World's largest gold coin unveiled in Australia - PHOTOS

The world's largest gold coin has been unveiled at the Perth Mint in Australia to mark to opening of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in the Western Australia capital.

The giant coin weighs more than one tonne and is worth A$53.5 million (£35.1m). It bears the image of The Queen on one side and a leaping kangaroo on the other. CHOGM will be opened this week by the Queen, who is in the middle of a 10-day tour of Australia.

With a denomination of A$1 million, the coin was "the pinnacle of ingenuity and innovation", Perth Mint chief executive Ed Harbuz said. "To cast and handicraft a coin of this size and weight was an incredible challenge – one which few other mints would even consider," he added.

The massive coin weighs some 2,231lb and is 99.99 per cent pure gold. It is 31 inches wide and is more than 4.7 inches thick. The weight and purity of each issue from the mint is guaranteed by the West Australian government.

It took the historic mint some 18 months to produce the golden coin, which will now go on public exhibition. The Perth Mint opened in 1899 after the discovery of gold in Western Australia and it became the nation's third branch of Britain's Royal Mint.

Ownership was transferred to Western Australian government in 1970.


/The Telegraph/