Australian Gold Kangaroo

The Perth Mint cast a one-tonne gold coin in 2011 and showed it to the world in 2012. It is 80 cm across and has a face value of A$1 million.

Context

The Perth Mint says the coin holds one tonne of 99.99 percent pure gold. It is roughly 80 cm across and about 12 cm thick, and carries the Australian Kangaroo design that the mint uses on its bullion coins.

Its casting was a major engineering task for the mint, and Guinness World Records recognized it as the largest coin in 2012. The mint's own page says it was cast in 2011, so the 2012 date often cited relates to the world-record recognition rather than the casting itself.

It has a legal-tender face value of one million Australian dollars, but its worth as metal is much higher and moves with the gold price. The mint has exhibited it in several cities. The figure of 1,012 kg sometimes quoted refers to the coin's total weight, while the mint describes its gold content as one tonne.

Because the coin is mainly a display piece and a marketing showpiece, it is not meant to be spent, and its worth is better thought of as the value of the gold it contains than as the printed one million.