Desert Eagle | Golden Koi (Minimal Wear)

Skin overview

This skin is easy to recognise by its champagne-gold finish and the scale motif that runs across the slide, frame and grip. At Minimal Wear the metallic look is essentially intact, and any marks are small and confined to edges that are rarely seen up close. It offers the same golden scale pattern while accepting slight traces of use on the outline of the gun.

Item type: pistol. Covert is the top weapon rarity: usually the most prominent items of a collection or case.

Anodized Multicolored: several colours in the metal coating; it wears little, the colours only dull with use.

Appearance in Minimal Wear

The whole pistol is wrapped in a light gold metallic foil with a muted, slightly greenish tint. A repeating pattern of rounded fish scales covers the long slide and barrel shroud, continues down the frame and fills the grip, where the scales are shaded to look raised.

Small scuffs may appear on the front edge of the muzzle, the top corners of the slide and the serrations. The edges of the grip can show faint lightening, while the centre of the slide and the grip panels keep their full scale pattern. At normal viewing distance in game these marks are hard to spot, and the pistol still reads as polished gold. Copies near the cleaner end of the grade look almost identical to Factory New.

Minimal Wear wear: float 0.07–0.12

The float of Desert Eagle | Golden Koi ranges from 0 to 0.12; the Minimal Wear quality covers 0.07–0.12 — 42% of this skin’s scale. Within the range, copies with a lower float look cleaner and are valued higher.

Where the skin comes from: collection and case

Desert Eagle | Golden Koi belongs to The Bravo Collection, which holds 15 skins.

The source is Operation Bravo Case (on sale since Sep 20, 2013).

Price by quality

Compared with the Minimal Wear quality, the others go like this: Factory New — 4% dearer. The comparison uses our cheapest listing of each quality; where there is none, the market reference.

Among 4 skins of the Desert Eagle in the Covert grade and this quality, this skin is the dearest.

StatTrak™ and Souvenir

There is also a the StatTrak™ version: the counter on the weapon tracks kills. Right now it is 1.9× dearer than the regular one. There is also a the Souvenir version with tournament stickers.

Which stickers suit it

Gold, holo-gold and warm metallic stickers blend with the foil and keep the look uniform. Red or black stickers give a strong contrast that suits the Chinatown theme. Placing them on the slide keeps them on the smooth, wide area of the scale pattern.

What to look at before you buy

• Check where the float sits within the wear range, since low-float Minimal Wear copies look very close to Factory New.
• Inspect the muzzle edge, slide corners and serrations, where the foil shows the first scuffs.
• Look at any applied stickers and how their colours sit against the pale gold finish.
• Decide whether you want a StatTrak™ or Souvenir version, as these are separate listings.

Who the Minimal Wear quality suits

• Players who want the same golden scale look in game and accept slight edge marks.
• Buyers looking for a more accessible entry to this skin than Factory New.
• Crafters who pick a low-float copy that looks nearly untouched.
• Conclusion: practically the same look in play with a small compromise on the edges.