2011 Olympic Taekwondo 50p
The 2011 Olympic Taekwondo 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
- 1,664,000
- 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 Taekwondo 50p worth?
1.66 million were made, so the 2011 Olympic Taekwondo 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 Taekwondo 50p rare?
- No. 1.66 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2011 Olympic Taekwondo 50p coins were made?
- 1,664,000 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 2011 Olympic Taekwondo 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 Taekwondo 50p still legal tender?
- Yes. Every 27.3 mm 50p, including commemoratives, is legal tender in the UK.
Why the 2011 Olympic Taekwondo 50p was made
Taekwondo is a Korean martial art built around fast, powerful kicks. It appeared as a demonstration sport in 1988 and 1992 before becoming a full Olympic medal sport at Sydney in 2000. Points come from kicks and punches to the body protector, with kicks to the head scoring more. London 2012 used electronic sensors in the protectors to help judge scoring. For Britain the tournament produced a new star. Jade Jones, still a teenager, won the women's 57 kg title to claim the country's first Olympic gold in the sport.
The Taekwondo 50p is part of the Royal Mint's 2011 Olympic and Paralympic series, a set of 29 coins with designs chosen from the public competition of 2009. The coins went into circulation in stages over 2011 and 2012, well before the Games began, so the coin records the sport rather than any result. Taekwondo's mintage is in the lower third of the series, eighth from the bottom, so it is one that often turns up later in a collecting run than the commoner designs.
How to recognize it
The reverse shows two taekwondo athletes facing off, each caught in a different kicking pose, legs raised and extended in the move that defines the sport. It is an athletic, dynamic design with strong diagonal lines running across the coin. Those raised legs are the quickest way to tell it from Judo and Wrestling, the other combat designs, both of which show two figures grappling at close quarters. Like its 28 companions, it carries the London 2012 emblem on the reverse. Flip it over for Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and the 2011 date. In the hand it is an ordinary 50p, seven-sided and 27.3 mm wide with a plain edge.
The other side carries Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1998 to 2015.
2011 Olympic Taekwondo 50p by the numbers
Measured by how many were made, the 2011 Olympic Taekwondo 50p ranks 12th lowest of 76 circulating 50p coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 2011 Olympic Shooting 50p (1.66 million); the next more common is the 2011 Olympic Handball 50p (1.68 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). 7 of them had a smaller run.
Within the 2011 Olympic and Paralympic set of 29, it ranks 8th scarcest, behind the Football, Wrestling and Judo and others.
What to check on your 2011 Olympic Taekwondo 50p
- Confirm the design. The reverse should match the Olympic Taekwondo 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 1,664,000 struck for circulation, Taekwondo is one of the lower mintages in the Olympic series, though well above the four scarcest designs. In circulated condition it is a face value coin, perhaps a small premium for an exceptionally sharp one. The extended leg is a good place to check wear, since it sits high and catches every knock. The Royal Mint also sold the Olympic designs in collector packs, where the coins keep a bright, untouched finish. A coin from change will look duller with marks across the field.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 50 pence |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 2011 |
| Circulation mintage | 1,664,000 |
| 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 Taekwondo 50p worth anything?
In circulated condition it is generally a face value coin. The Royal Mint struck 1,664,000 for circulation, which is below average for the series but far more than the four scarcest designs. A sharp example is still a good set coin.
What is shown on the Taekwondo 50p?
The reverse shows two taekwondo athletes trading kicks, together with the London 2012 emblem. The obverse has Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and the date 2011, like every Olympic 50p.
Mintage figures: Fifty pence (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.