Badminton 50p

Introducing the Badminton 50p Coin

As part of the national celebration of the then-upcoming 2012 London Summer Olympics, the Royal Mint released a series of 29 fifty pence coins featuring Olympic and Paralympic sports. Badminton was the fourth to be released in the series. Badminton debuted as an Olympic sport in the 1972 Munich Games but it wasn’t until the 1992 Barcelona Games that the sport was part of the official Olympic programme. 

Even though badminton was created in England, the sport is now dominated by Asian players. China was the top-ranked country for the 2012 Games, with eight medals total – five were gold.  

Badminton 2011 50p

The Badminton 50p coin is designed by Emma Kelly, an illustrator from London. The London 2012 logo sits above a detailed image of a shuttlecock on the left and ten silhouettes of badminton players in various stances on the right. 

In her interview with the Royal Mint Museum, she described why she chose badminton in the public design competition. “I choose Badminton as I knew I would enjoy drawing the shuttlecock, I then wanted to add people and the human element into the space and give those people a sense of dynamism and giving and showing people a game.”

(Caption: Pictogram for the Badminton event at the 2012 London Olympics)

How Much is the Badminton 50p Coin Worth?

On eBay, as of August 2019, the highest value for any sold Badminton 50p was £12.25. It was an uncirculated coin still in its original packaging. 

How Many Badminton 50p Coins Were Made in Circulation?

The Royal Mint circulated 2,133,500 Badminton 50p coins. 

Other Versions of the Badminton 50p Coin

The Badminton 50p was released in three versions. The circulated, or base metal, version, the Brilliant Uncirculated version, and the Silver Proof version. The Silver Proof mintage is 30,000. 

Other Olympic Coins

If you’re curious to learn more about the public design competition or want to see what other Olympic 50p coins there are, Chancery Coins has created a guide for you to learn all about them!

As part of the celebration for other Olympic Games, the Royal Mint has released other Olympic coins in the past as well. For the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, there is a 50p with a swimmer and in 2008, for the 100^th anniversary of the 1908 London Games, a  £2 coin was created.  

For the 2012 London Games, there is also the £2 coin series for the Handover Ceremonies and the £5 coin series counting down to the 2012 London Olympics.