A REAL Gold Medal?

According to the Olympic Charter, the gold and silver medals must each be made of at least 92.5 percent pure silver and the gold medal must be gilded with at least six grams of gold.

The price of gold changes daily. Assuming there’s six grams of gold in each medal, at 31.1 grams per troy ounce, that is about 0.2 troy ounces. With gold at $1100 per troy ounce, the value would be about $212.

The remainder of the gold medal is made out of silver. The price of silver also fluctuates, but at an average of $14.50 per troy ounce, and assuming the entire medal weighs 500 grams, the remaining silver in the gold medal hovers around $230, bringing the total value to around $450.

Additional facts: The Beijing 2008 medals also include Jade for the first time, which could impact the value. The 2010 Vancouver medals are the largest in Vancouver history, weighing at about a pound each.

This year – The gold and silver medals weigh 412 grams, while the bonze weighs 357 grams. Each medal is 85mm in diameter, and 8-10mm thick. These are the biggest and heaviest medals ever produced for the Summer Olympic Games.

The 4,700 medals, including Olympic and Paralympic medals, were made at the Royal Mint headquarters in Llanstisant, South Wales and are housed in the vaults of the Tower of London. Each medal takes 10 hours to produce involving 22 stages of production.