Jeweler applies 24kt gold, platinum treatment to new iPhone models

Premium jeweler and goldsmith Gold & Co has launched the world's first 24kt gold, rose gold and platinum iPhone 5S handsets that could cost less than what some ordinary new iPhone 5S units are currently changing hands for on internet auction sites.

Good things come to those that wait -- that may be the lesson to draw from the case of one consumer who earlier this week bid $10,100 on a standard, run-of-the-mill, unlocked iPhone 5S. Because although the handset the anonymous auction winner bought was indeed gold in color and therefore rare – Apple failed to predict how popular the gold version of its new handset would be and so initial production runs have been very low – it wasn’t actually made of gold.

But just a day after the sale had been reported across the world’s media, Gold & Co announced the availability of real 24kt gold, rose gold and platinum iPhone 5S handsets. Set for their official public unveiling on September 27 at the World Luxury Expo at Emirates Palace Abu Dhabi, the site where 12 months ago the company revealed its similarly gold iPhone 5 handsets, the devices are strictly limited in number (only 250 of each will be produced, unlike the 9 million and counting that Apple has already sold) and will come with an equally exclusive display case.

And the price? A steal at just $5000 for a standard 24kt gold finish, $5300 for the rose gold, and $5550 for the the platinum, any of which, when compared to current bids flying around on eBay for standard not-really-gold iPhone 5S handsets, seem like a bargain.