In 2012, 29 50p coins were released to commemorate the London Olympics and millions rose to the challenge of collecting them all. For many, this marked the start of their interest in coins.

The Royal Mint now estimates that as many as 75% of the Olympic 50p coins have been removed from circulation by collectors, which is a testament to their popularity.

Do you own the rarest Olympic 50p?

Olympic 50ps have long been a favourite amongst collectors, but did you know that only 1,125,500 Football fifty pence pieces entered circulation? It’s definitely the rarest one to look out for and tops our chart as having the smallest mintage figures, which means it is even harder to find than the others.

Although the Football 50p narrowly holds the title of the rarest sport in the series, there were still over one million of those struck for circulation. To hold the honourable title as “rare”, we must look beyond the official Royal Mint circulation figures…

The withdrawn Aquatics ‘error’ Olympic 50p

The Aquatics 50p which we are familiar with today is actually a modified version which removed the waves passing over the swimmer’s face.

Despite the original design being adapted early on – there are still a few of the original coins in circulation.

Although the exact quantity of the original Aquatics design remains a mystery, we know it’s not unusual for these special coins to exchange hands for close to £1000… not a bad return on a 50p coin!

2009 Athletics Olympic 50p

In 2009, nine-year old Florence Jackson became the youngest person to design a coin for circulation in the UK. Her Athletics Olympic 50p design was the ultimate winner of a Blue Peter competition.

Although you may recognise this coin, you may not know that a rare version of this coin exists.When the competition winner was revealed, only 100,000 special edition Blue Peter coin packs were released with a 2009 dated coin – making it the only Olympic 50p without a 2011 date.

That makes this 2009 Athletics Olympic 50p more than twice as rare as the famous Kew Gardens 50p.

The rarest of the series

It is without doubt that the gold versions of each 50p remain the rarest of the collection.

Unfortunately for collectors, obtaining one of these is nearly impossible as only one gold version of each design was presented to the respective winning designer.

Aside from the precious metal content, their unique status and significance rank them as potentially the most valuable UK 50p coins in existence.

Is this the 30th Olympic 50p?

To the delight of many Olympic 50p collectors, in 2016 The Royal Mint issued a special 50p to wish Team GB success for the Rio Games.

The coin’s obverse features a swimmer with the Team GB logo, the Olympic rings and the inscription ‘TEAM GB’. Designed by Tim Sharp, the coin has been officially endorsed by Team GB and celebrates the spirit of British Olympians – a must have for all Olympic 50p Collectors.

Complete your 50p collection

Do you still have coins missing from your Olympic 50p collection?

Click here to view the sought-after Olympic 50ps and complete you collection today >>