How Much Are Great Britain’s 2020 Gold Medals Worth Combined?
If the Olympic gold medals were still made from solid gold, then they would be extremely valuable. Truthfully, if our winners chose to melt their gold medal down, they wouldn’t be left with much cash value. The gold medal of today is made from 92.5% silver, containing a minimum of 6 grams of gold, putting their total weight of 556 grams according to the International Olympic Committee. The silver medals awarded at the 2020 Tokyo Games are pure silver weighing at 550 grams, and the bronze medals contain red brass which is 95% copper and 5% zinc, putting their value at significantly less than the gold and silver.
The monetary value of these gold medals is a fraction of the amount of time and effort taken to train hard and compete in these games. However, the significance of achieving one of these medals is unbelievably important to each athlete competing, marking their place in history.
Great Britain brought home 22 gold medals the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games; and we have delved into how much this would be worth combined as a team effort. The gold medals presented at this year’s Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games according to experts are worth around £540, therefore bringing a combined total of £11,880 as a team effort. The silver medals are worth around £297 and the bronze medals less than £5.
Olympic medals from the past have been made from pure gold until 1912. But after the first world war it was decided to swap the medals to silver with a layer of gold on top. Whilst the medals are not sold very often, their monetary value varies widely when sold at auction. This is based on who the medal was won by, what their condition is like, if they come in their case, and if they have their original ribbon.
Over the years Olympic medals have been auctioned off by former Olympians in a bid to raise money, seeing a silver medal originally won at the 1900 Olympic games in Paris selling for just $1,283. Following this, a bronze medal from the 1956 winter games in Italy returned $3,750. It was a rare first-place silver medal from the very first Olympic games in Athens in 1896 that sold for a staggering $180,111 on the evening of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, at a Boston-based auction house.
On July 22nd a gold medal won by a member of the 1984 U.S basketball team sold for $83,188. These figures are astonishing, but they don’t come close to the astounding $1.5 million (or just under) that one collector paid back in 2019 for one of the four gold medals won by Black – American track and field athlete James Cleveland, best known as Jesse Owens in the 1936 games in Berlin.
Bidding for an original Olympic medal, be it bronze, silver, or gold, is very impressive to any collector. Ultimately, being in possession of any Olympic medal is spectacular, with each medal featuring the five Olympic rings, the name of the games and the Greek goddess of victory, Nike.
Looking into the price of gold in real time, there are fluctuations of above and below the $1,800 mark, this is considerably higher in comparison to the price of gold in recent years, particularly pre-pandemic. According to Sharps Pixley, London’s trusted supplier of gold and silver bullion, gold appears to be fixated on U.S inflation levels, with a degree of support moving into August. Whilst the market is never certain, things are looking positive so if you’re a collector of gold, you may look to consider investing.
