Thieves beware: Sign would be fools' gold

May 27, 2010

METRO VANCOUVER

The 22-karat gold leaf covering a Vancouver billboard is so thin that an attempt to steal it would leave thieves red-faced and lacking King Midas’s touch.

“(The gold) is so thin that if you tried to hack away at it, it would disintegrate into thin air,” said Carson Ting, art director for Rethink Communications, who came up with the idea.

The billboard was unveiled at the entrance to Granville Island under 24-hour guard and will be packed up and moved to Science World as part of a new exhibit.

But just because the gold, which Ting estimated was worth between $6,000 and $7,000, is unstealable, doesn’t mean organizers aren’t taking precautions.

A Paladin Security guard will watch over the sign until its removal to prevent it being damaged.

Brian Dedora, a master guilder, crafted the sign over a week and a half from a 20-metre-long roll of gold leaf.

A mere 1.98 ounces of gold covered the entire 200-square-foot sign.

“It essentially tells you how unbelievably malleable gold is,” Dedora said.

“The gold leaf that we are using is less than one 250,000th of an inch thick ... it’s thinner than paper.”