Is gold melting off Trump’s regilded horse statues in DC? What we know

In late October and early November, a rumor spread that the gold covering of recently regilded equestrian bronze statues in Washington, D.C., was melting off. 

U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the Arts of Peace and Arts of War statues to be regilded to mark the 250th anniversary of the foundation of the U.S. on July 4. However, the statues’ renovation did not end until more than a month after that date.

The claim spread across social media, including on Facebook and Reddit. On X, a post said, “$5 million gold refurbishing is now melting off the horse statues in Washington, D.C.” (archived):

The post included an image showing drip streaks at the foot of the statue, suggesting the coating was dissolving off of the statue. There was no indication the image had been fabricated or misleadingly edited. We ran the image through the artificial intelligence detector Pangram, which found no evidence of AI generation. (It is worth noting these detectors are not infallible, however.)

The Mirror US, a tabloid, republished the image showing golden drip streaks from the top of the statue’s pedestal, suggesting the new coating was melting off. The Irish Star, a digital outlet, also amplified the claim.

While the National Park Service confirmed there were streaks at the foot of the statue, Snopes could not directly confirm whether the streaking really meant the gilding of the statues was melting off. For this reason, we have left the claim unrated.

“The visible streaking is associated with moisture draining through an intentionally designed system to prevent condensation from accumulating within the statues,” a spokesperson for the National Park Service, which oversees the statues’ conservation, told Snopes in an email. “The streaks do not indicate damage to the gilding or the recent restoration work.”

We have reached out to The Gilder’s Studio, which received the contract to regild the statues. We are waiting for a response. 

A search on the U.S. government spending database confirmed the U.S. Department of the Interior awarded $5.1 million to The Gilder’s Studio, a company in Maryland, for “THE FULL CONSERVATION AND REGILDING OF FOUR (4) MONUMENTAL EQUESTRIAN BRONZE SCULPTURES.” The contract was awarded on April 21, 2026, and it ended on Sept. 30. 

The goal was to cover the statues in 23.75-karat gold, according to The Washington Sun (previously known as Notus.com). One X user pointed out that the melting point of gold was “2000 degrees” (the exact melting point of gold is 1,947 degrees Farenheit, which corresponds to 1,064 degrees Celsius). The fact that it was supposedly “melting off,” the person said, suggested the statues had not, in fact, been covered in gold.

Meanwhile, an X user posted a video saying the streaks were from the golden coating dissolving from the rain (archived), rather than melting.

“Like all National Park Service lands, monuments, and historic sites, the Arts of War and Arts of Peace statuary require ongoing stewardship and care to ensure they are preserved for future generations,” the NPS spokesperson added in the email. “The NPS will continue to monitor the condition of the statues as part of its regular preservation and maintenance program.”

Some of Trump’s efforts to refurbish monuments across the U.S. capital for the 250th anniversary of the country’s foundation have been thwarted. For example, Snopes covered multiple claims about the renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, including the claim that it started to peel immediately after it was repainted.