2011 Olympic Badminton 50p
The 2011 Olympic Badminton 50p is a circulating 50p with 2.13 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
- 2,133,500
- 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 Badminton 50p worth?
2.13 million were made, so the 2011 Olympic Badminton 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 Badminton 50p rare?
- No. 2.13 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2011 Olympic Badminton 50p coins were made?
- 2,133,500 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 2011 Olympic Badminton 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 Badminton 50p still legal tender?
- Yes. Every 27.3 mm 50p, including commemoratives, is legal tender in the UK.
Why the 2011 Olympic Badminton 50p was made
Badminton became a full Olympic medal sport at Barcelona in 1992, after an appearance as a demonstration sport in 1972. Its home for London 2012 was Wembley Arena, where singles, doubles and mixed doubles were all played. The tournament is remembered for an unusual reason: eight women's doubles players were disqualified after their teams were judged to have tried to lose group matches to secure an easier draw. Away from that, the sport delivered some of the fastest reflexes of the Games, since a smashed shuttlecock leaves the racket faster than anything else in racket sports.
The Badminton 50p belongs to the 29 coin series the Royal Mint issued for the sports of London 2012. Members of the public sent in designs through a competition run in 2009. One winning idea was picked for each sport. The coins then reached change over 2011 and 2012. Badminton's coin sits in the upper half of the series for mintage, level with Volleyball, which makes it one of the designs you're more likely to come across in a till.
How to recognize it
The shuttlecock takes the spotlight on this reverse. Its feathered skirt and rounded base are easy to recognize, while small player silhouettes around it show the different shots of the game. With the shuttle placed so prominently at the center, it's one of the quickest designs in the set to identify. As with every coin in the series, the London 2012 emblem appears on the reverse. Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II is on the obverse, together with the date 2011. If you're checking a coin, remember the series was released over two years but every design is dated 2011. It is a standard 50p: seven sides, 27.3 mm, plain edge.
The other side carries Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1998 to 2015.
2011 Olympic Badminton 50p by the numbers
Measured by how many were made, the 2011 Olympic Badminton 50p ranks 28th lowest of 76 circulating 50p coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 2011 Olympic Fencing 50p (2.12 million); the next more common is the 2011 Olympic Volleyball 50p (2.13 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1973 EEC Hands 50p with 89.8 million, about 42 times as many. The scarcest is the 1992 Single Market 50p with 109,000, 20 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). 20 of them had a smaller run.
Within the 2011 Olympic and Paralympic set of 29, it ranks 21st scarcest, behind the Football, Wrestling and Judo and others.
What to check on your 2011 Olympic Badminton 50p
- Confirm the design. The reverse should match the Olympic Badminton 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 2,133,500 struck for circulation, Badminton is a mid to high mintage design in the Olympic run and a face value coin when circulated. It is the same mintage as Volleyball exactly, a small curiosity for people who like their numbers. Since it isn't scarce, condition is the thing to be choosy about. A coin pulled from change after a decade in pockets will have rubbed high points on the shuttle and marks in the field. Royal Mint collector pack versions also exist. Those show bright, uninterrupted luster and sharp feather detail, which is the easiest way to tell them apart.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 50 pence |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 2011 |
| Circulation mintage | 2,133,500 |
| 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
How many Badminton 50p coins are in circulation?
The Royal Mint struck 2,133,500 Badminton 50p coins for circulation. That is exactly the same figure as the Volleyball design and puts both in the more plentiful half of the 29 coin Olympic series.
What does the Badminton 50p show?
The reverse focuses on a shuttlecock at the center, surrounded by small player silhouettes, plus the London 2012 emblem. The obverse has Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of the Queen and the date 2011.
Mintage figures: Fifty pence (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.