Fencing 50p

Introducing the Fencing 50p Coin

Fencing has been a part of the Summer Olympic Games since the modern version of the Games started in 1896. With the women’s fencing competition becoming a part of the Summer Games at Paris in 1924, men and women compete in both individual and team events. Olympic fencing has three forms: foil, épée, and sabre. The foil is a light thrusting style weapon, while the épée is a heavy thrusting style weapon, and the sabre is a light cutting and thrusting style weapon. The 2012 Games had six individual and four team events. Italy ranked the highest in the medal standings with seven medals, including three gold medals. 

Fencing 2011 50p 

The fencing 50p is the 11^th coin in the Royal Mint’s 29-fifty pence coin series featuring Olympic and Paralympic sports. It’s designed by Ruth Summerfield, and features the London 2012 logo above a scene of one fencer in the middle of landing a touch on the opponent’s upper torso. 

During her interview with the Royal Mint Museum, Ruth described the inspiration behind her design. “I don’t play any sport myself but I have a friend who fences and which gave me the initial idea and I tried to pick a sport where the body makes interesting and dramatic shapes as I thought it would translate well onto a coin.”

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

How Much is the Fencing 50p Coin Worth?

As of October 2019, the highest value for any version of the fencing 50p was £8.59. It was for a Proof version of the coin in a sealed plastic case and mounted on a card by the Royal Mint. 

How Many Fencing 50p Coins Were Made in Circulation?

The Royal Mint circulated 2,115,500 fencing 50p coins. 

Other Versions of the Fencing 50p Coin

Similar to the other London Olympics coins, the fencing 50p was released in three versions. There is the base metal, or circulated version, the Brilliant Uncirculated version, and the Silver Proof version (mintage 30,000). 

Other Olympics Coins

To learn more about the 29 London Olympic 50p coins, Chancery Coins has a guide that covers everything you would want to know!

If you’re looking for other Olympics-related coins, the Royal Mint also released a £2 coin series and £5 coin series to celebrate the Handover ceremony and the countdown to the 2012 games, respectively. For other Games, the Royal Mint also released a 50p for the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics and a £2 coin in 2008 for the 100^th anniversary of the 1908 London Games.