2011 Olympic Archery 50p
The 2011 Olympic Archery 50p is a circulating 50p with 3.35 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
- 3,345,500
- 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 Archery 50p worth?
3.35 million were made, so the 2011 Olympic Archery 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 Archery 50p rare?
- No. 3.35 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2011 Olympic Archery 50p coins were made?
- 3,345,500 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 2011 Olympic Archery 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 Archery 50p still legal tender?
- Yes. Every 27.3 mm 50p, including commemoratives, is legal tender in the UK.
Why the 2011 Olympic Archery 50p was made
Archery has deep roots in England, from the longbowmen of medieval armies to the village butts where men were once expected to practice. For London 2012 the sport landed somewhere fitting: Lord's Cricket Ground, where archers shot across the famous turf at targets 70 meters away. Olympic archers use the recurve bow. The 2012 program held individual and team events for both men and women. South Korea, long the powerhouse of the sport, took three of the four gold medals on offer.
The Archery 50p is one of 29 designs the Royal Mint issued for the Olympic and Paralympic sports of London 2012. Each came from the public design competition the Royal Mint ran in 2009. The finished coins were released into change gradually across 2011 and 2012. Archery stands apart from the rest for one simple reason: numbers. More of these went into circulation than any other design in the series, over a million more than the next highest. If you've ever pulled an Olympic 50p from your change, there's a decent chance it was this one.
How to recognize it
The reverse is built around the archer's moment of concentration, shown as a close view of a hand drawing back the bowstring with the arrow in place. There's no full figure and no target, just that one tense detail. It reads well even when the coin is worn. You'll also find the London 2012 emblem on the reverse, which separates it from any ordinary 50p at a glance. The obverse carries Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II with the date 2011. All 29 sports coins share that date, even the ones released in 2012, so the date alone won't tell you which design you have. The coin is the standard seven-sided 50p, 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 Archery 50p by the numbers
By the numbers, the 2011 Olympic Archery 50p ranks 37th lowest of 76 circulating 50p coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 2003 Suffragettes 50p (3.12 million); the next more common is the 2011 WWF 50p (3.4 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1973 EEC Hands 50p with 89.8 million, about 27 times as many. The scarcest is the 1992 Single Market 50p with 109,000, 31 times fewer than this one.
It shared 2011 with 29 other circulating 50p designs, from the Olympic Football (1.13 million) up to the WWF (3.4 million). 28 of them had a smaller run.
Within the 2011 Olympic and Paralympic set of 29, it ranks 29th scarcest, behind the Football, Wrestling and Judo and others.
What to check on your 2011 Olympic Archery 50p
- Confirm the design. The reverse should match the Olympic Archery 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 3,345,500 struck for circulation, Archery has the highest mintage in the Olympic series by a wide margin. That makes it the easiest design to find and the one most people already own without realizing it. A circulated example is a face value coin. Where it does matter is set building: you can't finish the 29 without it. Since it turns up so often, you can afford to wait for a sharp one. Royal Mint collector pack versions exist too. Those have full, frosty luster and no contact marks, while coins from change show rubbing on the high points and scuffs in the field.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 50 pence |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 2011 |
| Circulation mintage | 3,345,500 |
| 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
Is the Archery 50p rare?
No. It is the most common coin in the Olympic series, with 3,345,500 struck for circulation. That is well over a million more than any other sport, so a circulated Archery 50p is generally a face value coin.
Where were the archery events held at London 2012?
Olympic archery took place at Lord's Cricket Ground in London. Archers shot at targets 70 meters away across the outfield, a setting that suited a sport with such a long history in England.
Mintage figures: Fifty pence (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.