Are you looking to get started on your gold leaf journey? Would it not be helpful to first learn how much gold leaf costs?
Then join us as we explore some of the more common questions around the price and value of gold leaf sheets and flakes.
How Much Does it Cost to Gold Leaf a Ceiling?
To cover apartment ceilings with gold leaf, a business can charge $13.50 per square food for Dutch-metal leaf (a synthetic substitute). Alternatively, you can get the real deal at a gold leaf cost per square foot of $25. This kind of price would be mostly reserved for 24k gold leaf.
Of course, this does not take into account the price of actually hiring the company that you choose to hire, nor does it take into account the cost of getting people to work on your ceiling.
It will cost considerably more to get something like this done…
How Much Does Gold Leaf Cost, then?
The average price is estimated to be around $15,000. Of course, this is in reference to a whole pound of gold leaf sheets.
There are, however, alternative forms of gold leaf that you can buy. Indeed, just as you can buy gold leaf flakes and thin sheets of solid gold, you can also buy petals. These are flakes of gold leaf (and other precious metals) that are 150 milligrams in weight and that cost around $45.
Of course, you can just cut the middle man and go for a 25 little sheets at the low price of $75 or so.
How Much Gold Leaf Can You Safely Consume?
As long as the gold leaf in question is officially deemed to be edible gold leaf, then you can theoretically eat as much of it as you like.
Ancient Egyptians would actually have you believe that the consumption of gold leaf was a spiritual act and a way to bridge the gap between your corporeal self and the gods themselves.
Alchemy, too, believes in the spiritual purity of gold. Even though this is something that a lot of modern science tends to dispute, there is something to be said for the way that gold is one of few metals that can be safely digested by humans and other mammals.
Thus, as long as the gold leaf you are eating is genuine gold leaf that has been manufactured to the standards of food and produce, then you are free to eat as much as you please.
Of course, gold leaf cannot technically be broken down by the body. The real irony with using gold flakes for food and drink is that in both instances it is flavorless and lacking in any nutritional value (despite what an Ancient Egyptian might have you believe).
Unlike a lot of other metals, gold is what it is referred to as ‘biologically inactive’. This means that it has no reactive qualities when combined with biological matter. This has led some brands – i.e. Goldwasser – to adopt the gold as a signature element of their approach.
What is Genuine Gold Leaf, though?
Real gold leaf – like the kind used in exterior gilding with a high market value and flat surfaces – is pure gold that has been hammered into thin sheets through the process of gold beating. Though pure 24-karat gold is preferred, standards can stoop as low as 22-karat gold which is technically 91.7% pure.
A sheet of gold leaf is the result of the tiresome and arduous gold beating process and will then have a whole host of applications. It might, for example, be used to practice the age-old tradition of water gilding and other materials.
The loose leaf can even be used to garnish, regardless of whether it is slightly larger than intending, or even if it is made from silver or copper (as long as it food and produce safe) and is still of paper-thin thickness.
Final Words
So, there you have it! Hopefully, you are now feeling ready and able to get out there and start investing in some gold leaf products of your own.
FAQs Gold Leaf Cost Per Square Foot
Remarkably, gold leafing is a relatively inexpensive way to get something gilded. By attaching gold leaf sheets to the surface of something – even stone – you can very easily attach a touch of class and intrigue to the composition of something’s form. Gold leaf itself is relatively cheap, as are all of the other parts, components, and tools necessary to start gilding something like a picture or piece of wood. Of course, you could always just offload the work to a professional, though this kind of thing always costs you extra.
Perhaps a better question is why is gold leaf so cheap in comparison with actual gold? At first, this might be one to puzzle over, especially considering real gold leaf is real gold – at at least 22 karats of purity or higher. However, this is a relatively simple question if you start to think about just how thin the gold is being beaten in the process of gold beating. The relative thickness of gold leaf is defined by gilders as being between 4 and 5 millionths of an inch thin, which can be render as 0.1 to 0.125 μm (micrometers). Sure, it is real gold, but it is such a microscopic amount as to be non-existent.
The rough price of a whole pound of gold leaf is around $15,000. Of course, it would be quite maniacal for the average person to just up and buy a whole pound of gold in this way. Rather, this person might instead opt to buy, say, a small shaker of 23-karat gold sprinkles in an 80 mg receptacle that costs around $30 or so.