I used to get them from T G Hagstoz in Phila, PA.
I bought all my gold, silver wire, sheet, etc from them for 50+years.
https://hagstoz.com/Call them (800#) and tell them what you want. They were always very helpful
I bought gold ovals punched out to size from them at one time.
They had several sizes available (punch out sizes).
Tell them the size oval you need (long and shot axis size, ect) and they will advise what size punch sizes they have that match or are very close to that.
You tell them what thickness you want, the karat gold you want, and the quantity,,even just 1).
They'll give you the price based on the gold price that day.
Put it on a card and they ship it to any, address you want.
Simple as that.
The other way is to buy a piece of sheet gold and then saw out the oval to your own spec. Not at all hard to do, Actually you can use a shears to
rought cut the metal very easily and then planish it flat as it will be a bit curled from the cutting.
Then with a file file simply file it to final shape.
The problem is the waste. You pay for the piece and all the waste clippings are some serious $$ when talking about Gold. Even the saw and file work filings are captured in
that type of work in shops for recycling back to the smelter.
Just a thought.
Thickness of gold & silver sheet stock (or wire diameter) will be in Brown&Sharpe Gauge speak thickness. But they will tell you the .000" thickness as well.
Thinner is cheaper of course but you want some matr'l for final smoothing and thick enough after final working so engraving won't depress the surface if left paper thin.
20ga is plenty thick IMO. (.031" ?)
If you are carefull, you can get away with 22ga (.025) or even 24ga. (.020")
10k is about the lowest karat gold used. 14k has quite a bit more yellow color. 24k is pure gold (But very soft,,any engraving will wear easily).
To figure the %gold in a certain karat,,just make a fraction of the given karat gold /24.....10karat is 10/24th gold. The rest is alloy metals like copper, nickle, etc.
At one time I used to make up the 10k gold stock ovals that were used and retailed around the trade in the 90's and early 2000's..
I bought those as flat punched out ovals from Hagstoz.
Then I beveled the edges very slightly for inletting purposes, then bent the ovals to shape for the stock curvature along the toe line with a simple die and punch I made.
A soldered brass pin was then added on the back.
A little polish clean up and off they went to the retailer.
