Welcome to the Ultimate Guide to the 2012 Olympics 50p coins. We’ve ordered the 50p coins from lowest mintage to highest, to give you an idea of which of them are the rarest!
Released in 2011, there are 29 Olympic 50p coins dedicated to the various sports that took place at the Olympics. Use our table of contents to find the coin you’re looking for, and learn more about its rarity and current value in the secondary marketplace.
About the Guide
We chose not to include the Olympic coins in our list of the Top 5 Rarest 50p Coins as we felt they deserved their own article, and here it is! Many of the Olympic coins will have already been collected, and as such we have chosen to base the rarity on mintage figures alone rather than try to estimate how many have been collected as of yet.
How are the Prices Determined?
We use an eBay tool that crawls data of confirmed sold items on eBay to calculate the average market prices of items and in this case 50p coins. We also manually assess the accuracy of the data to avoid any coins that have suspiciously sold for way above market value to give the fairest assessment of the price.
Football 50p
Estimated Value = £12.46
Mintage = 1,125,500
Position = 1/29
About the Design
The Football Olympic 50p coin features a design by Neil Wolfson which explains the offside rule; one of the most important rules in the game of Football. At the top of the design, the 2012 London Olympics official logo is displayed. The Football Olympic 50p takes the top spot as the rarest Olympic 50p out of all 29 coins issued.
More Information
The Mexican Football team took home the gold medal for the men’s tournament, whilst the American Football team took home the gold for the women’s. The total attendance for the tournament was 2,186,150 with an average of 37,692 attendees for each game.
Wrestling 50p
Estimated Value = £9.02
Mintage = 1,129,500
Position = 2/29
About the Design
The Wrestling Olympic 50p coin features design by Roderick Enriquez and depicts a pair of wrestlers competing within a stadium. As with all Olympic 50p coins the London 2012 Olympics logo is displayed towards the top. Just missing out on the top stop, this coin ranks as the second rarest Olympic 50p coin.
More Information
Wrestling at the 2012 London Olympics was split into freestyle and Greco-Roman, in which men competed in both whilst women took part in the freestyle events only. 18 gold medals were awarded in total over the different disciplines and weight classes, with Russia taking the top spot in the medal table.
Judo 50p
Estimated Value = £7.74
Mintage = 1,161,500
Position = 3/29
About the Design
The Judo Olympic 50p coin features a design by David Cornell of two judo athletes in combat. As with all Olympic 50ps the London 2012 Olympics logo is present at the top of the design. This coin takes spot number 3 out of 29 in terms of rarity.
More Information
The Judo event took place between 23 July to 3 August and covered many different weight classes. Similarly to Wrestling, Russia took the number one spot in the medal table after obtaining the most gold medals (3).
Triathlon 50p
Estimated Value = £10.06
Mintage = 1,163,500
Position = 4/29
About the Design
The Triathlon Olympic 50p coin features a design by Sarah Harvey that depicts the three disciplines of the triathlon event: swimming, cycling and running. Yet again the London 2012 Olympic logo is featured at the top.
More Information
The Triathlon event at the London 2o12 Olympics was held over a so-called ‘international distance’ comprising of a 0.93-mile swim, 25-miles of road cycling and a 6.2-mile run. 110 athletes competed evenly distributed between males and females, with Alistair Brownlee from Great Britain taking the gold for the men and Nicola Spirig from Switzerland taking gold for the women.
Tennis 50p
Estimated Value = £2.21
Mintage = 1,454,000
Position = 5/29
About the Design
The design for the Tennis Olympic 50p coin was created by Tracy Baines and depicts a tennis ball travelling over a tennis net, with the London 2012 Olympics logo towards the top.
More Information
The tennis events at the London 2012 Olympics were hosted at the prestigious All England Club in Wimbledon. The formats played were men’s singles and doubles, women’s singles and doubles and mixed doubles. The USA topped the leaderboards with 3 gold medals and 1 bronze, with Great Britain finishing in second place followed by Belarus.
Goalball 50p
Estimated Value = £2.20
Mintage = 1,651,500
Position = 6/29
About the Design
The Goalball Paralympic 50p coin design by Jonothan Wren depicts a goalball player throwing a ball. As with all London 2012 Paralympic 50p coins the logo can be found towards the top of the coin.
More Information
The Goalball Paralympics event took place from 28 August to 9 September 2012 and featured two tournaments; one for men and the other for women. The Finish team took the gold medal for the men and the Japanese team for the women.
