What material covers the current torch of the Statue of Liberty?

The current torch of the Statue of Liberty is covered in gold leaf. More precisely, its copper flame is coated with 24-karat gold leaf that catches sunlight by day and reflects floodlighting at night.

The present torch replaced the original in 1986, during the restoration undertaken for the statue’s centennial. The original torch had been altered in 1916, when stained glass was added to make its flame glow. Water leakage and deterioration later led restorers to replace it with a version closer to Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi’s original design.

The torch is not made of solid gold, bronze, or glass. Gold leaf consists of extremely thin sheets of gold applied over another material, so the visible golden surface does not represent a massive gold casting. The flame is still fundamentally a copper component.

The original torch was removed from the statue and eventually became part of the Statue of Liberty Museum’s exhibits. The torch itself symbolizes enlightenment, matching the monument’s full French name, Liberty Enlightening the World.