Rare: fewer than 500,000 minted.
5 Pounds - Elizabeth II 4th portrait XXX Olympiad, Countdown 2 (2010)
"London 2012 Countdown 2"
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Year | 2010 |
| Denomination | 5 Pounds |
| Face value | £5 |
| Mintage | 153,080 |
| Mint | Royal Mint · Llantrisant |
| Circulation | Non-circulating |
| Composition | Copper-nickel |
| Weight | 28.280g |
| Diameter | 38.6mm |
| Thickness | 2.89mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Milled |
| Orientation | Medal alignment ↑↑ |
| Obv. artist | Ian Rank-Broadley |
| Rev. artist | Claire Aldridge |
| Grade scale | UK (EF/UNC) |
Fourth crowned portrait of Queen Elizabeth II right, wearing the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara, legend around.
ELIZABETH II D G REG F D FIVE POUNDS
Central stylised design of two runners mingled with large digital 2 number (to signify 2010 is two years to 2012 Olympics).
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not a sale of this coinWe have no sold price for this coin yet. This range is the middle of what 12 similar coins sold for in circulated condition: the same denomination and metal, struck within 5 years. Treat it as a guide, not a valuation.
- £8.95
- £13.47
- £10.00
- £12.60
- £8.83
About the 2010 5 Pounds - Elizabeth II – XXX Olympiad, Countdown 2
The 2010 5 Pounds - Elizabeth II – XXX Olympiad, Countdown 2 is a collector 5 pounds coin, struck in copper-nickel. It weighs 28.28g and measures 38.61mm across. Reverse design: Central stylised design of two runners mingled with large digital 2 number (to signify 2010 is two years to 2012 Olympics).
153,080 were struck.
Common questions
How much is the 2010 5 Pounds - Elizabeth II – XXX Olympiad, Countdown 2 worth?
No verified sale of the 2010 5 Pounds - Elizabeth II – XXX Olympiad, Countdown 2 has been logged on MyCoinage yet.
How many 2010 Countdown to London 2012 £5 coins were made?
The Royal Mint's 2010 sales page lists 153,080 base-metal coins sold under the line £5 Countdown to London 2012. It is a sales figure, not a circulating mintage, and is the lowest of the three Countdown figures on the Mint's 2009, 2010 and 2011 pages.
What sport is on the Countdown 2 £5 coin?
Athletics. The royal proclamation describes the reverse as two runners shown as faceted figures, accompanied by the number 2, with a section of a clock-face to the right and below and the London 2012 logo to the left.
Who designed the 2010 Countdown £5 coin?
Check Your Change credits the reverse to Claire Aldridge, as it does for the 2009 Countdown coin. The Royal Mint's list of £5 designs does not include the series, so the name rests on a collector reference. The obverse is by Ian Rank-Broadley.
Is the 2010 Countdown £5 coin rare?
It is not scarce by the standards of collector crowns. At 153,080 sold it far outsold the other 2010 crown on the Royal Mint's sales page, the Restoration of the Monarchy coin at 30,247, though it is the lowest of the first three Countdown issues.
Can you spend a Countdown £5 coin?
It is legal tender: the Royal Mint says every crown is authorised by royal proclamation. In practice the Mint describes crowns as souvenirs, says banks are not required to accept them, and suggests checking with your bank before trying to pay one in.
How do I identify the 2010 5 Pounds - Elizabeth II – XXX Olympiad, Countdown 2?
Check the weight 28.28g and diameter 38.61mm and the metal (copper-nickel) against the specification table on this page. The reverse design is described above.
History and design
The Royal Mint counted down to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games with four £5 coins, one a year from 2009. This is the second, dated 2010 and marking two years to go. Where the first coin showed swimmers, this one turns to the track.
The series was set up by a royal proclamation of March 2009 for coins in gold, silver and cupro-nickel. A second proclamation, given at Buckingham Palace on 17 November 2009, replaced the single design with four, adding the runners for 2010, a cyclist for 2011 and three athletes on a victory podium for 2012.
Crowns were no longer struck to a circulating standard by this date, so the coin was a collector product only. The Royal Mint's 2010 sales page lists 153,080 base-metal coins sold. That is below the 184,921 of the 2009 coin and the 163,235 of the 2011 coin, but five times the 30,247 of the other crown of 2010, for the Restoration of the Monarchy.
The proclamation describes the reverse as two runners shown as faceted figures, accompanied by the number 2, with a section of a clock-face to the right and below and the London 2012 logo to the left. The clock-face grows through the series: the proclamation places it to the right in 2009, to the right and below here, and to the right, below and to the left in 2011.
Around the design runs a plan view of the main Olympic Stadium, with the date 2010 at the bottom, the word COUNTDOWN above and the inscription XXX OLYMPIAD below. Check Your Change credits the reverse to Claire Aldridge.
The obverse carries Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Elizabeth II with the denomination FIVE POUNDS. The edge is milled. On the cupro-nickel coin the London 2012 logo is struck into the surface, while the gold and silver coins have it printed in coloured ink.
Collecting notes
All base-metal coins were sold to collectors, so an example should be unworn. Check the flat areas around the numeral, where handling marks show. A logo without colour is correct on the cupro-nickel coin.
The date is easy to miss because it sits in the stadium border, at the bottom on this coin and in a different place on each of the other three. Use it, and the numeral, to tell the four apart.
The Royal Mint's 2010 sales page lists 20,159 silver proofs, 2,197 silver piedforts and 1,562 gold proofs. Crowns are legal tender, but the Mint says banks are not required to accept them.
See Countdown 3 and Countdown 1 for the coins either side.
Sources
The history, design, varieties and collecting notes on this page are drawn from these sources. Prices come from recorded sales, not from them.
- £5 Coin Designs and Specifications, The Royal Mint (read 9 Oct 2026)
- Commemorative Coin Striking Numbers, The Royal Mint (read 10 Oct 2026)
- Proclamation altering the proclamation of 18 March 2009 to determine new designs for the Countdown five-pound coins (notice L-59248-979133), The Gazette (read 10 Oct 2026)
- 2010 Dated UK Commemorative Coin Sales, The Royal Mint (read 10 Oct 2026)
- 2010 £5 Crown, Check Your Change (read 10 Oct 2026)
- Proclamation determining the specifications and design for five-pound coins marking the countdown to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games (notice L-59011-768578), The Gazette (read 10 Oct 2026)
- 2011 Dated UK Commemorative Coin Sales, The Royal Mint (read 10 Oct 2026)
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