In an act of either divine inspiration or profound hubris, the Perth Mint in WA just made a one-tonne Kangaroo Gold Bullion Coin. Why? To paraphrase the reasoning of the Perth Mint’s CEO, “because we felt like it and we can”.
The whole process of making the coin, including design, polishing and detail work, took over three months. Even though it would be horribly impractical to use this coin in real life, the mint, which is owned by the government, had it certified as legal tender worth $1 million. It even has the Queen on the obverse side.
If the coin were actually for sale it would be a sweet deal: On the open market that huge hunk of gold would go for more than $50 million.
Gordon
Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 4:49 PMLet’s hope they can afford the security after making that.
Sasha
Sunday, November 6, 2011 at 3:34 AMDo you think Australian really happy to see the Elizabeth’s portrait on the half of the coin? I mean, look, we live in time that people are more important than kings, queens, royals, Arab sheikhs or great ayatollahs. Even as a symbol it is meaningless and unacceptable to give such a importance to one person or family. Consider the fact that Steve Jobs was ten times popular than any king or queen but putting his portrait on such a coin would be interpreted as egoism and narcissism.
dam
Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 4:51 PMUseless waste of $50,0000,0000 worth of gold. would have financed a nice facility for kids with cancer around Perth.
Who paid for it ? The Mint ? Can they seriously waste that much cash ?
Daniel
Sunday, October 30, 2011 at 4:50 PMIt’s still legal tender. It’s just taken the form of a precious metal.
If they really want, they could sell it and use the funds in the same manner you described.
In fact if you think about it, the money they used to make it was always in their accounts, so why does it take them to produce something great for people like you to put it down? Like one of the other posters said, the only waste is the labour and planning.
It’s still money.
Jon
Monday, October 31, 2011 at 12:49 PMwhat the hell is going on with your number formatting? 50 0000 0000 ? surely you mean $50,000,000 ?
JR
Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 5:11 PMWaste? the only waste is the labour cost, and a little R&D.
You seem to think they make these things then bin them.
Hugh
Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 5:38 PMI think Dam is trying to say that it was a waste for them to make the coin.. because what’s the point in having a $50 million dollar coin? Nothing, also that gold could have been sold for cash to fund something else
James
Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 6:00 PMFeel free to correct me if i”m wrong, but i think that gold is used to back up our paper (worthless) money. So it does serve a function. Rather then it just collect dust in a big safe, they just made it look nice.
Ozoneocean
Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 10:08 PMYeah, to all those being critical, all that was really spent here is the time of those artisans that made it into a coin shape, and they probably would’ve been paid the same regardless if they’re working for the mint. This gold was going to be sitting around doing nothing as gold bars anyway, being in a coin shape changes nothing.
People worked out hundreds of years ago to put gold in other forms without losing any single smidgen of it because it was such a valuable commodity, so nothing is lost here.
Paul
Sunday, October 30, 2011 at 5:48 AM@James,
You’re not entirely correct in your assumption that gold is what backs our paper money. Our dollar is not backed by anything short of our own labour & GDP(oversimplified). This is part of the reason why the worlds governments and financial systems are having serious troubles at the moment. We moved away from the gold standard and eventually floated the dollar on the currency market on 12/12/83.
PeterC
Monday, October 31, 2011 at 1:23 PM@Paul
+1 Internets to you sir.
Fiat currency fail? Yep.
Phil
Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 6:00 PMI don’t see the problem with it. Sure it’s not exactly practical, but it wouldn’t have cost them that much to actually make it. You’ll probably find that they’ll put it in a museum somewhere and coin collectors from all over the world and pay the entrance fee to see it.
Graeme
Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 6:54 PMThe “museum somewhere” would be the Perth Mint itself. I went round it many years ago and it was fascinating. Well worth a visit if you’re in Perth.
ellick
Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 6:02 PMactually if you think about how much that would go for if they auctioned it for charity then they could potentially double the cash.
Evil Stan
Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 7:10 PMGives a whole new meaning to “Can ya break a Fifty?”…
burk
Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 7:21 PMhow good is the music but?
PuffinFresh
Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 7:34 PMI had one of these coins, but a coke machine stole it.
Ozoneocean
Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 8:01 PMLittle known fact- That cheesy rock music was actually played live by a hair metal band, just out frame as they were filming this.
:)
Sam Timmins
Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 8:24 PMFrom this basic premise it is very simple to prove that the Perth mint is also the product of a deranged imagination.
Ozoneocean
Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 10:11 PMThe gold can be sitting around in the mint in he shape of ingots, or in the shape of a coin… or even a life-size statue, it doesn’t really make any difference in the long run does it?
WTF
Sunday, October 30, 2011 at 12:53 PMYes. Gold bars is the least valuable shape. Turn it intp art and it increases in value. If the piece is large enough in it’s natural state, it’s worth more (ie. Hand of Faith).
Matt
Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 10:28 PMWhose got their eyes on the Micklebergs? LOL..
Jason
Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 11:05 PMWhile I approve of the general idea (side note: this wasn’t a use of tax payer money, the government has precious metal reserves and they decided to fashion some of it into a less boring shape), I wish they had chosen a design that was less ugly and less thick (make the diameter bigger.)
Oh well, those Perthlings did their best.
Marty McFly
Monday, October 31, 2011 at 11:34 AMI agree, I’m sure Batman will approve of it too.
Myztry
Sunday, October 30, 2011 at 4:10 AMNo harm in having some “change” laying around.
Mogwai888000
Sunday, October 30, 2011 at 9:02 AMNo doubt they will sell it some some rich arab after displaying it for a while.
Given its legal tender i’d suspect this was their plan all along.
incontrovertible
Sunday, October 30, 2011 at 10:29 AMFlip it, flip it, flip it!!!
Darth
Sunday, October 30, 2011 at 11:34 AMHeads or tails, home team calls it.
Sandy
Sunday, October 30, 2011 at 1:48 PMPretty cool… but who decided upon the music to go with this video? “Extreme” distorted guitar solos go better in Top Gun youtube clips than on the design and manufacture of coins.
warcroft
Sunday, October 30, 2011 at 5:50 PMGold is the global currency. When paper money dies people turn to gold. When the world economy collapses make sure you have gold. Why do you think all the big banks are buying up huge amounts of gold and silver?
All that was done here was melting down gold bars and making the coin.
chuck
Monday, October 31, 2011 at 2:12 PMAlright, chill out illuminati666. JUS’ JOKIN’.