Finally! A 100-kg Canadian gold coin

The Royal Canadian Mint produced the world's first 100 kilogram Gold Coin with a face value of $1 million back in 2007.

Why would anyone want a 100kg coin, and why did the Royal Canadian Mint strike such an item in the first place? "Because we can," a representitive was quoted as saying.

The coin is the size of a "very thick pizza" — 50 centimetres wide and three centimetres thick — and has a purity of .99999, or 999.99 parts Gold per thousand, a world record at the time.

These 100kg coins were meant as a one-off novelty to promote the other Gold coins that the Royal Canadian Mint manufacture. But after several interested buyers came forward, the mint decided to produce "a very limited quantity" of the $1-million coins on a made-to-order basis for public sale.

As with other Bullion coins, the face value is nominal as each contains 3,215 troy ounces of Gold which was worth over $2m USD at the time; at today's prices, the Gold content is worth $4.2m USD, or £2.5m GBP.

Each coin was thought to have sold between $2.5 and $3m USD at the time, netting the owners quite a profit at current prices.