The world’s largest gold coin, a Maple Leaf worth C$4.06 million ($3.9 million) at current prices, will be auctioned in Vienna on June 25.
The coin, made of pure gold, weighs 100 kilograms (3,527 ounces) and is 53 centimeters (21 inches) in diameter, the Dorotheum auction house said on its website. It has a face value of C$1 million. Starting bids will be based on daily bullion prices, the site shows.
Gold climbed to a record $1,252.11 an ounce on June 8 in London and has gained 11 percent this year on investor demand for a haven from Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis. Purchases of coins are tightening supplies and boosting the premiums added to the price of bullion, according to dealers including Dublin- based GoldCore Ltd.
The coin is being sold on behalf of the liquidators of Austrian investment and venture-capital firm AvW Invest AG, Dorotheum spokeswoman Ingeborg Fiegl said today by e-mail. She was unable to identify the liquidators.
The coin, listed in the current edition of Guinness World Records, was previously on loan to the collection of Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum, according to the Dorotheum. One side shows three maple leaves, Canada’s national symbol, and the other bears the image of Queen Elizabeth II, the auction house said.
