VEGAS MYTHS BUSTED: The Mirage’s Windows Were Glazed with 18K Gold
Posted on: March 16, 2026, 07:21h.
Last updated on: March 16, 2026, 08:49h.
- Contrary to a claim made by the New York Times, the golden windows of the Mirage contained no gold
- They were coated with cheap metal oxides
- Vital Vegas confirmed that the salvaged windows have no value, ending the decades-old lie
Two weeks ago, we got a message from our friend and colleague Vital Vegas. It began with: “DON’T BE PISSED!” Before continuing, we knew this meant he either beat us at our own myth-busting game, or he’s having an affair with our wife. Unfortunately, it was the former.
We kid. Though we would have killed to have busted the myth of the Mirage’s “18 karat gold-glazed” windows, like everyone else, we never saw a reason to question the claim. It was reported and repeated so often, it calcified into truth — like Las Vegas being the brightest spot on Earth from space. (By the way, we did not pick that example just to pat ourselves on the back for busting it as a myth in 2024. Probably.)
We can certainly be pissed at ourselves, but not at Vital Vegas. We’ve busted several myths in this series only because he got to them before we even started at Casino.org — the one about casino carpets being designed to trick you into gambling, the one about the alleged “crazy boy” in the Crazy Girls statue, and the other one about fake gold: the nugget on display at the Golden Nugget.
We’re really no better than the Las Vegas Review Journal when it comes to repurposing Vital Vegas scoops — except that we are because we always credit his ideas instead of passing them off as our own.
According to Vital (we’re on a first-name basis), he didn’t realize the gold windows were a myth, either. With the precious metal at over $5,000 an ounce and the Hard Rock having already removed the Mirage’s windows, he just wanted to report on how much the gold dust was worth when melted down.
That’s when he got the answer that blew his mind, ours and everyone else’s: “We could not validate any material value.”
Myth Understood
The term we used earlier, “18 karat gold-glazed,” came from the first reference to the Mirage’s windows we could find — the Oct. 21, 1990 edition of the New York Times Magazine. And the Gray Lady is not known for pulling facts out of her ass. Most likely, the newspaper relied on information from a press release snail-mailed to news organizations by Steve Wynn’s Golden Nugget Inc. (If copies of that press release still exist, they do so in filing cabinets somewhere, not online.)
This is not an attempt to excuse the Times for any misinformation it has ever printed. However, even if a fact-checker attempted to confirm the windows’ gold status with Guardian Industries — the company that manufactured them — Guardian would probably have known about Golden Nugget Inc.’s false claim and, without question, lied to back it up.
Barring the threat of criminal proceedings or a civil lawsuit, why would any company choose to betray one of its biggest clients?
All That Glitters
Tinting approximately 300,000 square feet of glass with real 18k gold was technically possible in 1988-89. It would have required a microscopic layer approximately 30 nanometers thick. Back then, the raw gold alone would have cost roughly $150,000 (about $390,000 today — which is the answer you were looking for, Vital Vegas, before you discovered the even better one.)
Steve Wynn would have been good for that money, sure, but why spend it when he could fool everyone for 80% less? That’s how billionaires become billionaires!
To achieve their golden hue — and the extreme energy efficiency needed to keep the windows from roasting high-rollers like rotisserie chickens — the Mirage’s windows were coated with multiple layers of metal oxides. These reflective coatings were the gold standard for high-performance skyscrapers of the era.
They were applied using magnetron sputtering, a process in which plasma gas blasts atoms off a metal target — most likely titanium and/or stainless steel — onto glass inside a vacuum chamber.
And you thought this was just an article about a better article? You just learned about magnetron sputtering. Vital Vegas didn’t teach you that, did he?
Pane in the Ass
Vital Vegas’ blog post about this myth — which he adorably called a “legend” just to spare our feelings! — also hailed us as “the undisputed king of Las Vegas myth-busting.” And that’s probably the biggest reason we can’t be pissed at him.
Our own mother has never paid us a professional compliment that nice. In fact, she never even reads these columns and would have been much prouder had we gone to law school like we promised her we would in college.
Look for “Vegas Myths Busted” every Monday on Casino.org. Visit VegasMythsBusted.com to read previously busted Vegas myths. Got a suggestion for a Vegas myth that needs busting? Email corey@casino.org.
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