Switzerland beats Einstein-quarter, so small you get a magnifying glass
Switzerland has released a gold coin that is so small that you need a magnifying glass to see that the image of Albert Einstein is on it. The occasional quarter has a diameter of less than 3 millimetres.
Denny Baert
Fri 24 Jan
06:45
The Swiss Mint mint produces a number of commemorative coins each year and this year the institution has chosen to produce a tiny coin bearing the effigy of Albert Einstein. Switzerland is only slightly proud that the brilliant physicist lived in the country from 1895 to 1914.
As a tribute to the Nobel Prize winner, the Swiss Mint chose to mint a quarter, which it says is the smallest goud coin in the world: the quarter has a diameter of only 2.96 millimetres.
Magnifying glass
The coin is so unsightly small that buyers get a magnifying glass to see the image of Einstein sticking out his tongue. The coin is packed together with the magnifying glass and a lamp in a large black box.
The numismatic gadget is only released in a limited edition of 999 pieces. Although the coin has a nominal value of 0.25 Swiss francs, buyers have to pay 199 Swiss francs (converted a little over 185 euros) for it. At the moment, the webshop of the Swiss Mint is flat, probably due to the worldwide media attention for the Einstein quarter.
A gold coin depicting the British King Edward VIII changed hands for a million pounds (almost 1.2 million euros), making it the most expensive coin ever made in Great Britain. This is what the British media are reporting today.
The medal belongs to a set of six proofs. It is a 22 carat gold coin that is slightly smaller and lighter than a British pound coin. The buyer is a private collector.
The coin was never put into circulation because Edward abdicated the throne before the first series could be struck in January 1937. The king (1894 -1972) abdicated in order to marry the American divorced wife Wallis Simpson.