The Royal Mint has unveiled a stunning 10 kilo gold coin, the largest ever to be produced by the historic UK mint. With a face value of £10,000 and limited to just one coin, it is sure to be one for the history books.
The coin is referred to as a ‘Masterwork’, a new series of coins produced in larger sizes and representing the very best craftmanship and technology The Royal Mint has to offer. At 10 kilograms of pure 999 gold, it is the largest such coin ever produced by The Royal Mint in its long history.
The 10 kilo Masterwork coin. Picture courtesy of The Royal Mint.
The coin commemorates the popular Queen’s Beasts series, which has been running since the 2016 Lion of England. The series comprised of 10 coins, each featuring a single Beast – based on heraldic statues present at the Queen’s Coronation. The new ‘Completer Coin’ marks the 11th and final entry in the series, with all 10 beasts present, designed by The Royal Mint’s Jody Clark.
Weighing 10 kilos, with a diameter of 200 mm, normal manufacturing methods would not be up to the task, and so a team of the mint’s best people were given the challenge of producing such an impressive piece of work. Machine engraving, hand tooling and four days of polishing were required to bring the masterpiece to fruition, with over 400 hours of work for the team.
Speaking in their press release, Divisional Director of Commemorative Coin at The Royal Mint – Clare Maclennan – said of the coin:
“We are delighted to unveil a Royal Mint first with the creation of the UK’s largest coin to celebrate the conclusion of our Queen’s Beasts commemorative coin collection. It is the latest in our ‘Masterworks’ series which offer unique works of art for collectors, exclusively from The Royal Mint.
“The Royal Mint’s Queen’s Beasts commemorative coin collection has grown in popularity since the first beast was introduced in 2017 and has become a firm favourite amongst coin collectors across the globe.
“This coin sets a new standard for minting - combining centuries old techniques with innovative technology to create a unique and beautiful work of art. It is the largest coin ever created by The Royal Mint, and is testament to the expertise, craftsmanship and skill of our team.”
Despite the £10,000 face value, the coin is of course worth far more. The Royal Mint have not given a selling price for it as yet, but it has reportedly sold already. At 10 kilos of gold, the metal value alone would be over £400,000 at the time of writing. Given the craftmanship and unique nature of the coin however it is sure to have fetched far more than this, and will undoubtedly make for quite the acquisition for whoever was lucky enough to purchase this piece of UK coinage history.
For the rest of us however, The Royal Mint has also produced the Completer Coin in smaller bullion form. Only the 1oz gold coin has been announced so far for the bullion variants, but with more sizes to come, all investors will have the opportunity to complete this popular coin series.
