2011 Olympic Shooting 50p
The 2011 Olympic Shooting 50p is a circulating 50p with 1.66 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
- 1,656,500
- 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 Shooting 50p worth?
1.66 million were made, so the 2011 Olympic Shooting 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 Shooting 50p rare?
- No. 1.66 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2011 Olympic Shooting 50p coins were made?
- 1,656,500 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 2011 Olympic Shooting 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 Shooting 50p still legal tender?
- Yes. Every 27.3 mm 50p, including commemoratives, is legal tender in the UK.
Why the 2011 Olympic Shooting 50p was made
Shooting was on the program at the first modern Games in 1896 and has grown into one of the bigger Olympic sports by number of events. Competitors use rifles, pistols or shotguns, firing at fixed paper or electronic targets or at clay targets thrown into the air. Calm and control count for everything, since a single loose shot can decide a medal. For London 2012 the ranges were built at the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, a site with centuries of military history. Peter Wilson won gold there in the double trap, coached by a former Olympic champion in the same event, Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum.
The Royal Mint included shooting among the 29 sports in its 2011 50p series. As with most of the set, the design came from a member of the public who entered the competition the Royal Mint held in 2009. The coins reached circulation in batches through 2011 and 2012. Shooting finished with one of the lower mintages, seventh from the bottom of the list.
How to recognize it
The reverse shows a shooter firing, with the shot breaking into a burst of sharp geometric shapes that echo the angular London 2012 emblem. It is part figure and part pattern, which makes it quite unlike the action poses elsewhere in the series. The long straight line of the barrel helps you pick it out quickly. You'll find the London 2012 emblem on the reverse, the common thread of the series. On the obverse is Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and the date 2011, the date carried by every coin in the set. The coin is a 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 Shooting 50p by the numbers
Measured by how many were made, the 2011 Olympic Shooting 50p ranks 11th lowest of 76 circulating 50p coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 2011 Olympic Goalball 50p (1.62 million); the next more common is the 2011 Olympic Taekwondo 50p (1.66 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1973 EEC Hands 50p with 89.8 million, about 54 times as many. The scarcest is the 1992 Single Market 50p with 109,000, 15 times fewer than this one.
2011 brought 29 other circulating 50p designs, from the Olympic Football (1.13 million) up to the WWF (3.4 million). 6 of them had a smaller run.
Within the 2011 Olympic and Paralympic set of 29, it ranks 7th scarcest, behind the Football, Wrestling and Judo and others.
What to check on your 2011 Olympic Shooting 50p
- Confirm the design. The reverse should match the Olympic Shooting 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 1,656,500 struck for circulation, Shooting is in the lower third of the Olympic series, ranking seventh lowest. It's not scarce enough to carry much of a premium, so a circulated example is usually a face value coin. Still, it turns up less often than the common designs. Some collectors find it one of the last mid-range coins they need. Collector packs issued by the Royal Mint carried the Olympic designs too. Those coins keep bright mint luster and sharp edges on the figure, so they're easy to tell from coins that have done the rounds.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 50 pence |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 2011 |
| Circulation mintage | 1,656,500 |
| 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 Shooting 50p rare?
It is a little scarcer than average but not rare. The Royal Mint struck 1,656,500 for circulation, the seventh lowest figure in the 29 coin Olympic series. Coins taken from change are generally face value pieces.
Where was shooting held at London 2012?
The shooting events took place at the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, southeast London. The coin itself is dated 2011 and was issued before the Games, so it shows the sport rather than any particular event.
Mintage figures: Fifty pence (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.