Australia's 1-Ton Gold 'Roo' Coin Enters Record Books

"We faced an incredible challenge to produce a coin of this scale, so this is a wonderful endorsement of the talent and expertise of those involved," said Ed Harbuz, Perth Mint Chief Executive Officer.
Cast from 99.99 percent pure gold extracted from Australian mines, the coin weighs a total of 1,012 kilograms and measures 80 centimeters wide and 13 centimeters deep. The coin was made earlier this year in the presence of experts from the fields of metal assaying, numismatics - or coin collecting - quality assurance, and scale calibration and weighing, who verified the specifications of the coin.
And with its colossal currency, The Perth Mint knocks out reigning title holder, the Royal Canadian Mint, who held the record for the past five years with its Maple Leaf 100-kilogram gold bullion coin.
Australia's iconic national animal, "was a natural choice" for the giant coin as the marsupial has been a consistent feature of the Australian Kangaroo Gold Bullion Coin Series 1 kilo release for 25 years, Harbuz said.
The record-breaking coin's smaller and more affordable brethren, however, have been having a tough time due to adverse market conditions. Gold, perceived as a store of value since Biblical times, has been swept up in a broader 'risk-off' selling as the debt crisis in the euro zone deepens. (Related: Who Has the Most Gold?)