The reaction of (MeNC)-, (PhNC)-and (MesNC)AuCl in tetrahydrofuran with an equimolar amount of the corresponding isonitrile ligand and one equivalent of Ag+X~ (X -= BF^ or CF3S O J) leads to the formation of the bis(isonitrile)gold(I) complexes (MeNC)aAu+ CFiSO( 1), (PhNC)2Au+ BF^ (2) and (M esNC)2Au+ BF^ (3). The crystal structures of 1, 2 and 3 have been determined. In compound 1 there are rod-like cations with a parallel packing into meandering puckered layers, in which the gold atoms have alternating A u-A u contacts of 3.611 and 3.624 A. In complex 2 the cations form long double-paddles, with the two paddles at an angle of 11.5°. The individual cations are well separated and have no sub-van-der-Waals A u-A u contacts. The crystal structure of 3 is similar, but with a smaller dihedral angle between the planes of the two mesityl rings (56.0°).