A large gold coin 'Australian Kangaroo 1 Tonne 9999 Gold 2012' with central design of jumping red kangaroo inside a circle of rays is supported on an acrylic mount.

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World's Largest Gold Coin

One Tonne Gold Coin

The Perth Mint

You can find our world-record One Tonne Gold Coin in the Gold Gallery of The Perth Mint Gold Exhibition.

The Australian Kangaroo One Tonne Gold Coin

Most people hate carrying around a pile of change, but can you image trying to fit this beauty in your pocket? Crafted by The Perth Mint, our Australian Kangaroo coin weighs a massive one tonne of 99.99% pure gold!

Designed by Dr Stuart Devlin AO CMG, who was goldsmith and jeweller to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the coin depicts a bounding red kangaroo surrounded by rays of sunlight. This classic artistry has been the highlight of our annual Gold Bullion Coin Program since 1989.

The coin was created and unveiled in October 2011 to coincide with the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth, opened by Queen Elizabeth the second. Measuring nearly 80 centimetres wide and more than 12 centimetres deep - it is the biggest, heaviest and undoubtedly the most valuable gold bullion coin in existence.

In 2012 Guinness World Records certified it as the largest gold coin in the world, a record it holds to this day.

A huge gold coin with the portrait of Queen Elizabeth visible is suspended from a forklift and has been lowered onto a large scale which has a reading of 1021.0kg, five men stand around obvserving.

Guinness World Record attempt - official weighing of the One Tonne Gold Coin, 2012
Credit: The Perth Mint

Impressive engineering feat

Creating a coin of this size was without doubt an engineering challenge. From concept to creation, the project took close to 12 months to complete and is the result of the expertise from a team of engineers, metallurgists, designers and sculptors.

The one tonne of 99.99% pure gold was heated to 1,200 degrees Celsius before being poured into a machined crafted graphite mould.

A large cast iron mould is positioned below a huge industrial furnace and red hot molten gold is being poured from the furnace into the opening of the mould, three workers wearing safety aprons, gloves and face visors are operating various pieces of machinery, one hold a blowtorch above the opening of the mould.

Casting the One Tonne Gold Coin, 2011
Credit: The Perth Mint

The coin was then cooled and extracted, before undergoing months of hand finishing.

A large gold coin lying with the reverse surface visible, which has the design of a jumping red kangaroo surrounded by a circle of rays, is being polished by two people wearing white golves using white cloths

Hand polishing the One Tonne Gold Coin
Credit: The Perth Mint

Taking one tonne of gold on the road

Our huge One Tonne Gold Coin has travelled all over the world!

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Australian Kangaroo Gold Coin Program in 2014, the coin was displayed in Hong Kong before touring Austria and Germany - stopping in the cities of Vienna, Munich, Stuttgart, Nuremberg - before finishing its tour as the centrepiece of The Perth Mint stand at the World Money Fair in Berlin.

It returned to The Perth Mint as the star attraction of our Gold Exhibition.

A woman holding a mobile phone is taking a photograph of a huge gold coin 'Australian Kangaroo 1 Tonne 9999 Gold 2012' that is supported by an acrylic plinth in an exhibition gallery.

The Perth Mint Gold Exhibition
Credit: The Perth Mint

In 2019 our mammoth coin hit the skies again travelling to the New York Stock Exchange! It was on display on Wall Street for just one day to celebrate the launch of the Perth Mint Physical Gold Exchange Traded Fund (AAAU) on the New York Stock Exchange.

A huge gold coin with a design of a jumping kangaroo encircled by rays 'Australian Kangaroo 1 Tonne 999 Gold 2012' is on display on a black plinth labelled 'The Perth Mint Australia' outside the New York Stock Exchange, a tall building with ornate columns and balconies built into the facade.

Our One Tonne Gold Coin on display outside the New York Stock Exchange, 2019
Credit: The Perth Mint

How much is our One Tonne Gold Coin worth?

The Perth Mint's one-tonne gold coin is particularly special, as it has three values.

Face value

This is the value written on the coin that indicates its dollar value as legal tender. If you were to roll this coin into a bank and swap the coin for cash, they would be obliged to give you 1 million Australian dollars.

Gold value

This is the value of the gold that the coin is made from. When it was cast it was worth AUD 50 million. But with soaring gold price on the stock market, it is now worth much, much more! The screens in front of you indicate the live price of this coin.

Collector value

This is the value of the coin if you were to sell it at private auction. It takes into consideration its rarity, and the fact that it is made from 99.99% pure gold. As the coin has never been sold, it is impossible to determine its actual collector value – so instead it is considered priceless.

In fact, our one-tonne coin is so valuable it even has its own vault – the very thing that it is displayed on. At the end of each day, the coin lowers back inside the vault for safe storage, and the alarm is set to protect it overnight.

Continue your visit - Gold Gallery

Explore some of Western Australia's glittering gold nuggets and specimens as you continue your visit by moving into our Gold Gallery. Navigate to the Gold Gallery zone on the Experience Plus app to learn more about some of the items on display.

A room with a series of glass display cases on the right that contain gold nuggets. A woman is looking into one of the display cases. On the left is a prop rock wall with a gold prospector's bicycle in the foreground. Overhead is a photograph of a prospector panning for gold with a dryblower machine in the foreground. — Gold Gallery