The Vienna auction house Dorotheum has sold the world’s largest gold coin, a Canadian Maple Leaf manufactured by the Royal Canadian Mint in 2007. It is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records and carries a face value of one million Canadian dollars (800,000 euros, 970,000 US dollars) measuring 53 centimetres (21 inches) in diameter and weighing 100 kilograms (220 pounds).

According to the Wall Street Journal,The coin was sold as part of the liquidation of the assets of bankrupt Austrian investment firm AvW Group, founded by Wolfgang Auer von Welsbach, the great-grandson of a 19th century Austrian nobleman and industrialist who invented the lighter flint and gas mantle.

Mr. von Welsbach is in police custody and faces possible charges of embezzlement and fraud in connection with the company’s collapse.

AvW had acquired the coin in 2007, joining an exclusive club of owners including Queen Elizabeth, who is also displayed on one side of the coin, two unidentified investors in Dubai and one who is so reclusive even his or her residence is unknown.

The bidding started at 3.27 million euros, with Oro Direct, a Spanish gold-trading firm being the lone bidder. It is reported that up to 8 different bidders had registered but no counter bids were made. The auction room was packed with more journalists than potential buyers.

The auction price disappointed Michael Beckers, Dorotheum’s coin expert who oversaw the sale. He had predicted that the price could go as high as €4 million “on a good day”.

“I’m a little disappointed. I had hoped and expected to achieve more,” he said, minutes after the hammer fell.

The Royal Canadian Mint manufactured and launched the coin in 2007 to showcase its production facilities and steal the entry in the Guinness Book of Records for the world’s biggest gold coin.

That title had previously been held by the Austrian mint, who in 2004 produced fifteen 100,000-euro coins weighing 1,000 troy ounces (31.1 kg) to celebrate the 15th anniversary of its best-selling Philharmonics coin.

Valencia-based Oro Direct’s managing director Michael Berger said his firm intends to use the coin in its marketing efforts, .

“We believe in gold, and therefore also believe we have made a great investment. We believe that going forward, gold will offer the only real safe haven in this uncertain economic environment,”

Coins of the first three Edwards & Richard II by Bruce Lorich

English hammered gold coins are so captivating in their designs, which invariably include intricate symbolism and Latin abbreviations of Biblical quotations favored by the respective monarchs, that many collectors focus too much on the coin designs, without understanding the historical motivations behind the coinages. Seen in their historical context, though, the coins become rich with meaning and a real reason for owning them occurs. A superb source of this information is C.H.V. Sutherland’s English Coinage 600-1900 (published 1973), which I condense here.

Prior to the 14th century, gold was rare in England. Almost no earlier gold coins exist. In the reign of Edward III (1327-77), the next to last Plantagenet King, this all changed. All the silver coinage types continued, with little alteration other than title, as they had been under Edward I and II. A complicated system of privy-marks developed under the first Edward, called “Longshanks” because of his unusual height. A wicked man who waged war in Scotland, he set up numerous mints to issue large amounts of silver coins, and died leaving England a wealthy nation.

For 20 years the nation suffered under the second Edward but the coinage continued the same types, and the ongoing war with France had been disastrous for the national treasury.

Edward III had the qualities of his grandfather, and his 50-year reign ended with the following inscription engraved on his tombstone: “The glory of the English, the flower of kings past, a pattern for kings to come.” It was well deserved, for many challenges and even the Black Plague were overcome during his rule. Defying the French, he kept the title “King of France” on his coins, slaughtered them in a naval victory at Sluys in 1340, and expanded England’s horizons into international trade.

This latter development was the reason behind the first sizable gold coinage for the nation. Alliance with the Low Countries (Holland) had military value, but it also meant a new trade of England’s wool for foreign goods and money. Edward I had forged a trade agreement in 1274 while crusading in Europe. But this commerce was held back because Flanders used a gold-backed currency, England a silver-backed one, and the exchange rate between the two metals varied too much for merchants on both sides of the trade to be happy. Sutherland calls it bi-metallic disharmony. For this reason, Edward III introduced gold coins similar enough to those of Flanders to make trade exchanges equitable.
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Gainesville Coins announces the launch of the mobile version of GainesvilleCoins.com. Inspired by an increasingly mobile society, the mobile site development was seen a natural progression in serving our tech-savvy customer base.

Notable Features of the Gainesville Coins, Inc. Mobile Website, Mobile.GainesvilleCoins.com, Include:

• Access from any Internet-Capable Cellular Phone: The mobile site was designed to give Smart Phone users the ability to easily access spot pricing, product pricing (both bank wire and credit card price) and other precious metals market information. To this end, the mobile website has been designed for ease of access from any internet-capable cellular phone, without the need to download a program or application.

• Search All Products: Striving to add to the growing list of mobile-friendly websites and create a better customer experience, Gainesville Coins included an easy-to-use search function on their mobile website. For ease of navigation, this feature allows customers to find products by a keyword, such as the name of a specific coin or type of coins.

• Live Spot Pricing: Precious metals investors know to closely watch spot prices, and Gainesville Coins is committed to helping investors make smart purchases. The new mobile website includes a feature which extends this information on a moment-to-moment basis.

• Click-to-Connect: When the time and price is right to make a purchase, Gainesville Coins’ mobile site makes it easy with a Click-to-Call feature. With the click of one button, customers can be instantly connected to a precious metal expert who’s ready to help or send an email for more information.

In combination with Gainesville Coins’ Price Level Alerts, customers who buy precious metals at certain price levels can be automatically notified of their preferred price and easily get more information and/or purchase their preferred products with ease.

If you don’t have an internet capable phone, take a sneak peak at Mobile.GainesvilleCoins.com.