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"Sign on the wall" is at least intended as a partial reference to the story in the Book of Daniel when King Belshazzar has a dream where mysterious writing appears on a wall.
There is another dream in the Book of Daniel where there is a statue with a head of gold (taken to mean Babylon), a chest and arms of silver (taken to mean Persia), thighs and stomach of brass, legs made of iron, and feet of clay - taken to mean later empires.
Aside from the all that glitters is gold / all that glitters is not gold meaning, the gold reference possibly refers to that dream, meaning that it does not matter if your head is made of gold - if your feet are made of clay, you will collapse all the same.