QUEEN’S JUBILEE COIN IS HUGE
Queen Elizabeth II’s 70 years on the British throne may be a record, but so is the size of a British Royal Mint coin recently released in her honor.
The BRM recently issued a 220 millimetre or 8.7-inch diameter £15,000 gold coin to mark the occasion. The coin has a weight of 15 kilograms (529.109 ounces or 33.07 pounds). As such this is the largest coin ever produced by the mint.
The coin is unique, the single example having been commissioned by “a long-standing customer of the Royal Mint.” The unnamed client released a statement reading, “I have invested in unique and interesting coins marking moments throughout the queen’s reign that will remain in my family for generations.”
Clare Maclennan is the divisional director of commemorative coin at the Royal Mint in Pontyclun, Wales. Maclennan said, “This special edition coin made of 15 kilograms of fine gold is the masterpiece in the Platinum Jubilee collection, combining the finest craftsmanship and innovation rooted in our heritage as the original maker of coins for the monarchs and in celebration of her royal majesty’s momentous 70 years on the throne.”
Maclennan added, “The largest coin ever made by the Royal Mint, it is a unique piece of art that will endure as a legacy of the occasion for generations to come. The one-off piece, commissioned by a private collector, represents our growth as the home of precious metals in the United Kingdom, making metals precious to our customers across all our collections.”
The obverse depicts the queen on horseback, while the reverse depicts a crowned EIIR cipher surrounded by daffodils, roses, thistles, and shamrocks, each being representative of one of the four constituent countries that comprise the United Kingdom.
Royal Mint information notes the obverse “is engraved on the precious metal.” BRM Technical Manager Paul Morgan added, “The scale and diameter of the piece has allowed us to push the boundaries of minting to produce an exceptional level of relief and detail.”
The mint is also releasing 1.3 million 50-pence coins to mark the queen’s 70 years on the throne, which Britain will celebrate with four days of nationwide events during June.
Up until now the largest coins produced by the mint have been £5,000 denomination gold pieces with a diameter of 175mm and weight of five kilograms that were introduced in 2019. The mint has not indicated if these coins have been struck or cast.
While the diameter of the 2022 coin may be a record for the BRM it is not a world record for coinage. That record goes to the 800.1mm or 31.5-inch diameter 2012 Australia 1-ton Kangaroo gold coin sometimes referred
to as a “monster of a paperweight” produced by the Perth Mint in Western Australia. The coin is listed as the world’s largest coin by Guinness World Records. The Australian coin is 12 centimeters or about 4.72 inches thick and has a weight of 1,000 kilograms or 2,200 pounds of 0.9999 fine gold.
In comparison the largest coin every struck by the United States Mint is the 2019 Apollo 50th Anniversary 5-ounce silver dollar, a coin with a weight of 155.517 grams and a diameter of 76.2mm or three inches in diameter. The 1915 $50 Pan-Pac gold coins have a diameter of 43.2mm or 1.7 inches.
The largest coin from medieval times is the 203mm or eight-inch diameter 1,000-mohur gold coin issued in 1639 by Mughal Emperor Jahangir in India. The coin has a weight of just under 12 kilograms or 26.5 pounds. It has a diameter of 210mm or 8.27 inches. Examination of this coin has determined it was cast rather than struck.
All these unusually large coins are overshadowed by rai or fei stone money of the Yap Islands in Micronesia. These coins are as large as 3,600mm or 141.7 inches in diameter. Unlike coins in the western tradition the stone money pieces have values determined by to whom the coin is being transferred, for what reason, and by what the individual may receive in exchange. Many of these coins are on view at the Mangyol stone money bank for the purpose of trading or to mark celebrations. Some of these stones have engravings on them experts have dated to being hundreds of years old. Coin collectors consider Yap’s stone money to be odd and curious money rather than traditional coins.
The closest thing to stone money Queen Elizabeth II has are the 10 stone statues lining her 1953 route to Westminster Abbey, these including; a lion, griffin, falcon, bull, yale, greyhound, dragon, unicorn and a horse.