This is a bit random and I wasn't sure as to where to post this. But... How much gold is in a 23kt gold plated Michael Jordan and other similar sized cards? You can't legally advertise that it's 23kt gold if it's not, so it must be real right?... But, it's probably an "insubstantial" amount of gold foil plating the card. I'm curious to know how much actual gold is layered on top. Since 23kt is 95.833333333% pure gold, I figure the gold value is 0.958333333 x weight in grams x gold price per gram. Dimensions: I'm guessing it's at or near 3 microns thick... that means it's 2.5" x 3.5" x 3 microns on each side of gold of about 95.83% gold = 0.3272 grams x 0.9583 gold content = 0.31355576 grams of gold on each side = 0.62711152 total grams of gold. Doesn't that mean that 23kt gold plated cards are worth $23+ of gold at current spot gold prices? Of course, the 3 microns thickness is an assumption... Thanks in advance for your knowledge on this.
From reading various write-ups and opinions on similar items, I'd say that at best the gold value would be in the 20¢ range per card. And, that is assuming that it is gold plate rather than the typical gold foil. Additionally, refining this gold would cost more than the value. So, I'd say other than possible collectors value, these would be worthless.
That would make it about 3/100 of a micron thick of gold. It must be one of those gold flake type thicknesses...
Probably close. Gold foil used in gilding ( such as photo frames, objects, etc) is typically .1micron , and it is thicker than used for projects like printing, as gilding is applied by hand. Remember gold can be produced so thin you can see through it, and sputtered on glass to make sunglasses/ binoculars/optical films.
Are you aware that Gold is a very useful and pliable metal? Gold can be rolled so thin it becomes transparent. So how much Gold do you really think is on that card? Not enough to spend the time removing it. It's just a gimmick to get you to buy the card for more than it's work.
