I watched a demonstration of koftgari technique at the bladesmith's seminar I attended the weekend before last. The technique can give a lot of surface glitter for a very, very small amount of gold. Though the thickness applied can vary, it may be very thin as well demonstrated by the well worn surfaces we often encounter. The wire flattened into and spread over the scored surface is similar in diameter to a human hair. But I have often encountered scraped or otherwise suspiciously denuded surfaces as well, whether to prepare the surface for redecoration or for scrap recovery I do not know.
As to rhino horn, I shall restrain myself from getting started except to say that any placebo medical effect achieved in Chinese traditional medicine makes a lot more sense than self-righteously burning it for self-righteous virtue signaling.
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