These are handcrafted out of gold (to be specific, gold-clad brass-- gold clad material never wears out like gold-plating does!). Even though it wasn't solid gold, the sheet of metal was expensive and I have to admit that I was very nervous while cutting into it with my jeweler's saw. Stamping it was worse. I almost stamped the "B" upside down, but thankfully caught myself! I love having an opportunity to explore higher caliber materials than I normally work with.