Best ideas for Prop Gold for a film

[ArtDept]

Slightly different post but wondering if anyone had any ideas, we need to create 3 realistic waited gold for as a film prop. We can not afford to spend and keep safe £150k of gold for X weeks. We are looking at Tungsten and Gold plating as this will be a good match for weight/sound/feeling. We considered doing this with Silver and Cooper.  Anybody know of any legalities around false gold looking products. We dont need to see and recreate hallmarks or stamps on the bars. 

Any bright ideas welcome. 

[HawkHybrid]

won't any cheap metal(eg iron) plated in gold work?

it's a prop so only needs to look/sound like the real thing.

size wise you can make it a bit bigger than the real thing and get 60% of the correct weight.

how many people can spot the difference at a distance?

 

HH

[Fadeingstar]

You could have an issue with the density I am making the assumption that these bars will clang together to make realistic sounds. Density wise Tungstan has the closest density to gold but could be rather expensive. As mentioned above maybe get a iron or steel bar send it to be gold plated so it looks realistic.

I think you can make anything you want as a prop for a movie. Could event stamp "prop" or "Fake" on on side

Edited September 2, 2021 by Fadeingstar

[Gordy]

you're not breaking any laws if you make a gold looking prop unless you are going to sell it on ebay afterwards and claim its real 😂

[dicker]

Bronze bars work well and are not sill money.  Just need to be buffed up nicely.

 

 

[TheShinyStuff]

1 hour ago, dicker said:

Bronze bars work well and are not sill money.  Just need to be buffed up nicely.

 

 

That is very true. I have a 1kg bronze bar and in the right light it looks very much like gold. Good suggestion sir.

[LawrenceChard]

2 hours ago, ArtDept said:

Slightly different post but wondering if anyone had any ideas, we need to create 3 realistic waited gold for as a film prop. We can not afford to spend and keep safe £150k of gold for X weeks. We are looking at Tungsten and Gold plating as this will be a good match for weight/sound/feeling. We considered doing this with Silver and Cooper.  Anybody know of any legalities around false gold looking products. We dont need to see and recreate hallmarks or stamps on the bars. 

Any bright ideas welcome. 

As you seem to have found, tungsten will produce a good result from a mass/weight/density point of view, and getting it gold plated should fix the colour. I do not know about sound differences, but expect you will find answers.

"We considered doing this with Silver and Cooper". Was this with Gary Cooper? 😎

There should be no legal problems using fake gold items for props, unless you try to sell them as genuine.

You mentioned that you don't need stamps on the bars, but I am sure these would look more realistic to viewers.

 

 

[Booky586]

28 minutes ago, LawrenceChard said:

"We considered doing this with Silver and Cooper". Was this with Gary Cooper? 

On The Lone Rangers horse? 🤠

[Bigmarc]

I would find the best metallic paint that works with the Len's your using. Colours sometimes come back different under certain film lighting and lenses. On eBay you can't buy a copper bar for less than £20. Pick up some letter and number punches on eBay and stamp what you want on it. May work. 

[dicker]

 

[dicker]

Here are a couple of pics of a bronze bar I have.

It is not polished but buffs up nicely!

Best

Dicker

 

[greendragon]

there is a quite realistic gold paint used in the stonemasonry trade

used to simulate gold leaf

its water based, fast dry. just follow the direction exactly 

google stonemason supply stores

you could also use real 23 1/2 carat gold leaf to gild the surface of your chosen facsimile

might be easier than gold plating