Clear coat gold leaf, before or after lettering?

I haven't done gold leaf on a vehicle in ages...lots of carved and dimensional letters, but nothing that requires a clear coat.
I have a job to do on an old race car to replicate the original design. It had a hand spun gold leaf circle with a black number on it. I'm wondering if I should do the gold and then clear coat, let dry and then letter the numbers.
I think this would minimize the chance of messing up the gold.
Anyone had experience with this?

 

Yes, handlettering. I'm concerned about messing up the leaf if I make a mistake, and the black doesn't need clearcoating. I did some family crest plaques ages ago where I lettered after gilding the shields, but they didn't get any clear coating at all.

 

Here's what it ended up looking like. One on hood and one on deck, and some painted numbers and graphics on sides. I used a mask for the shape that had an 1/8" pull line for after the size was applied and another pull line for the edge of the back border After is was sized, leafed and hand spun I gave it one coat of clear. Then lettered the numbers and logo. I used a mask for the letters in the logo. The time frame made me push all the times, rather have had twice as long. They may throw clear over it after, or not. I don't think this actually gets raced, too expensive.