Royal Mint produces giant gold coin to celebrate the Year of the Tiger

A massive gold coin celebrating the Chinese Year of the Tiger has been revealed by coin makers the Royal Mint.

The design for Chinese New Year, is the largest ever produced as part of the Shengxiao Collection - a collection of Royal Mint coins showing animals from the Chinese lunar calendar.

"The Royal Mint began the Shengxiao Collection in 2014, combining centuries of British craftsmanship and artistic skills with Chinese tradition," said Clare Maclennan from the Royal Mint.

Chinese New Year is on the 1 February, the reason the new year falls at this time is because it marks the start of the lunar new year, which is when there is the start of a new moon.

Special engraving machines were used to carefully carve the design onto the coin over a period of 200 hours.

It was then worked on by hand, carefully removing any marks made by the cutting process, before another 100 hours of hand-polishing.

The finished coin shows a tiger posed as if it were about to pounce and also includes a Chinese symbol next to the animal.

Another Chinese symbol can be seen on the tiger's head. It represents the Chinese character for "king", which is said to come from from the pattern on the tiger's forehead.

The coin is the size of a small plate and weighs eight kilograms, which about the same as a kitchen microwave!

That weight is significant too because the number eight is considered lucky in Chinese culture.

Those born in the Year of the Tiger, including children born in 2010, are thought to possess many of the animal's traits and are said to be confident and courageous, making for natural leaders.

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