It's more like hiding the gold from Nobel prizes from the Nazis in plain sight. Still, it's a very interesting way to hide gold that most non-chemists would never think of.

But it does give an interesting exercise: how else could you hide gold in a chemistry lab in such a way that at least the gold is retrievable? I can imagine submerging the prizes in various dangerous chemicals, but getting them clean enough to be safe afterward would be worrisome.