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In this article, it says:

[The Gold Brick is] literally made from 14-karat gold

As anyone who has held gold before knows, it is heavy. Therefore, what is the weight of this brick?

chicks
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taylor.2317
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2 Answers2

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25.65g (0.8246 troy oz)

14k Solid Gold LEGO Employee Brick 2x4 Brick in Display Box

This brick is 25.65g of 14K gold (0.8246 troy oz). The brick is the same size and shape as the original 2x4 LEGO brick.

This incedibly rare piece was given to LEGO employees that had 25 years of employment at the Hohenwestedt, Germany factory and was also given to couple of very special business partners of LEGO of the time. It was only given out from about 1979-1981, only one or 2 per year from my understanding.

This amazing brick comes in its original display box which features the LEGO logo of the time that it was given out. The box itself is plastic and has a minor amount of storage wear on it.

enter image description here

Brick Envy - For Sale by Auction

Valorum
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    Another source: https://brickset.com/article/54584/solid-gold-2x4-brick-on-catawiki – Alex Jun 11 '23 at 10:39
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    Good find! Looks like some of the "median density" assumptions in my mathy answer were quite a bit off. – Fredric Shope Jun 11 '23 at 12:05
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    ... Follow up question: Does this fit with standard bricks? I know that regular bricks have to flex just a bit in order to fit and hold on properly. A brick made of gold (or any other metal) would be more rigid, and possibly not have enough flex to fit? I guess since one brick is still plastic it might work. The real test is if 2 gold bricks would fit with each other as well as standard plastic... – Darrel Hoffman Jun 12 '23 at 13:39
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    @DarrelHoffman - Lego have made a bunch of metal bricks over the years. They all fit the plastic blocks – Valorum Jun 12 '23 at 14:00
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    @Valorum Yeah, I kind of reasoned myself into that conclusion, but it's whether the metal ones fit with other metal ones that'd be the harder challenge... – Darrel Hoffman Jun 12 '23 at 14:03
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    @DarrelHoffman - Good luck proving it. This is the only one that's gone to public sale afaik, although owning a full set of all the 'precious metal' blocks would be an amazing coup – Valorum Jun 12 '23 at 14:04
  • @Valorum Precious metal, yeah. Presumably there are some made of just boring old regular metal? Aluminum, steel, etc.? I know of some metallic parts (mostly just wheel axles, and of course wires for any of the electrical systems, and some plates designed to stick to magnets), but none that are a whole brick, not counting special cases like this. – Darrel Hoffman Jun 12 '23 at 17:34
  • @DarrelHoffman - Worthy of its own question, perhaps – Valorum Jun 12 '23 at 17:40
  • Interesting - 14K gold is only ~58% gold, so as of 2023 this is about $980 USD of gold. – Criggie Jun 12 '23 at 18:10
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According to this Quora post, the volume of ABS in a standard 2x4 brick is 2.4824 cubic centimeters, which is 34.13g of 14k gold (assuming this brick is the same as standard mold).

Copied math from Quora in case link dies:

According to BrickLink, a 2x4 LEGO brick is about 2.32g. And the median density of ABS plastic (which is what most LEGO is made out of) is around 1.07 g/cm^3. That would put the volume of plastic in a LEGO element around roughly 2.4824 cubic centimeters.

2.4824 * 13.75 g/cm^3 (avg density of 14k gold) = 34.13g.

Fredric Shope
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    It wouldn't surprise me if the walls of the gold brick are thicker, like the older bricks. – Alexander O'Mara Jun 11 '23 at 02:36
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    Some excellent maths here. Alas, incorrect. – Valorum Jun 11 '23 at 09:54
  • @Valorum, I wouldn't say it is incorrect. Upon closer inspection it is clear that LEGO didn't use exactly the same mould to produce this gold brick they use for platic bricks. One obvious thing - absence of LEGO logo on studs. This means alternative production means were utilised here. And if I'm reading correct gold shrinks when cooled down - which means final brick will be smaller than the mould. Taking these both statements into account could explain the discrepancy. – Alex Jun 11 '23 at 12:49
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    @Alex - It's a great answer to a slightly different question (e.g. "How much would a standard lego brick weigh if it was cast in 14k gold") – Valorum Jun 11 '23 at 13:04
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    Note also that the "standard" lego brick has changed over the decades. This one would be standard for today, but not necessarily for the 1970s – Valorum Jun 11 '23 at 13:06
  • Here are some variants: https://www.flickr.com/photos/111441268@N03/sets/72157648936541745 maybe you can reverse engineer which one was used :D – Arsenal Jun 13 '23 at 15:11