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Gold coin
A gold coin is a coin that is made mostly or entirely of gold. Most
gold coins minted since 1800 are 90–92% gold (22‑karat), while
most of today's gold bullion coins are pure gold, such as the
Britannia, Canadian Maple Leaf, and American Buffalo. Alloyed
gold coins, like the American Gold Eagle and South African
Krugerrand, are typically 91.7% gold by weight, with the
remainder being silver and copper.

Traditionally (up to about the 1930s), gold coins have been

circulation coins, including coin-like bracteates and dinars. In
Gold coins for sale at the Dubai
recent decades, however, gold coins are mainly produced as
Gold Souk
bullion coins for investors and as commemorative coins for
collectors. While modern gold coins are still legal tender, they are
not observed in everyday financial transactions, as the metal value
normally exceeds the nominal value. For example, the American Gold Eagle has a denomination of 10
USD, but a metal value of more than $800 USD (being around a half an ounce).

The gold reserves of central banks are dominated by gold bars, but gold coins may occasionally
contribute.

Gold has been used as money for many reasons. It is fungible, with a low spread between the prices to
buy and sell. Gold is also easily transportable, as it has a high value-to-weight ratio compared to other
commodities such as silver. Gold can be re-coined, divided into smaller units, or melted into larger
units such as gold bars, without destroying its metal value. The density of gold is higher than most
other metals, making it difficult to pass counterfeits. Additionally, gold is extremely unreactive
chemically: it does not tarnish or corrode over time.

History

Antiquity

Gold was used in commerce (beside other precious metals) in the Ancient Near East since the Bronze
Age, but coins proper originated much later, during the 6th century BC, in Anatolia. The name of king
Croesus of Lydia remains associated with the invention (although the Parian Chronicle mentions

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Pheidon of Argos as a contender). In 546 BC, Croesus was

captured by the Persians, who adopted gold as the main metal for
their coins. The most valuable of all Persian minted coinage still
remains the gold drams, minted in 1 AD as a gift by the Persian
King Vonones (Matthew 2.1–23).[1][2]

Middle Ages and Early Modern period

Modern history

Gold coins then had a very long period as a primary form of Persian Achaemenid Daric,
money, only falling into disuse in the early 20th century. Most of c. 490 BC
the world stopped making gold coins as currency by 1933, as
countries switched from the gold standard due to hoarding during
the worldwide economic crisis of the Great Depression. In the
United States, 1933's Executive Order 6102 forbade most private
ownership of gold and was followed by a devaluation of the dollar
relative to gold, although the United States did not completely
uncouple the dollar from the value of gold until 1971.[3]

Large gold coins

In 2007, the Royal Canadian Mint produced a 100-kilogram

(220 lb) gold coin with a face value of $1,000,000, though the gold
content was worth over $2 million at the time. It measures 50
centimetres (20 in) in diameter and is 3 centimetres (1.2 in) thick. Gold Solidus of Roman Emperor
It was intended as a one-off to promote a new line of Canadian Valentinian II
Gold Maple Leaf coins, but after several interested buyers came
forward the mint announced it would manufacture them as
ordered and sell them for between $2.5 million and $3 million. As of May 3, 2007, there were five
orders.[4] One of these coins was stolen when it was on exhibition at the Bode Museum in Berlin.[5]

In 2012 the Royal Canadian Mint produced the first gold coin with a 0.11–0.14  ct diamond. The
Queen's Diamond Jubilee coin was crafted in 99.999% pure gold with a face value of $300.[4]

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The largest legal-tender gold coin ever produced was unveiled in 2012 by the Perth Mint in Western
Australia. Known as the "1 Tonne Gold Kangaroo Coin" and with a face value of one million dollars, it
contains one tonne of 9999 pure gold, and is approximately 80 cm in diameter by 12 cm thick.[6]

Collecting

Gold Guilder Portuguese Gold

Coin, sixteenth
century.
A 20-crown gold coin from Norway.
Introduced in 1875, it became part
of the Scandinavian Monetary
Union, which was based on a gold
standard. Norwegian gold reserves
included tonnes of this and other
coins, backing Norway's paper
money. The coin was designed for
circulation: "124 Stk. 1 Kil. f. G."
means that 124 pieces gave one
kilogram of pure gold.
United States Tokugawa coinage.
Double Eagle.

