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World’s Largest Wooden Nickel: Iowa City, Iowa sets world record

April 15, 2022
World’s Largest Wooden Nickel: Iowa City, Iowa sets world record

Iowa City, Iowa, United States--The giant Wooden Nickel erected by Jim Glasgow in Iowaa City, Ohio, United States, made from southern yellow pine and measuring 16 feet in diameter, weighs in at around 4,000 pound, sets the world record for being the World's Largest Wooden Nickel, according to the WORLD RECORD ACADEMY.

"It took approximately six months to build the massive wooden coin, which is supported by eight stainless steel rods drilled through the centers of the pine beams, the Atlas Obscura reports.



Photo above: World’s Largest Wooden Nickel: Iowa City, Iowa/Photo by  Maizy/Atlas Obscura


"It would be easy to zip right past before noticing the enormous, looming coin along the side of the road. But, once you catch a glimpse you feel the sudden urge to loop around and pull over to admire the structure that could never be considered mere pocket change."

World’s Largest Wooden Nickel: Iowa City, Iowa sets world record

The website www.thinkiowacity.com lists Glasgow’s 13-year-old icon as one of nine unique attractions of this area, along with the Ped Mall, Old Capitol and the University of Iowa Medical Museum, the Press Citizen reports.


Photo above: Press-Citizen


"You also find it listed through roadsideattractions.com, tripadvisor.com and elsewhere on the Web. Nothing appears in the Guinness record books, however, since there is said to be no “wooden nickel” category at present.


“We started it as kind of a stunt,” says its creator, Jim Glasgow, “and here it’s become a destination site,”  the Press Citizen reports.

World’s Largest Wooden Nickel: Iowa City, Iowa sets world record

Photo above: Jim Glasgow stopped to check out this sign he built in 2006 as part of a successful campaign to halt a proposed Johnson County road paving project. Now known as the World's Largest Wooden Nickel, it has become a tourist stop near I-80. 
Special to the Press-Citizen

Worlds Largest Wooden Nickel


Address: 3246-3248 Iowa River Corridor Trail, Iowa City, IA 52240, United States

Hours: Monday: Open 24 hours; Tuesday: Open 24 hours; Wednesday: Open 24 hours;

             Thursday: Open 24 hours; Friday: Open 24 hours; Saturday: Open 24 hours;
             Sunday: Open 24 hours; (Easter Sunday): Hours might differ

The GUINNESS WORLD RECORD for the oldest coin still in circulation is the 10-centimes coin, produced by Federal Mint Swissmint (Switzerland) since 1879.


GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS also recognized the world record for the largest coin pyramid; it consists of 1,000,935 coins and was built by Vytautas Jakštas and Domas Jokubauskis (both Lithuania) at the Money Museum of the Bank of Lithuania in Vilnius, Lithuania, and completed on 29 November 2014.

Related WORLD RECORDS:

World's largest fork: Fairview's giant fork sets world record
Largest monument to the Turkey: Frazee's 'Big Tom' sets world record
Largest cast-iron skillet: South Pittsburg's Lodge Cast Iron Museum sets world record

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UNITED STATES world records
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