The Royal Canadian Mint: Our Gold Coin is Bigger Than Yours!

The Royal Canadian Mint has just begun production of a 220-pound, twenty-inch diameter, one-inch thick gold coin, making it the current world's largest gold coin. The previous record was held by the Austrian mint with their seventy-pound, fifteen-inch wide gold coin.

The Canadian gold coin is 99.999% pure gold bullion. It has a face value of $1,000,000 Canadian dollars ($903,628 U.S. dollars), but the with the market value of gold, it sells for $2,700,000
Printed on the front of the coin is the image of Queen Elizabeth II and on the reverse side is Canada's maple leaf. These images appear on most Canadian coins, so what makes these coins so special? Other than the size, weight, and value, not much. So why do it? For publicity and market share, of course. How so, you ask?

Like everything in the world, bigger is viewed as being better. Whoever has the biggest or highest-priced whatever gets the respect of the rest of the world. That means that more people will come to see the giant coin out of curiosity, and at the same time see, Canada's other smaller coins and invest in them more. In essence, Canada has taken the bragging rights away from Austria and earned it for themselves; now the spotlight is on their Mint, at least for the time being.

In the recent past, the Canadian Mint has lost some market share as mints in other countries have pushed their own gold coins. With the production of this coin, Canada is a shoe-win to regain its own share and then some, as well as earning itself a higher international profile.

Who will buy these coins, you ask? After only a few days of the unveiling, three buyers have placed orders for each of the Canadian dollar coins. Each coin takes six weeks to produce, so get your orders in as soon as possible and early in November, if you wish to surprise a loved one with one of these coins in time for Christmas delivery. Check between your couch cushions and maybe you can come up with the million dollars.