A new coin has been unveiled in honour of the late Queen Elizabeth II and may be among the most valuable of all time. The coin, made with almost 4kg of gold and more than 6,400 diamonds, has been valued at around $23 million (₹192 crores), CNN reported.
Produced by the luxury lifestyle brand East India Company, the coin has been launched to mark the one-year anniversary of the Queen's death.
See the pictures here:
It is not known if The Crown will go up for sale. It has been described as a "16-month labour of love" by craftsmen from across the Commonwealth and is one that "many thoughts was not possible due to the scale of the project and the global shortage of diamonds as a result of the pandemic".
According to Sky News, the coin is the size of a basketball with a diameter of over 9.6 inches and features a series of portraits of the late monarch by renowned portrait artists Mary Gillick, Arnold Machin, Raphael Maklouf, and Ian Rank-Broadley. The center coin weighs over 2 pounds, while the smaller ones around it each weigh 1 ounce.
"The Crown was meticulously handcrafted: the diamonds were painstakingly cut and individually placed to fit seamlessly within the design, while two distinct settings were used to mirror the flowing fabric of the British Union Jack," the East India Company said.
Quotes by The Queen run around both edges of the coin. One reads, ''With age comes experience and that can be a virtue if properly used.''
Another one reads, ''By being willing to put past differences behind us and move forward together.''
The current Guinness World Record for the most expensive coin ever to sell at auction is held by a rare 1933 US “Double Eagle” that fetched $18.9 million at Sotheby's New York in June 2021.
