At £1,556, the most valuable gold medal in modern history reflects surging metal prices
16 February 2026 – The 2026 Winter Games gold medal is the most expensive of the modern era in intrinsic metal value, surpassing £1,000 for the first time, according to analysis by trading and investing platform eToro. Based on spot prices at the opening of the Games, the medal – containing only 6 grams of gold plating over high-purity silver – has an estimated melt value of £1,556, roughly double that of Paris 2024 and around six times higher than Turin 2006.
The valuation comes as medals have drawn global attention after reports of some breaking during celebrations. While the design may have faltered, the underlying metal value has not.
Gabriel Debach, Market Analyst at eToro, comments: “This year’s Winter Games medal is effectively a real-time snapshot of the commodities cycle. The headlines focused on durability, but the real story is price. Today’s gold medal is mostly silver with a thin layer of gold, so both metals matter. Even without being the heaviest on record, it’s among the most valuable ever. Melt value is set by markets, not by marketing.”
| Year | Games | Gold Weight (g) | Silver Weight (g) | Copper Weight (g) |
| 2026 | Cortina | 506 | 500 | 420 |
| 2024 | Paris | 529 | 525 | 455 |
| 2022 | Beijing | 550 | 530 | 490 |
| 2021 | Tokyo | 556 | 550 | 450 |
| 2018 | PyeongChang | 586 | 580 | 493 |
| 2016 | Rio de Janeiro | 500 | 500 | 500 |
| 2014 | Sochi | 531 | 525 | 460 |
| 2012 | London | 412 | 412 | 357 |
| 2010 | Vancouver | 576 | 550 | 500 |
| 2008 | Beijing | 200 | 200 | 200 |
| 2006 | Turin | 450 | 450 | 400 |
| 2004 | Athens | 148 | 135 | 135 |
| 2002 | Salt Lake City | 567 | 567 | 454 |
| 2000 | Sydney | 180 | 180 | 170 |
Table 1: Change in medal weight from Sydney 2000 to Cortina 2026
The same dynamic applies to silver. Weighing 500 grams and composed almost entirely of pure metal, the silver medal carries an intrinsic value of £852, also a record high. Bronze, at 420 grams of copper-zinc alloy, is worth approximately £4, near the highest level of the past two decades.
Sixfold Rise Since 2006
eToro’s historical analysis highlights how dramatically medal values have climbed. A gold medal from the Turin 2006 Games would be worth about £220 at today’s prices, whereas a silver one around £120. Over twenty years, intrinsic medal value has risen roughly sixfold, driven by sustained increases in gold and silver prices.
Ranking Winter and Summer Games since 2000 by inflation-adjusted intrinsic value, Cortina 2026 sits firmly at the top, followed by Paris 2024, Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022. Earlier editions now look almost symbolic by comparison.
Chart 1: Estimated inflation-adjusted intrinsic value of the gold medal by Games edition
Despite record valuations, the medals remain modest in luxury terms. Gabriel Debach concludes: “£1,556 for gold and £852 for silver are still below the price of many luxury accessories, which is less than a designer handbag or a peak-season weekend getaway. Today’s medal is effectively a small, portable ingot. Whatever happens to the ribbon, the metal’s value is holding firm.”
— ENDS —
Methodology
The analysis aimed to estimate the intrinsic (or “melt”) value of game medals awarded in Summer and Winter editions from 2000 to 2026. The study is based on a historical reconstruction combining three distinct datasets: commodity prices in financial markets, official technical minting specifications, and monetary revaluation coefficients.
To determine raw material costs, spot prices for gold and silver were used, expressed in pounds per gram. Spot prices were chosen to avoid distortions linked to rollover costs or contango typical of financial derivatives. The data were extracted from Bloomberg historical series, identifying the opening price of the session on the opening day of the Games. To ensure consistency of measurement, original quotations expressed in troy ounces were converted into grams using the standard conversion factor of 31.1035. For copper, the main component of bronze medals, a metric tons-to-grams conversion was applied.
Net weight calculations are based on official reports from the Organising Committees (OCOG), IOC dossiers, and technical data provided by the producing mints (for example, the Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, Monnaie de Paris, the Royal Mint) and Gemini. To maximise accuracy, each medal was broken down into its pure elements. For the gold medal, the IOC standard was applied, which requires a minimum plating of 6 grams of pure gold, attributing the remaining weight to the silver core (with purity varying between 925/1000 and 999/1000 depending on the edition). Non-precious components were also isolated and excluded from the calculation, such as the iron inserts in Paris 2024, the jade in Beijing 2008, or the polycarbonate in Sochi 2014, in order to obtain the net precious-metal weight.
To make costs comparable across different economic periods, calculated nominal values were converted into real values (2025 December pounds). This was done using the monetary revaluation coefficients provided by ONS (CPI Index). The coefficient was calculated by dividing the ONS CPI for the most recent available month (December 2025) by the index for the month in which each Game took place. This procedure removed the effect of inflation from the analysis, highlighting the increase in value driven solely by the appreciation of commodities.
The final value for each medal was obtained by summing the product of the net weight of each constituent metal and its historical market price, and then multiplying the total by the ONS revaluation coefficient.
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