Rhodium Coin

by Robert Wood – Investment coin appreciator
Stranger things has happened. The first Rhodium Coin ever, was launched as legal tender in the island nation Tuvalu.

The Island Nation
To be honest…. I know next to nothing about this country, and I know even less about the coinage. Time to consult Wikipedia:
Funafuti is an atoll on which the capital of the island nation of Tuvalu is located. It has a population of 6,025 people making it the country's most populated atoll, with 56.6 percent of Tuvalu's population. It is a narrow sweep of land between 20 and 400 meters (66 and 1,312 feet) wide, encircling a large lagoon … …. The land area of the 33 islets aggregates to 2.4 square kilometres (0.9 sq mi).
In other words, this is a miniature nation, the fourth smallest on Earth to be exact. Only Monaco, Vatican City and Nauru are smaller.

The South Sea Dragon Coin
Dollar is the name of the game in Tuvalu, and the World’s first Rhodium Coin is a TVD 100 dollar coin which is £ 55 or U$D 80 or NOK 630. The Dragon Coin is legal tender on Tuvalu, but since the metal value of the one ounce coin is much, much more than the face value it is not very vise to spend it in shops, but a Rhodium coin donation at church would certainly be appreciated by the congregation.

Made in Britain
Tuvalu is not a high-tech country, and the British only gold refinery was given the job to produce a first mintage of 1000 coins. The Net Weight of the precious metal is 1 oz. The Gross weight is 31,2 gram, dhe Diameter is 32,69 mm with a fitness of 999/1000.
   Rhodium is the one of the world’s rarest metals. It is a brittle metal which when refined becomes a bright, silver metal. A member of the platinum family, rhodium is 100 times rarer than gold. The coin won’t scratch or tarnish because rhodium is highly resistant.
   Nevertheless, you do not have to travel to Tuvalu to buy this very first Rhodium coin. It can only be bought in the USA for U$D 2590 at Kitco (19.10.2018). I do not know if you can pay for the coin with Tuvalu dollars, but I am convinced that a currency calculator near you can show you how much it will cost. Rhodium Tavalu South Sea Dragon Coin