World's largest gold coin minted

World's largest gold coin minted - The world's largest gold coin minted has been unveiled in Australia. The giant gold coin, that's about a ton too big to call pocket change known as "The Perth Mint", is a historic precious metals mint. It has cast what it claims as the world's largest gold bullion coin. The coin, inspired by its popular Australian kangaroo gold coin series, is almost 80 centimeters wide and more than 12 centimeters thick.

It features a kangaroo on one side and a profile of Great Britain's Queen Elizabeth II on the other side. It is made from a ton or 2,204.6 pounds of 99.99 percent pure gold, earning what the mint claims is the distinction of being the world's biggest, heaviest, inherently most valuable gold bullion coin.



A video of the Perth Mint making the coin can be seen on YouTube. Photos can be seen on the mint's website .The Sydney Morning Herald reported it took the mint 18 months to create the coin. It is legal Australian tender of $1 million but is actually worth more than $53.5 million in Australian dollars or $55 million in US currency. Perth Mint chief executive Ed Harbuz told NDTV.com:

"To cast and handcraft a coin of this size and weight was an incredible challenge – one which few other mints would even consider."

The Wall Street Journal speculated the Perth Mint is settling a grudge with the Royal Canadian Mint, which cast a 100-kilogram or 220.5 pound Gold Maple Leaf weighing more than an adult man in 2007. That coin beat out the Perth's 10-kilogram or 22-pound bullion coins as the world's largest at that time.

The coin is currently being used to promote the mint. While valuable, considering its size Perth doesn't worry about anyone running off with it in some elaborate heist.

"It's difficult enough for us to move it," Nigel Moffatt, the mint's director, told the Wall Street Journal.