Which is the rarest Olympic 50p coin?
The rarest Olympic 50p Coin in UK general circulation is the Offside Rule Football 50p with only 1.1 million coins minted.
London Olympics 2012 50p Coins
Search NowOlympic 50p coins for sale on eBayThe London 2012 Olympic 50p coins have proved very popular with commemorative British Coin Collectors.
The Royal Mint estimates that up to 75% of the coins have been removed from general circulation by eagle-eyed coin hunters.
The rare Olympic 50p Coins in UK general circulation are topped by the Offside Rule Football 50p with only 1.1 million coins minted.
Most sought after are the Brilliant Uncirculated coins direct from The Royal Mint, still in their original sealed swing bags.
Referred to by The Royal Mint as the 2012 Sports Collection of 50p coins the more popular ones are Triathlon, Football (Offside Rule), Wrestling, Judo and Cycling.
If you are a collector, try to buy Rare 50p Olympic Coins still in their sealed swing bag (this is how they were sold in UK shops). It is a colourful card with the coin details and sealed in a plastic bag.
The top of the bag becomes detached easily to take care when handling!
The complete set of Olympic 2012 50p coins, comprising 29 coins which also include a Completer Medallion, may fetch in excess of £100 in BU condition.
The Completer Medallion could not be purchased (you had to earn it by collecting all the coins) so these are rare and have sold on eBay for upwards of £35 just for the medallion.
Most popular London 2012 Olympics 50p Coins?
The complete sets are very popular and have risen in value greatly especially in presentation cases.
Olympic 50p Swimming coin Lines Across the Face
One of the most sought after coins on eBay is the Aquatics 50p.
We assume this is due to misunderstanding and hype over the Olympic Aquatics 50p Withdrawn Rare Edition error coin version which is worth up to a thousand pounds.
This coin was originally issued depicting a swimmer with lines across the face. After a short mint run (600 coins), the coin was redesigned to remove the lines, making the original coin very sought after by rare coin collectors.
The regular Aquatics coin isn’t the most valuable London Olympics coin and beware, there are many fakes of this coin being listed on eBay.
Top 5 Olympic 50p Coins (most purchased)
Cycling 50p
Judo 50p
Tennis 50p
Triathlon 50p
Wrestling 50p
Top 5 hardest to find London 2012 Olympics 50p Coins
Top 5 Rare Olympic 50p Coins
The rare 50p Olympic coins include:
- Aquatics 50p (see note above)
- Football 50p (aka Offside Rule 50p)
- Judo 50p
- Wrestling 50p
- Triathlon 50p
How many Olympic 50p coins were issued?
Check our chart for the list of Olympic coins mintage figures:
click on any coin name to see coins currently listed on eBay
Olympic 50p List
| Coin Name | # Circulation |
|---|---|
| Aquatics 50p | 2,179,000 |
| Archery 50p | 3,345,500 |
| Athletics 50p | 2,224,000 |
| Badminton 50p | 2,133,500 |
| Basketball 50p | 1,748,000 |
| Boccia 50p | 2,166,000 |
| Boxing 50p | 2,148,500 |
| Canoeing 50p | 2,166,500 |
| Cycling 50p | 2,090,500 |
| Equestrian 50p | 2,142,500 |
| Fencing 50p | 2,115,500 |
| Football 50p (aka Offside Rule 50p) | 1,125,500 |
| Goalball 50p | 1,615,500 |
| Gymnastics 50p | 1,720,813 |
| Handball 50p | 1,676,500 |
| Hockey 50p | 1,773,500 |
| Judo 50p | 1,161,500 |
| Pentathlon 50p | 1,689,500 |
| Rowing 50p | 1,717,300 |
| Sailing 50p | 1,749,500 |
| Shooting 50p | 1,656,500 |
| Table Tennis 50p | 1,737,500 |
| Taekwondo 50p | 1,664,000 |
| Tennis 50p | 1,454,000 |
| Triathlon 50p | 1,163,500 |
| Volleyball 50p | 2,133,500 |
| Weightlifting 50p | 1,879,500 |
| Wheelchair Rugby 50p | 1,765,500 |
| Wrestling 50p | 1,129,500 |
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50p coins are worth their face value of 50p however a coin collector may pay more to add the coin to their collection.
Use this data as a base guide and do your own full research before buying and selling coins.
Coin values vary greatly dependent upon how rare the coin is and it’s condition.
You can assume the coin prices we have researched are for coins in general circulation but otherwise reasonable condition.
Brilliant Uncirculated (BU), Proof, Piedfort, Silver and Gold coins will obviously sell for much more.
The Royal Mint is the official licensee for the manufacture of coins for the London 2012 Olympic Coins and Paralympic Games coins.