Bullion coins
The European Commission publishes annually a list of gold coins which must be treated as
investment gold coins in all EU Member States. The list has legal force and supplements the law. In
the United Kingdom, HM Revenue and Customs have added an additional list of gold coins alongside
the European Commission list. These are gold coins that HM Revenue & Customs recognise as falling
within the exemption for investment gold coins. This second list does not have legal force.[7]

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American Gold
Eagle

Fineness

Counterfeits
Gold is denser than almost all other metals, hence hard to fake. A
determination of weight and volume is in many cases sufficient to
spot forgeries. A coin that is not gold or below the expected
fineness will either have the right size but will have a lower than
expected weight or it weighs right and will be somewhat larger.
Most metals that are of similar or higher density than gold are
similarly or more expensive, and were unknown in ancient times Balance for checking the weight of
(notably the platinum group). During the 19th century platinum gold coins
was cheaper than gold and was used for counterfeiting gold coins.
These coins could be detected by acoustic properties.[8] Only two
relatively inexpensive substances are of similar density to gold: depleted uranium and tungsten.[9]
Depleted uranium is government-regulated, but tungsten is more commonly available and suited for
counterfeiting.[9]

Bullion coin counterfeits (of all types) used to be rare and fairly easy to detect when comparing their
weights, colors and sizes to authentic pieces. This is because the cost of reproducing any given coin
precisely can exceed the market value of the originals.[10][11][12][13] However, since about 2015
counterfeit coins are "flooding the market at an astonishing rate" and "it's gotten to the point where
even people who deal with coins all the time may not be able to recognize a counterfeit coin right
away" (American Numismatic Association (ANA), 2016).[14] The coins consist mostly of tungsten
plated thinly with gold, have the correct weight, correct or near-correct dimensions and are
professionally produced in China.[14][15]

The weight and dimensions of a coin of .999 fineness such as the Maple Leaf cannot be replicated
precisely by a gold plated tungsten core, since tungsten has only 99.74% of the specific gravity of gold.
However, forgeries of alloyed gold coins (such as American Gold Eagle or Krugerrand made from a
crown gold alloy with 22 karats = .917 fineness) may have the correct weight and dimensions because
of the lesser density of the alloy. Such forgeries can be detected testing the acoustic, electric resistance
or magnetic properties. The latter method uses the fact that gold is weakly diamagnetic and tungsten

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is weakly paramagnetic. The effect is weak so that testing requires strong neodymium magnets and
sensitive conditions (e.g., a gold coin hanging from 2 m long pendulum or placed on styrofoam
floating on water), but such tests can be performed without special equipment.[16]

Pirates biting gold

The rationale for biting a coin was the supposed widespread dissemination of gold plated lead coins in
the 19th century. Since lead is much softer than gold, biting the coins is a sensible test for
counterfeiting. While fine gold is softer than alloyed gold, and galvanized lead is softer, biting coins
can only detect the crudest of forgeries. And all "gold" coins minted for circulation in the UK and
America since the Tudor period (1485–1603) contained copper which made them more durable and
thus hard to bite.[17]

Biting a coin to determine whether it is genuine or counterfeit is a widespread cliché depicted in many
films (like the 1917 The Immigrant), books (like the 1925 L'Or by Blaise Cendrars) and plays (like the
1938 Mother Courage which is set in the Thirty Years' War 1618–1648). According to a 2017 study,
the assumed widespread practice of pirates biting into a coin is almost certainly a Hollywood myth.[17]

"This cliché might find its origin in the crude testing method used by American prospectors during the
19th century gold rush. They bit the gold nuggets they found to be sure that they were not fool's gold"
[17]

