When browsing through auctions of gold coins, buillon etc, you have probably noticed gold flakes being sold most often in vials. They are most often portrayed in the auction as being large vials filled with pure gold. To the new collector of gold this may seem as quite a deal to come upon, immediatly using the "buy it now" option or bidding several dollars. Any auction listing gold or any other precious metal obviously lists its weight. The weight however is always absent with these gold flake auctions. Why? After researching i found that Gold leaf is only a few micrometres thick. The value of a gold leaf the size of a large gold coin is only about $0.20.

What is metal leaf? Leafing is a thin foil of some nearly pure metal, often gold. If made by hand, small pieces of metal are placed between sheets of parchment and pounded repeatedly with wooden mallets. As the metal thins out, it forms large sheets. These sheets are divided and the process repeated. The final sheets of metal are trimmed, cut to various sizes, and sandwiched between sheets of paper to protect them. A small amount of metal will result in a sheet with a large surface area but only a few atoms thick.

The same leaf you find in the vials for sale on ebay is the same leaf  you find in a number of desserts and liquors like Goldschlager. Obviously if it is cheap enough to be used as a decoration in food products it is practically worthless to the investor. I think it is unethical for a seller to sell gold or another precious metal and not list the weight of the metal. He is simply trying to present the metal in a way to project a valuable commidity where almost none exists.