The $1.07 million coin.

[wheelspinner]

Australia has minted a $1 million coin. Not sure what sort of purse you'll need to carry it around in. Click link to see the picture.What I don't get is that the gold content is worth more than $50 million. Normally the face value of a coin is more than the precious metals it contains, or people would just melt them down, surely. What gives?


$1 million coin minted
October 28, 2011

www.theage.com.au/business/1-million-coin-minted-20111027-1mm8b.htmlommonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth. Photo: AFP

THE biggest, heaviest and inherently most valuable gold coin in the world has been unveiled by the Perth Mint.

Weighing 1012 kilograms, it is more than a tonne of 99.99 per cent pure gold worth more than $53.5 million.

The giant coin is 80 centimetres wide, 12 centimetres deep, took 18 months to create and features a bounding red kangaroo on one side and the Queen's motif on the other.

The coin is actually worth more than $53 million. Photo: AFP
It is Australian legal tender and has a denomination of $1 million - well below its gold value.

Perth Mint chief executive Ed Harbuz said the coin was ''the pinnacle of ingenuity and innovation''.

''To cast and handcraft a coin of this size and weight was an incredible challenge - one which few other mints would even consider,'' he said.

Mr Harbuz said the coin was a showpiece of the Australian kangaroo gold bullion coin program, and would coincide with the release of a number of smaller gold coins this week.

The weight and purity of each issue is guaranteed by the West Australian government.

AAP

[MacBeth]

That does not make any sense - and if it is just made to be made, how can it be in the form of legal, authorized tender?

[Peltigera]

''To cast and handcraft a coin of this size and weight was an incredible challenge - one which few other mints would even consider,'' he said.

possibly because they have more sense?

[wheelspinner]

Oct 29, 2011 14:01:35 GMT -5 Peltigera said:

''To cast and handcraft a coin of this size and weight was an incredible challenge - one which few other mints would even consider,'' he said.

possibly because they have more sense?

Perhaps it is a clue that Her Maj and the Dook were visiting Perth around the time that this was unveiled. My observation is that the presence of the Saxe-Coburg-Gothes tends to make some ordinarily sane people do batsh*t things.