How much is a medal actually worth? Not as much as you'd think
You would think winning an Olympic gold medal like the one above would set you up for life. Even if you don't go on to fame and fortune in your chosen sport, you always have that big hunk of glimmering, glistening gold stashed away. Especially those handed out this year. The medals in London are double the size of those handed out in Beijing in 2008.
"Eureka!" Olympians must shout from the top of the podium. "I'll never have to work again!"
Not to bring you crashing down, my finely-tuned friend, but you're likelier to get
rich talking about your glory days in the Olympics than you are melting that medal
down. Actual value of the materials in one of the awards pictured above? $644. The silver is worth roughly $330.
But wait! There's less! That bronze plate weighing you down as it dangles from your neck? It will buy you one latte, with enough to leave a tip. Their value is roughly $4.71 on the current market.
What gives? As you might expect, there's only about one percent gold in the top prize; the silver is more than 90 percent copper; and the bronze is all but three percent copper.
True, Michael Phelps might be able to fetch a decent nest egg if he sold his gold on eBay. But for most medal winners, the awards will just have to go down as a priceless achievement.
Image courtesy of Greg Thies, who is here in London with KING5 TV in Seattle. Follow him on Twitter (@k5greg)
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In my eyes they are priceless and I am sure the athelete that won it feels the same. I dont think there is any monetary value that you can put on these medals. The work and perserverance that they put into their sport outwieghs any monetary value to these medals. I am sure they are proud to have made it this far and that in itself is priceless..why would anyone even care what they are worth..this has to be the dumbest article ever written..putting a price on their achievment
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So, Michael Phelps medals would barely buy him a bong hit?
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I think considering the money the Olympics generates, they should give the winners true gold, silver and bronze medals. Maybe not that big, but at least make them worth something. Having them made from cheap metal is insulting, if you ask me.
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So how much would a cash for gold company actually give them for a gold metal then? haha. According to http://www.top7cashforgold.com they'd be lucky to get 75% of that. I guess they better make sure they have real jobs too.
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This is a pointless article, because I would say that 90% of the athletes participating in the Olympics are doing it for the spirit of the competition. They could care less what their medal is made of. The other 10% are the pro athletes competing in sports where they make millions like the players from the NBA and the soccer players. They are the ones who would want to know how much their medals are worth, since their world revolves around the greenback.
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The current price for pure gold is $1623.00. Anyone have any idea how much an 2012 olympic metal would weigh if it were pure gold?
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Anyone know what a 2012 gold or silver metal would be worth if they were pure silver or gold? Current price for pure gold is $1637.00 per once.
