Wanna' buy some out of this world gold from the GSA?

Have you got a couple hundred extra K floating around? You can bid on these 6 gold plates, totaling ~ 6,600 grams of 24kt gold (roughly 212 troy oz.), that have each flown for 69 months in space. The GSA auction they are in closes on January 22.

Just as an FYI, while there might be a bit of a premium due to the fact that they flew in space, realistically the main value of these items is in their gold.


http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-011415b-space-gold-nasa-auction.html

 

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I do think you're right, but all gold was in space at one time.

 

and originally in the core of a star about to go supernova.

 

^ Nerds!

 

Guilty!

 

Wouldn't we, and everything, technically be "in space" even right now? Doesn't all matter and energy occupy space? Why does the proximity to a large rock exclude one from space?

 

well, most people think of space as the empty parts between condensed matter (planets, moons, comets and other solid objects bigger than a Morgan Silver dollar) or stars

 

I'm trying to figure out whether I have a way to shake loose enough money to buy $200K+ of gold significantly below spot. But I'm guessing that discount will disappear by the time bidding finishes, especially now that it's got some publicity.

I wonder how many lots containing PMs don't get bid up anywhere near spot, just because they don't get enough recognition?

 

I believe it is created during the supernova collapse and explosion, element formation through the normal fusion process of the star ends at Iron

 

Truth.

 

The gold plates sold today (Jan. 22) for $265,607. There were 20 bids placed.
The plates' scrap gold value as of the same day was $251,365.64, thus they sold for a premium of $14,241.36.

(Quoted from collectSPACE).

 

I wonder if they would have sold for more if they were sold individually.

 

Sure. In fact, a company like Littleton probably could've cut them up into little chunks and sold them at a huge premium. But the GSA probably can't afford to spend too much time optimizing the presentation and marketing of all the big-ticket items it needs to move.

Heck, the buyer might well be planning to resell them individually.

 

I was thinking just selling the plates individually. There were what something like 24 of them?

 

Six of them. Even one would still be a pretty big chunk of change, at least by my standards.

 

It'll be interesting and not unprecedented if we see them being coined into some sort of medal.