Shooting 50p
Estimate Value = £2.10
Mintage = 1,656,500
Position = 7/29
About the Design
The Shooting Olympic 50p coin features a design by Pravin Dewdhory depicting a man shooting a gun with the London 2012 Olympics logo at the top.
More Information
The Shooting event at the London 2012 Olympics consisted of 15 categories including the rifle, pistol and shotgun with 390 athletes taking part. South Korea topped the leaderboard for this event with a total of 3 gold medals and 2 silver medals, followed closely by the United States and Italy.
Taekwondo 50p
Estimate Value = £2.70
Mintage = 1,664,000
Position = 8/29
About the Design
The Taekwondo Olympic 50p coin features a design by David Gibbons of two Taekwondo athletes in combat, with the London 2012 Olympics logo towards the top.
More Information
The Taekwondo event of the London 2012 Olympics featured competition in 8 different weight categories, evenly distributed amongst the men and women competitors. Spain came in 1st place in the medal leaderboard with 1 gold medal and 2 silver medals, with China and South Korea in 2nd and 3rd place respectively.
Handball 50p
Estimate Value = £2.13
Mintage = 1,676,500
Position = 9/29
About the Design
The Handball Olympic 50p coin features a design by Natasha Radcliffe of a figure throwing a ball with the background of a handball court; featuring the London 2012 Olympics logo towards the top.
More Information
The Handball event at the London 2012 Olympics featured a men’s and women’s tournament, with 12 teams competing in each. The men’s tournament was won by the French team with Sweden coming in second place; alongside Norway winning the women’s competition with the Montenergan team finishing second place.
Modern Pentathlon 50p
Estimate Value = £2.34
Mintage = 1,689,500
Position = 10/29
About the Design
The Modern Pentathlon Olympic 50p coin features a design by Daniel Brittain of a compilation of the five sports of the modern pentathlon: fencing, freestyle swimming, equestrian show jumping, and a final combined event of cross country running and pistol shooting.
More Information
The Modern Pentathlon event of the London 2012 Olympics featured 36 athletes for both the men’s and women’s events. David Svoboda from the Czech Republic won the gold medal in the men’s event, whilst Laura Asadauskaitė won the gold in the women’s event.
Rowing 50p
Estimate Value = £2.39
Mintage = 1,717,300
Position = 11/29
About the Design
The design of the Rowing Olympic 50p coin features a design by Davey Podmore of two athletes in a rowing boat accompanied by several words such as ‘EXCELLENCE’ and ‘FRIENDSHIP’ which are associated with the Olympics.
More Information
The Rowing event at the London 2012 Olympics took place in Dorney Lake, a 1.4 mile long purpose-built venue privately funded by Eton College. Great Britain topped the leaderboard for the medals table in the Rowing event, with 4 gold medals, followed closely by New Zealand and Germany. Interestingly, the venue was used for both the Olympics Rowing event and the Paralympics Rowing event during 2012.
Gymnastics 50p
Estimate Value = £1.09
Mintage =1,720,813
Position = 12/29
About the Design
The Gymnastics Olympic 50p coin features a design by Jonothan Olliffee of a gymnast using a ribbon, with the London 2012 Olympics logo at the top.
More Information
The Gymnastics Event of the London 2012 Olympics featured three disciplines encompassing artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics and trampolining. The overall medal table was dominated by China who achieved 5 gold medals, almost twice that of second-place Russia who obtained 3 gold medals with the United States in third place.
Table Tennis 50p
Estimate Value = £1.99
Mintage = 1,737,500
Position = 13/29
About the Design
The Table Tennis Olympic 50p coin features a design by Alan Linsdell of two table tennis bats with a table tennis table in the background. As usual, the London 2012 Olympic logo is found at the top of the coin.
More Information
The Table Tennis event at the London 2012 Olympics featured 174 athletes in total, with 86 men and 88 women. The event covered both singles and teams, with China dominating the leaderboard by winning all 4 gold medals and defended their reign at the top of the sport.
Basketball 50p
Estimate Value = £1.99
Mintage = 1,748,000
Position = 14/29
About the Design
The Basketball Olympic 50p coin features a design by Sarah Payne of a group of basketball players with a basketball textured background. As usual, the London 2012 Olympic logo is to be found at the top of the coin.
More Information
The Basketball Event at the London 2012 Olympics was held at the purpose-built Olympic Park, which had the capacity for 12,000 spectators. The event was a showcase of the dominance of the Americans, as they went on to win the gold medal in both the women and men’s events.
