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My bright idea to avert the next financial crisis – mint a few more novelty coins

Forget quantitative easing – the Royal Mint should run off a few choice coins here and there where the Queen’s crown is a bit wonky, or the year is wrong

Konnie Huq
Friday 24 January 2020 20:34 GMT
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Royal Mint unveils new £5 coin celebrating Freddie Mercury and Queen

This week saw the country’s most valuable coin return to our soils after being purchased by a private British buyer from an American collector. The Edward VIII sovereign, one of six that were minted but never mass-produced due to the king’s abdication, exchanged hands for a cool £1m, despite having a face value of only £1. Only one other is in private hands; the other four are in museums and other public institutions.

Imagine owning a one million pound coin. Where would you put it? The pressure. I never even take my wedding rings off after the time I lost one for days, only to find it in a random trouser pocket. I nearly died from a heart attack in the interim. My ring is extremely cheap compared to this coin (though probably a lot harder to lose). I don’t imagine you’d carry it on your person and if you did, you’d be a prize idiot – which brings me on to a bright idea I’ve had for how to solve economic crises.

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