Gold bar at the Money Museum

A new exhibit — the attraction “The gold bar” appeared at the Money Museum. It is an exact copy of the standard gold bar, covered in real gold! Its weight is exactly the same as any gold bar in storage. Every visitor who comes to the museum can try to lift it, try out their strength, and touch real gold. 

The surface of the gold bar, made specifically for the museum, is covered with pure gold, and the weight of the actual bar is 12.44 kg. Visitors have the opportunity to pick up the gold bar and read an updated stand next to it, telling about gold reserves in the world, the use of gold in money production, and other interesting things. 

So, this alloy weighs 12.44 kg. Why this weight exactly? This is because gold is measured not in kilograms or grams, but in Troy ounces (from the Middle Ages, the unit of weight of precious metals, precious stones and powder is 31.1034768 grams). The standard gold bars used for national central banks’ gold reserves are 400 troy ounces (12.4 kg). Large bars are made by pouring molten gold into moulds, and smaller ones are forged from gold sheets. Cast bars are made faster, so they are cheaper. In addition, the cast bars are slightly different from each other due to the uneven surface. Forged bars are cut out of gold sheets and have a smooth, uniform surface. Serial numbers or certificates of authenticity are stamped in the gold bars for protection against counterfeiting or theft. According to the latest trends, serial numbers are marked even on the smallest bars, and bars are sold together with certificates of the same number. The purity of gold in bars cannot be less than 99.5%.

Lithuania also has gold reserves. They are held in England and amount to about 5.8 tonnes. The Bank of Lithuania has a total of 466 gold bars. Most often, all the gold is invested and only rarely, under unfavourable investment conditions, when it is not possible to make a profit from the investment of gold, it is held securely and this is a paid service.

When you look at a single piece of gold, the question may arise — why does such a relatively small piece of metal weigh so much, even more than 12 kg? The answer is metal density. Few people actually know this, but gold density is one of the highest among all the metals — 19.3 g/cm³, and among precious metals, it is less than only platinum (21 g/cm³). So, never believe movies where thieves stack gold bars in bags and run away easily — that would be impossible.