Every year, thousands of coin collectors and hundreds of dealers and Mints descend upon the Estrel Exhibition Centre in Berlin for the World Money Fair.
It’s a pretty intense few days of one meeting after an other, being shown countless coins – some from countries I’ve never even heard of.
So what caught my eye this year?
The world’s smallest gold coin
It took some effort to find it, but I did manage to get a glimpse – and a photo – of the world’s smallest gold coin.
With a diameter of 2.96mm and weighing 0.063g (1/500th of an ounce), the coin from the Swiss Mint stretches the limits of technology and achieves something unique.
You wouldn’t know it from looking at it with the naked eye, but the obverse features a portrait of Albert Einstein, who lived in Switzerland for almost 20 years.
That’s why the Swiss Mint commissioned special packaging complete with magnifying lenses and light, ensuring the owner can actually see the smallest gold coin while still keeping it safely stored.
Only 999 were issued and they sold out before even being made available to the wider market.
Unique Editions
The world’s smallest gold coin was not the only unique issue I was lucky enough to see. I also saw a 0.5g gold coin shaped like an aeroplane, a half-ounce silver coin made into a fishing lure (complete with actual hook) and even a one-ounce silver coin that appeared to have someone trapped inside of it!
Unique editions like these are amongst the most collectable coins issued in recent years. They are often miniature works of art. Exciting, creative, sometimes even mind-blowing works of art.
That artistry and the high skill level required to produce them almost guarantees that they will have low edition limits.
The best coin I saw in Berlin
There were a few contenders for this title, but I can’t look past a Sovereign, especially one with an edition limit almost EIGHT TIMES LESS than the sold out UK Gold Proof Sovereign.
I’m talking about the 2020 Australian Sovereign. When the Head of the Perth Mint passed me the coin, I knew I was looking at another Sovereign that is surely set for a quick sell-out.
That’s because it features a special one-year-only privy mark to celebrate the 165th anniversary of the very first Sovereign ever struck in Australia.
As you probably know, the UK Gold Proof Sovereign carried a special privy mark which pushed that coin to sell out in a matter of weeks.
There were a number of remarkable coins that I saw that I can’t yet share with you just yet due to their embargo constraints, but I’ll give you the details as soon as I can.
If you’re interested…
When I saw the 2020 Australian Sovereign, I was so pleased that I had already secured my allocation.
You can order yours today before what I believe will be an inevitable sell-out.