2011 Olympic Cycling 50p
The 2011 Olympic Cycling 50p is a circulating 50p with 2.09 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
- 2,090,500
- 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 Cycling 50p worth?
2.09 million were made, so the 2011 Olympic Cycling 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 Cycling 50p rare?
- No. 2.09 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2011 Olympic Cycling 50p coins were made?
- 2,090,500 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 2011 Olympic Cycling 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 Cycling 50p still legal tender?
- Yes. Every 27.3 mm 50p, including commemoratives, is legal tender in the UK.
Why the 2011 Olympic Cycling 50p was made
Cycling is another of the five sports that have featured at every modern Olympic Games since 1896. By 2012 it covered track, road, mountain bike and BMX racing. For British fans it was a golden summer. In the Velodrome in the Olympic Park, Chris Hoy won the team sprint and the keirin, taking his career total to six Olympic golds and making him Britain's most successful Olympian at the time. Laura Trott won two titles on the track. On the road, Bradley Wiggins won the time trial at Hampton Court only days after his historic Tour win in France.
The Royal Mint struck a Cycling 50p as part of its 2011 series of 29 designs for the sports of London 2012. A public design competition in 2009 supplied the artwork, with one winning idea chosen for each sport. The coins reached circulation in a staggered release across 2011 and 2012. Cycling's coin was one of the more plentiful. After the success of British riders at the Games, it became one of the designs people were most pleased to find.
How to recognize it
The reverse shows a track cyclist crouched low over the handlebars, with lines that suggest the speed of the bike and the banked boards of a velodrome. It is a dynamic, side-on design that reads clearly even at a glance. The two wheels stand out even on a heavily worn coin, which makes it easy to tell apart from the other sports. As on the rest of the series, the London 2012 emblem appears on this side. The obverse shows Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II with the date 2011, which is the date on every coin in the series. The coin itself is the standard 50p of the time, seven-sided and 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 Cycling 50p by the numbers
In mintage terms the 2011 Olympic Cycling 50p ranks 25th lowest of 76 circulating 50p coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 2011 Olympic Weightlifting 50p (1.88 million); the next more common is the 2016 Jemima Puddle-Duck 50p (2.1 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1973 EEC Hands 50p with 89.8 million, about 43 times as many. The scarcest is the 1992 Single Market 50p with 109,000, 19 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). 18 of them had a smaller run.
Within the 2011 Olympic and Paralympic set of 29, it ranks 19th scarcest, behind the Football, Wrestling and Judo and others.
What to check on your 2011 Olympic Cycling 50p
- Confirm the design. The reverse should match the Olympic Cycling 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 2,090,500 struck for circulation, Cycling is in the upper part of the series for mintage and a face value coin when circulated. It turns up regularly. If you're assembling a set from change, aim for one where the rider and bike are still sharply defined, since the wheels and the rider's back are the first areas to rub smooth. Royal Mint collector pack versions also exist and are easy to tell apart. They have bright, frosted luster with no contact marks, while a coin from change looks dull and scuffed next to them.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 50 pence |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 2011 |
| Circulation mintage | 2,090,500 |
| 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
What is the mintage of the Cycling 50p?
The Royal Mint struck 2,090,500 Cycling 50p coins for circulation. That puts it in the upper half of the 29 coin Olympic series, so it is fairly easy to find and generally a face value coin.
Why is the Cycling 50p popular?
Mostly because of what happened at London 2012. British riders won a string of gold medals on the track and road, so the coin is a reminder of a remarkable summer for the sport, even though it is far from scarce.
Mintage figures: Fifty pence (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.