In 2012, 29 50p coins were released to commemorate the London Olympics and millions rose to the challenge of collecting them all. For many, this marked the start of their interest in coins.

The Royal Mint now estimates that as many as 75% of the Olympic 50p coins have been removed from circulation by collectors, which is a testament to their popularity.

Do you own the rarest Olympic 50p?

As the 2012 Olympic coins drop out of circulation by getting lost or snatched up in collections, their value has been increasing, with the football and wrestling designs particularly popular. Has looked at the average price on three recent sales on eBay for particularly rare 50p coins – the Kew Gardens 2009, the Royal Shield of Arms. Special edition Team GB 50p. Ahead of the 2016 Olympics in Rio, the Royal Mint issued a special 50p to celebrate Team GB. Around 6.4m were released into circulation, making it much more common than any of the Olympic series coins. But if you’re seeking to complete your Olympic collection, you may wish to hunt down one of these.

Olympic 50ps have long been a favourite amongst collectors, but did you know that only 1,125,500 Football fifty pence pieces entered circulation? It’s definitely the rarest one to look out for and tops our chart as having the smallest mintage figures, which means it is even harder to find than the others.

Although the Football 50p narrowly holds the title of the rarest sport in the series, there were still over one millionof those struck for circulation. To hold the honourable title as “rare”, we must look beyond the official Royal Mint circulation figures…

The withdrawn Aquatics ‘error’ Olympic 50p

The Aquatics 50p design was modified to make the swimmer more visible.

The Aquatics 50p which we are familiar with today is actually a modified version which removed the waves passing over the swimmer’s face.

Despite the original design being adapted early on – there are still a few of the original coins in circulation.

Although the exact quantity of the original Aquatics design remains a mystery, we know it’s not unusual for these special coins to exchange hands for close to £1000… not a bad return on a 50p coin!

2009 Athletics Olympic 50p

In 2009, nine-year old Florence Jackson became the youngest person to design a coin for circulation in the UK. Her Athletics Olympic 50p design was the ultimate winner of a Blue Peter competition.

Although you may recognise this coin, you may not know that a rare version of this coin exists.When the competition winner was revealed, only 100,000 special edition Blue Peter coin packs were released with a 2009 dated coin – making it the only Olympic 50p without a 2011 date.

That makes this 2009 Athletics Olympic 50p more than twice as rare as the famous Kew Gardens 50p.

The rarest of the series

A gold version of each design was presented to the respective artist

It is without doubt that the gold versions of each 50p remain the rarest of the collection.

Unfortunately for collectors, obtaining one of these is nearly impossible as only one gold version of each design was presented to the respective winning designer.

Aside from the precious metal content, their unique status and significance rank them as potentially the most valuable UK 50p coins in existence.

Is this the 30th Olympic 50p?

To the delight of many Olympic 50p collectors, in 2016 The Royal Mint issued a special 50p to wish Team GB success for the Rio Games.

The coin’s obverse features a swimmer with the Team GB logo, the Olympic rings and the inscription ‘TEAM GB’. Designed by Tim Sharp, the coin has been officially endorsed by Team GB and celebrates the spirit of British Olympians – a must have for all Olympic 50p Collectors.

Complete your 50p collection

Do you still have coins missing from your Olympic 50p collection?

London 2012 Olympic 50p coin collection

There are 29 Olympic 50p designs. They were produced in 2011 to mark the London 2012 Olympics. As 29 new 50 pence coins entered circulation in a single year, the mintage figures for each coin were quite low in comparison to most other non-Olympic 50p's.

