2011 Olympic Aquatics 50p
The 2011 Olympic Aquatics 50p is a circulating 50p with 2.18 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 2011
- Circulation mintage
- 2,179,000
- Value band
- Face value
- Composition
- Cupronickel (75% copper, 25% nickel)
Original illustration of the coin's shape and metal. Tap to flip. Not a picture of the actual design.
Face value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is a 2011 Olympic Aquatics 50p worth?
2.18 million were made, so the 2011 Olympic Aquatics 50p is easy to find. A circulated one is worth face value; collectors pay a little more only for uncirculated coins and coins still in their original Royal Mint pack.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition with no scratches or contact marks
- Original Royal Mint pack or presentation folder
- A genuine mint error, confirmed by an expert
For market prices, look at recent sold results for the same coin in the same condition, not asking prices.
Quick answers
- Is the 2011 Olympic Aquatics 50p rare?
- No. 2.18 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2011 Olympic Aquatics 50p coins were made?
- 2,179,000 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 2011 Olympic Aquatics 50p made of?
- Cupronickel (75% copper, 25% nickel). It weighs 8.0 g and measures 27.3 mm, with a seven-sided (equilateral curve heptagon) shape.
- Is the 2011 Olympic Aquatics 50p still legal tender?
- Yes. Every 27.3 mm 50p, including commemoratives, is legal tender in the UK.
Why the 2011 Olympic Aquatics 50p was made
Aquatics at London 2012 gathered four disciplines under one heading: swimming, diving, synchronized swimming and water polo. They shared the Aquatics venue in the Olympic Park at Stratford, a building by Zaha Hadid with a roof shaped like a wave. Paralympic swimmers raced in the same pool weeks later. Swimming is one of only five sports that have featured at every modern Olympic Games since Athens in 1896, so it was always going to earn its place among the 29 sports honored on the 2011 50p series.
This coin carries the best known backstory in the whole set. When the design was first prepared, flowing water lines crossed the swimmer's face. The Royal Mint revised it before general release so the face sat clear of the water, but a small number of coins with the original lined design reached collectors anyway. That first version is far scarcer than the standard one. The revised coin went into change in the normal way as part of the run of Olympic and Paralympic designs released through 2011 and 2012, all of them chosen from a public design competition held in 2009.
How to recognize it
The reverse shows a swimmer moving through the water, face forward, framed by flowing lines that suggest the motion and rhythm of the stroke. Everything that matters for identification is in the face. On the standard coin the face is clear and the water lines stop short of it. On the scarce original, those lines run straight across the swimmer's features. A magnifier helps. The London 2012 emblem appears on the reverse as well. On the other side is Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II with the date 2011, the date carried by every coin in the series. Like any current 50p it is seven-sided, 27.3 mm across, with a plain edge.
The other side carries Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1998 to 2015.
2011 Olympic Aquatics 50p by the numbers
In mintage terms the 2011 Olympic Aquatics 50p ranks 34th lowest of 76 circulating 50p coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 2011 Olympic Canoeing 50p (2.17 million); the next more common is the 2011 Olympic Athletics 50p (2.22 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1973 EEC Hands 50p with 89.8 million, about 41 times as many. The scarcest is the 1992 Single Market 50p with 109,000, 20 times fewer than this one.
It was released in 2011 alongside 29 other circulating 50p designs, from the Olympic Football (1.13 million) up to the WWF (3.4 million). 26 of them had a smaller run.
Within the 2011 Olympic and Paralympic set of 29, it ranks 27th scarcest, behind the Football, Wrestling and Judo and others.
What to check on your 2011 Olympic Aquatics 50p
- Confirm the design. The reverse should match the Olympic Aquatics described above and carry the date 2011; similar designs from other years are a common mix-up.
- Weigh it if you can: a genuine 27.3 mm 50p weighs 8.0 g. Copies are often light, slightly soft in detail or the wrong color.
- Ignore painted or colored versions sold online as special editions. Color added after the coin left the Mint does not make it a Royal Mint issue and does not add collector value.
- Look at the surfaces under a bright light. Coins straight from a pack have unbroken luster; change-worn coins show scuffs on the high points of the portrait and design.
With 2,179,000 struck for circulation, Aquatics is one of the more plentiful designs in the series. Only Athletics and Archery had bigger mintages, so a standard coin from change is a face value find. The lined version is a different story. It is a significant rarity and the reason experienced collectors look twice at every Aquatics coin they handle. The Royal Mint also sold the Olympic designs in collector packs. A pack coin keeps its full mint luster with no bag marks, while a coin from change usually shows small knocks across the swimmer and the open field.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 50 pence |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 2011 |
| Circulation mintage | 2,179,000 |
| Composition | Cupronickel (75% copper, 25% nickel) |
| Weight | 8.0 g |
| Diameter | 27.3 mm |
| Shape | Seven-sided (equilateral curve heptagon) |
| Edge | Plain |
| Portrait | Rank-Broadley |
Other 2011 50p coins
Frequently asked questions
How do you spot the rare lined Aquatics 50p?
Look closely at the swimmer's face. On the standard coin it is clear of the water lines. On the scarce original version, the lines continue straight across the face. A magnifier helps, because ordinary wear can soften that fine detail on a circulated coin.
How many Aquatics 50p coins were made?
The Royal Mint struck 2,179,000 Aquatics 50p coins for circulation, one of the three highest figures in the 29 coin Olympic series. Almost all of those carry the revised design with the swimmer's face left clear of the water lines.
Mintage figures: Fifty pence (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.