£2.5m coin sold

THE world's largest gold coin has been sold at auction in Austria for over £2.5 million.

The coin – a 2007 maple leaf coin with a face value of 1 million Canadian dollars (640,000) that weighs 220lb and has a diameter of 21in – went under the hammer at Austria's Dorotheum auction house.

It was pocketed by Spanish precious metal trading company Oro Direct.

The Dorotheum said the impressive sum the coin fetched was largely influenced by the high price of gold.