The 2011 London 2012 Olympic Football design is very rare, around 1 in 1883 50 pence coins have this design. 1,125,500 coins dated 2011 entered circulation.
The 2011 London 2012 Olympic Wrestling design is very rare, around 1 in 1876 50 pence coins have this design. 1,129,500 coins dated 2011 entered circulation.
The 2011 London 2012 Olympic Judo design is very rare, around 1 in 1824 50 pence coins have this design. 1,161,500 coins dated 2011 entered circulation.
The 2011 London 2012 Olympic Triathlon design is very rare, around 1 in 1821 50 pence coins have this design. 1,163,500 coins dated 2011 entered circulation.
The 2011 London 2012 Olympic Tennis design is rare, around 1 in 1457 50 pence coins have this design. 1,454,000 coins dated 2011 entered circulation.
The 2011 London 2012 Olympic Goalball design is rare, around 1 in 1312 50 pence coins have this design. 1,615,500 coins dated 2011 entered circulation.
The 2011 London 2012 Olympic Shooting design is rare, around 1 in 1279 50 pence coins have this design. 1,656,500 coins dated 2011 entered circulation.
The 2011 London 2012 Olympic Taekwondo design is rare, around 1 in 1273 50 pence coins have this design. 1,664,000 coins dated 2011 entered circulation.
The 2011 London 2012 Olympic Handball design is rare, around 1 in 1264 50 pence coins have this design. 1,676,500 coins dated 2011 entered circulation.
The 2011 London 2012 Olympic Modern Pentathlon design is rare, around 1 in 1254 50 pence coins have this design. 1,689,500 coins dated 2011 entered circulation.
The 2011 London 2012 Olympic Rowing design is rare, around 1 in 1234 50 pence coins have this design. 1,717,300 coins dated 2011 entered circulation.
The 2011 London 2012 Olympic Gymnastics design is rare, around 1 in 1231 50 pence coins have this design. 1,720,813 coins dated 2011 entered circulation.
The 2011 London 2012 Olympic Table Tennis design is rare, around 1 in 1220 50 pence coins have this design. 1,737,500 coins dated 2011 entered circulation.
The 2011 London 2012 Olympic Basketball design is rare, around 1 in 1212 50 pence coins have this design. 1,748,000 coins dated 2011 entered circulation.
The 2011 London 2012 Olympic Sailing design is rare, around 1 in 1211 50 pence coins have this design. 1,749,500 coins dated 2011 entered circulation.
The 2011 London 2012 Olympic Wheelchair Rugby design is rare, around 1 in 1200 50 pence coins have this design. 1,765,500 coins dated 2011 entered circulation.
The 2011 London 2012 Olympic Hockey design is rare, around 1 in 1195 50 pence coins have this design. 1,773,500 coins dated 2011 entered circulation.
The 2011 London 2012 Olympic Weightlifting design is rare, around 1 in 1127 50 pence coins have this design. 1,879,500 coins dated 2011 entered circulation.
The 2011 London 2012 Olympic Cycling design is rare, around 1 in 1014 50 pence coins have this design. 2,090,500 coins dated 2011 entered circulation.
The 2011 London 2012 Olympic Fencing design is rare, around 1 in 1002 50 pence coins have this design. 2,115,500 coins dated 2011 entered circulation.
The 2011 London 2012 Olympic Volleyball design is very uncommon, around 1 in 993 50 pence coins have this design. 2,133,500 coins dated 2011 entered circulation.
The 2011 London 2012 Olympic Badminton design is very uncommon, around 1 in 993 50 pence coins have this design. 2,133,500 coins dated 2011 entered circulation.
The 2011 London 2012 Olympic Equestrian design is very uncommon, around 1 in 989 50 pence coins have this design. 2,142,500 coins dated 2011 entered circulation.
The 2011 London 2012 Olympic Boxing design is very uncommon, around 1 in 986 50 pence coins have this design. 2,148,500 coins dated 2011 entered circulation.
The 2011 London 2012 Olympic Boccia design is very uncommon, around 1 in 978 50 pence coins have this design. 2,166,000 coins dated 2011 entered circulation.
The 2011 London 2012 Olympic Canoeing design is very uncommon, around 1 in 978 50 pence coins have this design. 2,166,500 coins dated 2011 entered circulation.
The 2011 London 2012 Olympic Aquatics design is very uncommon, around 1 in 972 50 pence coins have this design. 2,179,000 coins dated 2011 entered circulation.
The London 2012 Olympic Athletics design is very uncommon, around 1 in 953 50 pence coins have this design. 2,224,000 coins dated 2009, 2011 entered circulation.
The 2011 London 2012 Olympic Archery design is very uncommon, around 1 in 633 50 pence coins have this design. 3,345,500 coins dated 2011 entered circulation.

Olympic 50p Album

Comparative Rarity Score is a measure of coins availability in comparison to other 50p coin designs. High scores in themselves do not mean there is a small number of a coin in existence, just that the coins do not come up in general circulation very often.

The number of coins that enter circulation is shown where available. In order to generate rarity scores / listing positions, we make some assumptions in relation to coins in existance, but no longer in general circulation. This is based on the number of years the coin has been in circulation and on a sample of 5000 50p coins.

The term rare as used on this webpage refers to a coins availibility in active circulation (coins not held in a private collection), not in terms of the number of coins that exist.

Olympic 50p Rare