I have a couple of 1999 mint sets that are gold plated. I assume the gold plating is not real gold, but even if it is not gold, it must be expensive to do this process. I wonder what the purpose is to plate some individule coins. Is it because collectors see something different and will probably pay more, or are they plated to cover up blemishes. In any case, the ones I have I certainly like and am wondering if you all agree if these are collectable items or not.
It's not really expensive to plate coins. The purpose is to make a quarter worth few dollars. Lots of people don't even know what plated means. Turn on the TV and see $25 worth of quarters sell for $100+ just for being plated.
As I understand it they are plated with real gold most of the time. However, the plating is super thin so it doesn't cost much to do. Most people who buy them think they are getting a good deal but in reality they are now just damaged coins. Like wcoins said - watch home shopping shows and you will see plenty of this dreck.
As said already it's real gold. But there is so little of it that the gold on an entire 5 coin set is worth less than a couple dollars.
I've always wondered how many "ultra rare sold out at the mint" quarters can be plated with one ounce of gold.
Let's put it this way, gold can be made thin enough that you can see through it. Astronaut helmets, the face plates, are plated with gold.
1 ounce of gold can cover roughly 11-14,000 square inches of surface area, using standard 7-10 micron gold plating. That's a lot of quarters.
And no, Josh, 3 atoms of gold would not even be enough to give the appearance of the color gold. Far thicker than that.
Interesting Doug, If that is the case,(inexpensive) than why don't they plate the silver coins (with Silver) to make them look like new again. Dave
Ok Joe, So if you were going to pay $ 5.00 for a regular mint set, and the price as you say $ 5.20 for a gold plated set, which one would you buy ? Dave
I once real that gold was so malleable that an ounce could be stretched to be the size of a football field without breaking.
The only advantage there is rest with the people making the things and selling them. It allows them to sell these sets for many multiples of what they are really worth to people who don't know any better.
