The Olympic 50p coins are highly collectable and the Table Tennis 50p is no exception to this rule, but what are they worth today if you’re looking to sell one?
The most recent sold values in 2022 indicate that the Table Tennis 50p is worth around £2.17 in circulated condition.
Let’s see what makes the coin worth over 4x face value to collectors.
Table Tennis 50p Coin Mintage and Other Versions
When considering mintage numbers alone, the Table Tennis 50p is the 13th rarest in the set of 29 coins with a total of 1,737,500.
Some rarer Olympic coins include the rowing, shooting or judo 50p coins. Like the other coins, the Table Tennis 50p was also produced in other versions for coin enthusiasts.
These included a Specimen in a Card labelled 22/29 as well as a Silver Brilliant Uncirculated 0.925 Silver variety.
Additionally, two sets were minted as follows:
- London 2012 Sports Collection Collector Album
- London 2012 Silver 50p Sports Collection
The London 2012 Sports Collection Collector Album set included all 29 Olympic 50p coins with an unknown mintage.
The London 2012 Silver 50p Sports Collection set included all 29 coins minted in 0.925 silver. The silver set had a limit of 30,000, but the actual mintage is unknown.
One unique Gold Proof FDC 0.917 Gold was presented to the artist, Alan Linsdell.
About The Sport Of Table Tennis
Table Tennis is also better known as ping-pong or whiff-whaff. Players compete with their opponent, or in sets of two players on each end of the table. It is a very fast sport that demands athletes to have excellent hand-eye coordination and fast reaction times.
The table has a small net in the middle strung across from side to side. The players hold a small racket called a bat, or paddle, and hit a lightweight hollow ball back and forth over the net. The ball is called a ping-pong ball.
At the Olympic level, the balls are typically made from celluloid. The bats are usually made from laminated wood that is covered with rubber on one side. The side that is covered in rubber will depend on the player’s grip.
Players must allow the ball to bounce on their side once before hitting it with the bat. Points are scored when a player fails to hit the ball back to the opponent.
The game is played in sets. Players win a game by scoring 11 points. A match is won by winning games. The number of games required to win a match varies depending on the competition and category. Single matches are typically the best of 7, while doubles are usually the best of 5.
Table Tennis has been part of the Olympics since 1988. The sport includes categories for men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, and women’s doubles. Starting in 2008, the doubles categories were replaced with a team event.
Table Tennis is also played at the Paralympics and has been since the first 1960 Paralympic games in Rome. In 2012, there was also a Paralympics Table Tennis event that took place from August 30 through September 8.
Table Tennis at the Olympics
At the 2012 Olympics in London, 174 athletes from 57 nations took part in the table tennis event. Out of the 174, 86 were men and 88 were women.
The Olympic table tennis event in London covered both singles and teams separating each event between men’s and women’s singles and teams. All the events were played at the ExCeL London venue.
China defended its reign at the top of the table tennis sport. They took first place by taking home all 4 of the gold medals and 2 silvers. Japan and South Korea won 1 silver medal each. Germany and Singapore each took home 2 bronze medals.
Olympic Coin Design
The Olympic Table Tennis 50p coin is shaped in the standard 7-sided heptagon with a face value of 0.50 pounds sterling.
The 50p coins are made of a Cupro-nickel alloy with an 8.00g weight, a diameter of 27.3mm, and 1.78mm thick.
To celebrate the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, the Royal Mint released 29 special commemorative 50p coins in 2011. Each coin depicted a different sport.
The Obverse of the Olympic and Paralympic 50p coins shows a mature head of Queen Elizabeth II crowned and facing right. The words ELIZABETH * II * D * G REG * F * D * 2011 encircle Her Majesty’s image.
The edge is plain with no inscription.
Table Tennis 50p Coin Design
The Table Tennis 50p coin features two hands holding one bat each. The bats are crossing over each other, and looks like the back of one bat is pictured while the front of the other is illustrated in the design. The table with the net is in the background. The forefront of the design shows a table tennis ball whizzing upward with two curved swish lines to indicate movement.
Most of the 29 Olympic 50p coins display the Olympic logo at the top of the reverse side. On the Table Tennis coin, the logo of the Paralympics is seen. The logo was designed by the same consultancy firm that designed the 2012 Olympic logo, Wolff Olins.
It differs from the Olympic logo design in that each number in 2012 features a separate component. Inside the “2” is the word “london” in lowercase. Diagonal stripes come down from the top. Instead of the Olympic rings, there are swooshes called Paralympic “agitos” inside the zero. Inside the Number “1” is a triangular shape pointed downward to the left. The final Number “2” in “2012” features the words “Paralympic Games”.
Centred at the bottom of the coin, and slightly curved upward, are the words 50 PENCE.
An Unusual Royal Mint Decision
To design the series of Olympic 50p coins, the Royal Mint made a very unusual decision. They not only allowed but invited the public to become the designers of the entire 29-coin series.
To determine each of the Olympic coin’s reverse side designs, the Royal Mint launched a contest to determine who would be the designer of each individual 50p coin. About 30,000 entries were submitted, and 29 designs were chosen.
About the Table Tennis Coin Design Winner
The Table Tennis Olympic 50p coin was designed by Alan Linsdell. He is a retired illustrator. He is also a huge fan of the sport of table tennis.
He had played table tennis since he was 8 years old and kept playing for 20 years before switching over to badminton. He played badminton for several years before he had to stop due to a heart condition and switched back to his first love of the sport of table tennis.
So, when he saw the ad looking for coin designers, table tennis was the first sport he thought of as he knew it well.
He was, however, surprised when he found out that his design was a winner since when he first learned about the contest for the coin designs, he thought he had plenty of time to enter but had put it off. The day before the last day allowed for entering, he quickly did some pencil sketches on the side of the newspaper before transferring his sketch onto the larger entry template.
Where To Buy (or sell) The Table Tennis 50p Coin
Looking online is one of the easiest and fastest ways to find coins. The average selling price on eBay is £1.99 for this specific coin, but make sure that you deal with a verified account to make sure you don’t get scammed.
Listings for Olympic 50ps come up all the time due to how popular they are so you’re almost guaranteed to get your hands on one.