilian mint, were undertaking the task. [via Fox Sports]
The value of gold medals to collectors can range anywhere from $10,000 to $1 million — an average price for a common gold medal (i.e. archery or water polo) with no well-known athlete’s name attached, is about $10,000. The Olympic gold medal won by American track and field star Jesse Owens in 1936 sold for $1.47 million in 2013. That’s why Owens had the right mentality when he said, “I had four gold medals, but you can’t eat four gold medals.”
Especially if they are rotting away.
[h/t Fox Sports]