MOSCOW, September 7 On the eve of the first anniversary of the death of the British Queen Elizabeth II, the British East India Company presented a huge commemorative coin weighing several kilograms and strewn with two sides with thousands of diamonds.
““An extraordinary commemorative coin has been created to celebrate the enduring legacy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II,” the company said on social media X (formerly Twitter).
The memorable piece itself, called “The Crown,” is decorated on both sides with smaller gold coins and studded with diamonds. The reverse contains a gold insert depicting the last portrait of Elizabeth II, around which thousands of diamonds form the flag of the United Kingdom. The obverse is decorated with four coins bearing earlier portraits of the Queen and six coins depicting virtues, on this side the precious stones form an elegant pattern.
83 specialists from eight countries took part in the creation of the coin. This required 3.61 kilograms of gold of the highest standard and 6,426 diamonds, according to the company’s website.
According to Sky News, the commemorative coin is the size of a basketball and is valued at approximately £18.5 million. If sold, it could become the most expensive coin in the world, the previous record being held by the Double Eagle coin, which went under the hammer in 2021 for £15.2 million.
Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, who ruled the country for more than 70 years, died on September 8, 2022 in Scotland at the age of 96. Her funeral took place in Westminster Abbey on September 19.
