Just curious. The largest one I could find is the £5 British Sovereign from the 19th century which weigh in at a whopping 1.1775 troy oz of gold. Are there any larger? I mean coins that were in in actual circulation so not stuff like the 1 Ton Perth Mint gold coin with a $1 million AUD face value since stuff like that is about publicity not actual use for transactions.
That’s true! I don’t know how I missed that. Is that 1.2 troy oz pure gold weight? Or total coin weight with copper alloy? Because I do know the 50 peso isn’t .9999 fine gold.
Brazil produced a 20,000 Reis coin in the early 18th Century that contained 1.5856 OzT of fine gold. I, too, would be interested to know what was the largest gold coin to be used in commerce. Edit: The $50 private issues in California gold would be much larger, but I assume you meant government issued coins.
I'm guessing coins like that definitely weren't the kind of thing you'd spend when you go out to dinner xD. The value of those coins must've been for making larger purchases. Like land or farm animals or expensive luxuries. Heck a cow today costs like $2,000-$3,000 which is about 1.5 oz of gold.
The $50 gold slugs from the California gold rush era were 85.49 grams about 2.75 troy oz. There were other large older world coins but I can't guarantee they ever actually circulated. The $50 slugs did circulate. The US Assay office slugs could be considered to be government issued.
The Panama Pacific Exposition $50 gold coins weighed 83.55 g. Some are in less than MS condition and may have circulated. Octagonal version is pictured below; there was also a round version. Cal
By the time the Mexican 50 Peso coins were minted in the 1920s the gold value was greater than the face value. They were more a store of value vs. inflation. As far as I know gold did circulate in Mexico until the Mexican Revolution. Afterwards the peso lost value gradually over the next 60+ years until it was re-denominated.
The British 5 guineas piece weighed 1.44 ounces according to my calculations. I would not say that they Panama - Pacific coins at almost 2.5 ounces count, although they can be found with some wear. They were commemorative coins that sold a double their face value. The $50 California gold slug might count since those did circulate for a short while.
A lot of this discussion depends on what we mean by “circulate”. Historically it appears that there were not many time periods, at least in the US, when gold circulated in regular commerce. Gold coins were much more used for export or as a store of value. California and the American West would be an exception to that rule, and therefore the example of the $50 slug is a good one. I’m picturing one being used in a card game at a saloon and then taken by the winner to a house of ill repute...
