2011 Olympic Goalball 50p
The 2011 Olympic Goalball 50p is a circulating 50p with 1.62 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
- 1,615,500
- 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 Goalball 50p worth?
1.62 million were made, so the 2011 Olympic Goalball 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 Goalball 50p rare?
- No. 1.62 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2011 Olympic Goalball 50p coins were made?
- 1,615,500 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 2011 Olympic Goalball 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 Goalball 50p still legal tender?
- Yes. Every 27.3 mm 50p, including commemoratives, is legal tender in the UK.
Why the 2011 Olympic Goalball 50p was made
Goalball was developed after the Second World War as a way to help blinded veterans stay active. Today it is one of the most distinctive sports at the Paralympic Games. Teams of three play on an indoor court, rolling a ball with bells inside it toward a goal that stretches the full width of the opposite end. Every player wears an eyeshade, so athletes with different levels of sight compete on equal terms. Defenders track the ball by sound alone and throw themselves sideways to block it, which is why the crowd must keep silent while the ball is live. The sport has been part of the Paralympics since the 1970s.
Goalball is one of three sports in the 2011 50p series that are played only at the Paralympic Games, alongside Boccia and Wheelchair Rugby. Its design came from the Royal Mint's 2009 public competition. The coin went into change in stages during 2011 and 2012 with the other designs. With its fairly low mintage, it is one of the coins people often need near the end of a set.
How to recognize it
The reverse captures a goalball player in the act of throwing, with lines streaming from the ball to suggest its speed. It gets across the pace and power of a goalball attack in a single image. The London 2012 emblem sits on the reverse alongside the design. The obverse carries Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II with the date 2011, the same date found on every coin in the series. Expect wear first on the throwing figure, which sits on the highest part of the design. If the sport looks unfamiliar, that's normal: many people first learned what goalball was from this coin. It is an ordinary 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 Goalball 50p by the numbers
By the numbers, the 2011 Olympic Goalball 50p ranks 10th lowest of 76 circulating 50p coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 2011 Olympic Tennis 50p (1.45 million); the next more common is the 2011 Olympic Shooting 50p (1.66 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1973 EEC Hands 50p with 89.8 million, about 56 times as many. The scarcest is the 1992 Single Market 50p with 109,000, 15 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). 5 of them had a smaller run.
Within the 2011 Olympic and Paralympic set of 29, it ranks 6th scarcest, behind the Football, Wrestling and Judo and others.
What to check on your 2011 Olympic Goalball 50p
- Confirm the design. The reverse should match the Olympic Goalball 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 1,615,500 struck for circulation, Goalball has the sixth lowest mintage in the series, below everything except Football, Wrestling, Judo, Triathlon and Tennis. That doesn't make it a rarity, but it does turn up less often than most. In circulated condition it is a face value coin, maybe a small premium for a really sharp one. There are also Royal Mint collector pack coins of this design. A pack coin shows bright, even luster with no contact marks, whereas a coin from change has a duller surface and rubbing on the figure. Look for a clean field before you put one in an album.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 50 pence |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 2011 |
| Circulation mintage | 1,615,500 |
| 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 goalball on the 50p coin?
Goalball is a Paralympic sport for visually impaired athletes. Teams of three wearing eyeshades roll a ball with bells inside toward a wide goal while defenders block it by sound. Its 50p is one of three Paralympic sports in the series.
Is the Goalball 50p rare?
It is one of the scarcer designs but not a true rarity. The Royal Mint struck 1,615,500 for circulation, the sixth lowest figure of the 29 Olympic and Paralympic coins. Circulated examples generally trade close to face value.
Mintage figures: Fifty pence (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.