2011 Olympic Basketball 50p
The 2011 Olympic Basketball 50p is a circulating 50p with 1.75 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
- 1,748,000
- 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 Basketball 50p worth?
1.75 million were made, so the 2011 Olympic Basketball 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 Basketball 50p rare?
- No. 1.75 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2011 Olympic Basketball 50p coins were made?
- 1,748,000 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 2011 Olympic Basketball 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 Basketball 50p still legal tender?
- Yes. Every 27.3 mm 50p, including commemoratives, is legal tender in the UK.
Why the 2011 Olympic Basketball 50p was made
Basketball arrived at the Olympics in Berlin in 1936, when the tournament was played outdoors on clay and sand courts and a downpour turned the final into a slog. Women's basketball followed in 1976. For London 2012 the sport got one of the most striking buildings in the Olympic Park: a temporary arena wrapped in a white stretched skin, built to be taken down after the Games. The later stages moved to North Greenwich, where the United States won both the men's and the women's gold medals.
The Royal Mint chose basketball as one of the 29 sports in its 2011 Olympic and Paralympic 50p series. Like 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 went into circulation in stages through 2011 and 2012. Basketball's mintage landed in the middle of the pack, lower than the big Archery and Athletics runs but well above the four scarcest designs. In practice that means you'll find one eventually without trying very hard.
How to recognize it
The reverse shows a group of basketball players in motion, set against the textured surface of a giant basketball that fills the background. It is one of the busier compositions in the set, so it rewards a closer look. The London 2012 emblem also sits on the reverse. On the obverse you'll find Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II with the date 2011. Don't let that date throw you if you remember finding the coin later, because every design in the series carries it. Physically it is identical to any other 50p of the period: seven-sided, 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 Basketball 50p by the numbers
In mintage terms the 2011 Olympic Basketball 50p ranks 19th lowest of 76 circulating 50p coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 2011 Olympic Table Tennis 50p (1.74 million); the next more common is the 2011 Olympic Sailing 50p (1.75 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1973 EEC Hands 50p with 89.8 million, about 51 times as many. The scarcest is the 1992 Single Market 50p with 109,000, 16 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). 13 of them had a smaller run.
Within the 2011 Olympic and Paralympic set of 29, it ranks 14th scarcest, behind the Football, Wrestling and Judo and others.
What to check on your 2011 Olympic Basketball 50p
- Confirm the design. The reverse should match the Olympic Basketball 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 1,748,000 struck for circulation, Basketball sits right in the middle of the Olympic series. That is a modest figure next to many standard 50p years, but plenty for anyone to find one with a bit of patience. Circulated, it is a face value coin. The busy design does pick up wear quickly on the raised arms, so a sharp example is worth holding out for. Pack versions sold by the Royal Mint are out there as well. A pack coin shows clean luster across the field and crisp detail on the players' hands, while a circulated coin tends to look flat and scuffed.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 50 pence |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 2011 |
| Circulation mintage | 1,748,000 |
| 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 Basketball 50p rare?
Not really. With 1,748,000 struck for circulation it sits in the middle of the 29 Olympic designs. It's harder to find than Archery or Athletics, but far more common than Football, Wrestling, Judo or Triathlon.
When was the Basketball 50p released?
It is dated 2011, like every coin in the Olympic series. The Royal Mint released the 29 designs into change gradually over 2011 and 2012, so many people first found theirs during the build up to the Games.
Mintage figures: Fifty pence (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.