Olympic champions often pose biting their gold medals, even though the medals are no longer made
of solid gold.[17][18] Only at three Olympics (in 1904, 1908 and 1912) were medals made of solid gold,
but were also smaller.[18] David Wallechinsky commented in 2012 that "It's become an obsession with
the photographers. I think they look at it as an iconic shot, as something that you can probably sell. I
don't think it's something the athletes would probably do on their own."[18]

Numismatic fake samples

There are well made counterfeit gold coins in circulation. For example, the St. Gaudens Double Eagle
omega counterfeit is infamous for its complexity.[19]

Another example is the US $20 gold coin ("double eagle"), which has raised lettering around its rim.
If the coin is uncirculated, the letters will be flat on top. If slightly rounded, and the coin is
uncirculated, it is a counterfeit. There are other counterfeit double eagles in which the gold and
copper alloy was not thoroughly mixed. These counterfeits will have a slightly mottled appearance.[20]

See also
Numismatics
portal
Money portal

Counterfeit – Making a copy or imitation which is represented as the original

Euro gold and silver commemorative coins – gold and silver issues of the euro commemorative
coins
Gold as an investment – Investment in gold

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Gold bar – Quantity of refined metallic gold

Gold standard – Monetary system based on the value of gold
History of coins
Latin Monetary Union – 19th-century attempt to unify several European currencies
Numismatics – Study of currencies, coins and paper money
Palladium coin
Platinum coin – Form of currency
Silver coin – Form of coinage
Sycee – Former Chinese ingot currency

References
1. "Gold coins – A Brief History" (http://www.taxfreegold.co.uk/goldcoinsbriefhistory.html).
2. "Monetary Episodes from History" (http://www.galmarley.com/framesets/fs_monetary_history_faq
s.htm).
3. Lewis, Paul (August 15, 1976). "Nixon's Economic Policies Return to Haunt the G. O. P." (https://w
ww.nytimes.com/1976/08/15/archives/nixons-economic-policies-return-to-haunt-the-gop-nixons-ec
onomic.html) The New York Times.
4. "The Million Dollar Coin – a true milestone in minting" (http://www.mint.ca/store/mint/about-the-min
t/million-dollar-coin-1600006#.VMVRrXve-fJ). Royal Canadian Mint. Archived (https://web.archive.
org/web/20150309153548/http://www.mint.ca/store/mint/about-the-mint/million-dollar-coin-160000
6) from the original on March 9, 2015. Retrieved January 25, 2015.
5. "Giant gold coin with Queen's head stolen from Berlin museum" (https://www.theguardian.com/wo
rld/2017/mar/27/giant-gold-coin-with-queens-head-stolen-from-berlin-museum).
TheGuardian.com. March 27, 2017.
6. "The Biggest Gold Coin in the World" (http://www.perthmint.com.au/1-tonne-gold-coin.aspx). Perth
Mint, Australia. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20150226193805/http://www.perthmint.com.
au/1-tonne-gold-coin.aspx) from the original on February 26, 2015. Retrieved January 25, 2015.
7. "Investment Gold Coins" (http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWeb
App.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageLibrary_ShowContent&propertyType=document&id=HM
CE_CL_000108).
8. Manas, Arnaud (2015). "The music of gold: can gold counterfeited coins be detected by ear?" (htt
p://stacks.iop.org/0143-0807/36/i=4/a=045012?key=crossref.22065f24cd8d65496b22212e3d65b6
bc). European Journal of Physics. 36 (4): 045012. Bibcode:2015EJPh...36d5012M (https://ui.adsa
bs.harvard.edu/abs/2015EJPh...36d5012M). doi:10.1088/0143-0807/36/4/045012 (https://doi.org/
10.1088%2F0143-0807%2F36%2F4%2F045012). S2CID 117927529 (https://api.semanticscholar.
org/CorpusID:117927529).
9. Gray, Theo (March 14, 2008). "How to Make Convincing Fake-Gold Bars" (http://www.popsci.com/
diy/article/2008-03/how-make-convincing-fake-gold-bars). Popular Science. Archived (https://web.
archive.org/web/20150214054955/http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2008-03/how-make-convincin
g-fake-gold-bars) from the original on February 14, 2015. Retrieved June 18, 2008.
10. "Counterfeit Coin Detection" (http://rg.ancients.info/guide/counterfeits.html).
11. "Counterfeit gold coins and bars" (https://web.archive.org/web/20130129031432/http://www.pana
malaw.org/counterfeit_gold_coins_and_bars.html). Archived from the original (http://www.panamal
aw.org/counterfeit_gold_coins_and_bars.html) on January 29, 2013.
12. Sargent, Mike. "Indian Head Quarter Eagles: King of the Counterfeit Gold Coin Series" (http://ww
w.neilsberman.com/pdf/news_Indian_Head_Quarter_Eagles.pdf) (PDF).

