Royal Mint to commemorate 2012 Olympics with £1,000 gold coin

Gold Coin

An astonishing £1,000 gold coin, a coin that will be legal tender, is to be manufactured by the Royal Mint to celebrate the 2012 Olympic games being held in London.

Made out of solid gold, the coin is the largest legal tender coin ever made at the Royal Mint and will weigh 1 kg. As it is legal tender the coin could technically be taken into any store and used to buy any kind of product, however this, for obvious reasons, is highly unlikely.

Despite being legal tender of £1,000, the coin is expected to fetch a fee of around £45,000, it is only likely to be purchased by dedicated collectors. There will be total of 60 coins produced, with 14,000 solid silver £500 coins made as an accompaniment.

The coins are being manufactured as the centrepiece of a host of memorabilia created for the Olympic Games. It is hoped that merchandise sales will reap in up to £80 million. With gold in such demand at the moment the coins will no doubt be in high demand themselves, despite the seemingly hefty price tag.