One Tonne Gold Coin

OOOPS!!!! Gold is measured in avoirdupois units. There are 12 ounces per pound. Go figure again!

Paul

Still wrong. Gold is measured in Troy units There are 31.1035 grams to the Troy oz

Paul K. Dickman

It is interesting to note how small it is, for one ton of weight. Gold is so dense.

Hmmmm......so there is some confusion about how to value this thing (me not an expert in the gold biz). I tried to tell them Aussies, it's worthless. Send it to me....right away. I'll even pay shipping. Dave

Yeah, OK, but (obligatory metalworking content) it's just a disk unless it was shaped by die pressure (coined). So, it's not really a coin, unless one of those stamp-out-tank-turret bits of heavy machinery was employed to shape it, against a carefully sculpted reverse-carved die.

I would Dave, but it won't fit im my tinnie. ( that's Aussie for aluminium row boat)

I would Dave, but its too heavy for my tinnie. That's Strine ( Australian) for alluminium row boat)

I'm curious as to why, for a 1-off, they went to the trouble & expense of a steel mould. Why not lost wax, for example? I know it would have been a challenge supporting it, but wouldn't it have still been easier/cheaper that that HUGE steel mould?

Bob

If the rest of the English speaking world cuts Oz some slack, speaking Strine will allow you to keep your probationary status as a member of the English speaking countries. Too many additional funny words for things, and your probation will be revoked. :)

BTW, I thought a "tinnie" was Strine for a can of beer. I would be lost in Oz without some quick lessons in the local dialect. Dave

I reckon we used to call them "tinnies" 30+ years ago - probably when the cans were steel.

Yep. Tinnie is also used for a beer. True Aussies prefer the beerincans as its easier to cool down quickly. If you have access to a buld propane truck a couple of squirts of liquid propane will cool a tinnie, but it will break a bottle.

Ya, that's a fact. Too many good Aussie words have been lost. Kids spend all their time watching international television

Why bother with converting from metric units? The current price of gold here in UK is £35.835/gm. 1000Kg is ,1000,000gms, so the amount of gold is worth £35,835,000. At the current exchange rate (today is 4 Dec 2011) that is $55,884,681.77

Mostly because the price of gold as reported on the daily news is quoted in US dollars per troy ounce.

Maybe some day we'll have to convert from CNY (kuai) per gram, but not yet.

Type in 1000kg in troy oz into Google:

Gold price from kitco.com:

Google also says from 56128772.4 USD in GBP

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

Not lost, just in somewhat more disuse, ya silly sandgroper.

-- Self-development is a higher duty than self-sacrifice. -- Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Good point it's a casting, so that would make it bullion, correct? A coin needs to be "coined" in a press.

Remove 333 to reply. Randy

That's a really interesting question, but the answer isn't that clear. "Coin" derives from a word for "wedge," and some sources say that the earliest stamping dies were wedge-shaped. This is a misreading; the fact is, the earliest coins were shaped like a bronze ax-head, which is where the "wedge" comes in.

The next step was flat coins with a stamped image of an ax-head struck into them. So striking, or stamping, became an accepted part of what a "coin" was.

Today, we have fully integrated the idea of stamping or striking into our definition of "coin" (the verb), but it is not a necessary part of "coin" (the noun).

Still, I think that most people would agree with you that this "coin" is not "coined," so it's not a "coin." Bullion (from "boiling") generally is just simple cast blocks or sticks, sometimes with a weight and/or a certifying stamp struck into it. So much of the bullion in the world is coined. d8-)

(metalworking trivia impulse "off")

The video (as at ) appears to show handwork stippling, ie stamping small marks into the surface. See particularly and .

Some pictures selected from slide show at include: Edge machining with a router: The mold blanks: Obverse moldface: Reverse moldface: Both faces: Gold pouring: After pouring: Demolding:

Re pressure in mold, it would have been ca. 22 psi near most of the bottom edge of the mold (~ 31.5" diameter * 0.698 pounds/cubic inch) and ~ 28 psi in the bottom tab extension of the casting.

That's actually a lot. What's the total force trying to push the mold halves apart? About (22/2)(Pi (31.2/2)^2)= 8,572 pounds, with max force at bottom and zero force at the top of the sprue.

Joe Gwinn