Thursday, March 6, 2008

Not quite your classical golden "throne"!


It seems that the Hang Fung jewelry company in Hong Kong has long had a "Hall Of Gold" exhibit in that city. It's described as "an extravagant display that includes a golden palace and statues of Chinese goddesses, originally created to lure shoppers into the company's showrooms."

Everything on display is made of gold . . . even the toilet.




This piece contains a full ton of gold - which gives you some idea of the density of that metal!

Anyway, the rising value of gold has made it too expensive to keep on display. The company has announced that when the price hits $1,000 US per ounce, it will melt down the toilet and use its gold to make jewelry for sale in mainland China, where the demand is described as "unquenchable".

Perhaps so . . . but jewelry made from a toilet? Talk about "filthy lucre"!



Peter

1 comment:

phlegmfatale said...

but my goodness - metal is cold - I'd only use the golden throne if the seat were lined with mink. *hee*

Yes, gold is incredibly dense and stable. It can be hammered so thin that you can read newsprint through it. Also, I use a lot of gold leaf in my jewelry/glass beadmaking, and I've been told that a single ounce of gold hammered into a leaf-thinness can cover an entire football field. Makes sense to me, as I've been paying under $40 for 25 4"x4" sheets of 23K gold for some time.