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13. Lafleur, Merlin. "Fake gold bars out of tungsten a counterfeit story" (http://gold-quote.net/en/article
s/fake-tungsten-gold-bars.php).
14. "Glitters, but Not Gold: Fake Gold and Silver Coins 'Flooding' Market" (https://www.nbcnews.com/
business/business-news/glitters-not-gold-fake-gold-silver-coins-flooding-market-n591201). NBC
News. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
15. Archived at Ghostarchive (https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211205/-jy-_HnjroY) and
the Wayback Machine (https://web.archive.org/web/20150622204434/https://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=-jy-_HnjroY): "Sehr gut gefälschte Goldmünzen: Echtheitsprüfung für Krügerrand, Maple
Leaf und American Eagle" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jy-_HnjroY&t=610s). YouTube.
16. Archived at Ghostarchive (https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211205/SgPOPozHRow)
and the Wayback Machine (https://web.archive.org/web/20170204021846/https://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=SgPOPozHRow): "Test Tungsten / Wolfram Fälschungen von Krügerrand-
Goldmünzen prüfen" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgPOPozHRow). YouTube.
17. Manas, Arnaud (2017). "Why do pirates bite gold coins they are given? (PDF Download
Available)". ResearchGate. doi:10.13140/rg.2.2.27019.08487 (https://doi.org/10.13140%2Frg.2.2.
27019.08487).
18. Melonyce McAfee. "Why Olympians bite their medals" (https://web.archive.org/web/20180416215
837/https://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/09/living/olympians-bite-medals/). August 9, 2012. Archived
from the original on April 16, 2018. Retrieved February 16, 2020. CNN, August 10, 2012.
19. Roberts, John. "The 1907 High Relief Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle" (https://web.archive.org/web/
20160204141015/http://www.anacs.com/(A(_onBPoAjyAEkAAAAYmYxYzI1OGEtNmE5NS00Yzc
3LWIwMTAtMTBlNTE0MmI5MGI5R_C18tLQbC1qt_WemudNG1KRy-E1)S(mjbvo1z4hmlu2055fdj
sgf45))/contentPages/ShowArticle.aspx?ID=20). ANACS. Archived from the original (http://www.a
nacs.com/(A(_onBPoAjyAEkAAAAYmYxYzI1OGEtNmE5NS00Yzc3LWIwMTAtMTBlNTE0MmI5M
GI5R_C18tLQbC1qt_WemudNG1KRy-E1)S(mjbvo1z4hmlu2055fdjsgf45))/contentPages/ShowArti
cle.aspx?ID=20) on February 4, 2016.
20. "How Can You Know If Gold is Fake or Real?" (https://www.bulliontradingllc.com/News/2012/11/ho
w-can-you-know-if-gold-is-fake-or-real/). November 14, 2012.

Further reading
Robert Friedberg, Gold Coins of the World: From Ancient Times to the Present – An Illustrated
Standard Catalogue with Valuations (Coin and Currency Institute, 2003) ISBN 978-0-87184-307-4

External links
US Mint: American Eagle Bullion Coins (https://usmint.gov/mint_programs/american_eagles/inde
x.cfm?action=american_eagle_bullion) at the website of the United States Mint, US Department of
the Treasury
The Royal Mint: UK bullion coins (http://royalmint.com/bullion) at the website of The Royal Mint

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