Of all the coins in the world, one stands out in particular due to its massiveness and value: it is the one-ton gold coin from the „Australian Kangaroo“ series. Due to the amount of gold it contains, this massive gold coin is also the most valuable gold coin in the world, and it was produced by the Australian mint The Perth Mint in 2011.
The creation of this unique gold coin was a technically demanding process that took a full 12 months. Key challenges included melting the gold at an extreme temperature of over 1200°C and creating special graphite molds for casting. Throughout the entire production process, the mint had to ensure there were no interruptions to its standard operations and business, which required significant adjustments to available technologies and certain innovations that made the creation of such a giant coin possible.
Due to its massiveness, this coin was produced using the casting process. After casting, the edge of the coin was hand-finished, and the design on the obverse and reverse was carefully refined and perfected.
As already stated, this coin belongs to the „Australian Kangaroo“ series of bullion gold coins and represents a kind of „crown“ of all these investment issues.
The gold coin itself has a face value of one million Australian dollars, but the value of the gold in it is far greater than the face value itself.
The exact mass of the gold coin is 1.012 kg, the diameter is 80 cm, and the thickness is 13 cm. It is made of .9999 gold.
The gold coin is round, minted with coin alignment (↑↑), and its edge is reeded.
On the face is the crowned head of Queen Elizabeth II facing right. Below the head is the author's signature: „IRB“. Around the head, along the rim of the coin, is a semi-circular inscription: „ELIZABETH II AUSTRALIA / • 1000000 DOLLARS •“. Along the rim of the coin are dots.
On the reverse of the coin is the figure of a red kangaroo moving to the left. Below the kangaroo is the inscription: „RED KANGAROO“, and the mint mark: „P“ (Perth). Around the kangaroo is a circular shape composed of denticles (sun rays) of various sizes pointing towards the kangaroo. Around the aforementioned shape is the inscription: „AUSTRALIAN KANGAROO 1 TONNE 9999 GOLD / • 2012 •“. Along the edge of the coin are dots.
The designers of the artwork are Ian Rank-Broadley (head of Queen Elizabeth II) and Stuart Devlin.
This gold coin is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest, heaviest, and most valuable bullion gold coin in the world. According to today's exchange rate, the face value of this gold coin is „only“ 606,340 EUR, while the value of the gold it is made of is as much as 59,740,000 EUR.
Author: Zlatko Viščević
Photos: CoinBooks.org, Numista.com.