Sailing 50p
Estimate Value = £0.99
Mintage = 1,749,500
Position = 15/29
About the Design
The Sailing Olympic 50p coin features a design by Bruce Rushin of three sailing boats with a background of the map of Weymouth. As always the London 2012 Olympic logo is found at the top of the design.
More Information
The Sailing event at the London 2012 Olympics consisted of a total of ten events with eight different classes. The events were held in Weymouth and held on a variety of courses. Australia topped the overall medal table with a total of 3 gold medals, followed by Spain in second place and Great Britain in third place.
Wheelchair Rugby 50p
Estimate Value = £1.58
Mintage = 1,765,500
Position = 16/29
About the Design
The Wheelchair Rugby Paralympic 50p coin features a design by Natasha Ratcliffe of a wheelchair rugby athlete with the London 2012 Paralympics logo at the top.
More Information
The Wheelchair Rugby event at the London 2012 Paralympics only featured one event in total with 8 teams competing. Despite the event being mixed gender, the vast majority of the contenders were men. Australia won the event, followed by Canada in second place and the United States in third.
Hockey 50p
Estimate Value = £1.99
Mintage = 1,773,500
Position = 17/29
About the Design
The Hockey Olympic 50p coin features a design by Robert Evans of two hockey athletes competing for the ball. As usual, the London 2012 Olympics logo is found at the top of the coin.
More Information
The Hockey event at the London 2012 Olympics consisted of a men’s and women’s tournament, with 12 teams allocated for each respectively. Germany managed to secure the victory for the men’s tournament, followed by the Netherlands and Australia. For the women’s tournament, the Netherlands secured first place with Argentina in second place and Great Britain in third place.
Weightlifting 50p
Estimate Value = £2.25
Mintage = 1,878,500
Position = 18/29
About the Design
The Weightlifting Olympic 50p coin features a design by Rob Shakespeare depicting a weightlifter in the start position of a lift. The London 2012 Olympics logo can be found towards the top.
More Information
The weightlifting event at the London 2012 Olympics featured 15 events in which 260 athletes took part. The men had 8 different weight categories whilst the woman had 7, and China led the overall leader board securing 5 gold medals and 2 silver. Closely behind were Iran and North Korea respectively.
Cycling 50p
Estimate Value = £1.30
Mintage = 2,090,500
Position = 19/29
About the Design
The Cycling Olympic 50p coin design created by Theo Crutchley-Mack features a cyclist inside a velodrome with the London 2012 Olympics logo towards the top.
More Information
Cycling at the London 2012 Olympics marked the dominance of the Great Britain team. Obtaining 8 gold medals in total, the team from Great Britain topped the medal table easily in this discipline. Germany and France placed second and third respectively, each with only a single gold medal alongside silver and bronze medals.
Fencing 50p
Estimate Value = £1.67
Mintage = 2,115,500
Position = 20/29
About the Design
The Fencing Olympics 50p coin features a design by Ruth Summerfield of two fencing athletes in competition. The London 2012 Olympics logo can be found towards the top.
More Information
The Fencing Event at the London 2012 Olympics featured ten events in total with six in the individual category and the remainder in the team category. Italy obtained the number one spot in the overall medal table with 3 gold medals, 2 silver and 2 bronze giving 7 medals in total. South Korea finished second, followed by China in third place.
Badminton 50p and Volleyball 50p
Estimate Value(s) = £1.36 for Badminton / £1.33 for Volleyball
Mintage(s) = 2,133,500
Positions = 21/29 and 22/29
About the Design of the Badminton Olympic 50p
The Badminton Olympic 50p features a design by Emma Kelly of a large shuttlecock with different Badminton actions displayed to the right. The London 2012 Olympics logo can be found above.
More information about the Badminton Olympic 50p
The Badminton event of the London 2012 Olympics featured 172 athletes who competed in 5 different events. The Chinese team dominated the field, obtaining all of the gold medals, 2 silver medals and 1 bronze. Denmark finished in second place with a single silver and bronze medal, with Japan and Malaysia tied for third with a single silver medal each.
Notably, during the women’s double event several disqualifications occurred due to foul play.
About the Design of the Volleyball Olympic 50p
The Volleyball Olympics 50p features a design by Daniella Boothman of beach volleyball players contesting for the ball over a volleyball net. The London 2012 Olympics logo can be found above.
More information about the Volleyball Olympic 50p
The Volleyball Event at the London 2012 Olympics held 4 events: indoor and beach volleyball each for men and women respectively. Brazil managed to obtain the top ranking in the overall medal table with a gold medal, 2 silvers and a bronze. The United States team finished in second place, with Germany and Russia tied for third place.
Equestrian 50p
Estimate Value = £1.40
Mintage = 2,142,500
Position = 23/29
About the Design
The Equestrian Olympic 50p features a design of a horse with rider jumping over a fence and was created by Thomas Babbage. The London 2012 Olympics logo can be found at the top.
More Information
The Equestrian event covered dressage, eventing and jumping with both an individual and team effort in each. The team from Great Britain managed to top the medal table with 3 golds, a silver and a bronze. In second place was Germany with 4 medals in total and Switzerland came in third with one gold medal.
Boxing 50p
Estimate Value = £1.67
Mintage = 2,148,500
Position = 24/29
About the Design
The Boxing Olympic 50p coin features a design by Shane Abery and depicts a pair of boxing gloves inside a boxing ring. The London 2012 Olympics logo can be found at the top.
More information
The Boxing event at the London 2012 Olympics saw 286 competitors fighting it out in 13 different events. Great Britain saw the most success with 3 gold medals, a silver and a bronze. Ukraine followed closely with 2 gold medals, and Cuba in third also with 2 gold medals.
Boccia 50p
Estimate Value = £1.94
Mintage = 2,166,000
Position = 25/29
About the Design
The Boccia Paralympic 50p coin features a design by Justin Chung of an athlete in a wheelchair throwing a ball in a game of boccia. The London 2012 Paralympics logo can be found at the top.
More Information
Seven events were held for Boccia during the London 2012 Olympics including four individual events, two pair events and one team event. There were 104 athletes in total including 80 men and 24 women. In terms of medals, Brazil ranked in the top spot obtaining 3 gold medals and a bronze, followed closely by Thailand and South Korea in second and third places respectively.
Canoeing 50p
Estimate Value = £2.86
Mintage = 2,166,500
Position = 26/29
About the Design
The Canoeing Olympic 50p features a design by Timothy Lees of a canoe going through a slalom course. As ever the London 2012 Olympics logo can be found towards the top.
More Information
The Canoeing event at the London 2012 Olympics featured both the slalom and sprint disciplines which were held at Lee Valley and Dorney Lake respectively. 16 events were held overall with an impressive 330 athletes competing in total. Germany managed to secure the number one spot in the medal table with 3 gold medals, 2 silver medals and 3 bronze medals; followed closely by Hungary in second position and Great Britain in third place.
Aquatics 50p
Estimate Value = £1.64
Mintage = 2,179,000
Position = 27/29
About the Design
The Aquatics Olympic 50p coin features a design by Jonathan Olliffe of a swimmer passing through water. As always the London 2012 Olympics logo can be found towards the top.
More Information
The Aquatics event at the London 2012 Olympics featured a total of 34 events split evenly amongst male and female competitors. The event was dominated by the American swimmers who managed to claim a total of 16 gold medals, 9 silver medals and 6 bronze medals.
Is there an error Olympic Aquatics 50p coin?
There were 600 aquatics 50p coins minted with the lines of the water going through the face of the swimmer before the design was withdrawn. Although not technically an error coin as there was not an issue with the minting mechanism, these coins are still extremely rare and have sold for around £1,000 on eBay.
Athletics 50p
Estimate Value = £1.71
Mintage = 2,224,000
Position = 28/29
About the Design
The Athletics Olympic 50p coin featured a design by Florence Jackson of an athlete jumping over a high jump bar. As per usual the London 2012 Olympic logo can be found at the top.
More Information
One of the key events in all of Olympic history, the athletics at the London 2012 Olympics was no different. 47 events took place in total for the whole world to see, with men competing in 24 events and women in 23. The United States managed to top the overall medal table with 9 gold medals, 12 silver medals and 7 bronze. In second place came Jamaica and in third Great Britain.
Archery 50p
Estimate Value = £2.00
Mintage = 3,345,500
Position = 29/29
About the Design
The Archery Olympic 50p coin features a design by Piotr Powaga of a close-up image of a bow being drawn. The London 2012 Olympic logo can be found towards the top.
More Information
4 events were held in total for Archery at the London 2012 Olympics, with 2 events for men and women respectively. All of these events took place at the prestigious Lord’s Cricket Ground in London. South Korea finished in first place overall, obtaining three gold medals and a bronze, followed by Italy in second place.
