50 Pence - Elizabeth II 4th portrait Athletics (2009–2011)

One row for each year the 50 Pence - Elizabeth II 4th portrait – Athletics was struck. Prices are medians of verified sold listings matched to that year from the listing: circulated is worn condition up to Extremely Fine, uncirculated is About Uncirculated or better. A count in brackets means fewer than three sales behind the figure; a grey figure marked "type" is the median across every year, shown where that year has no sale of its own yet. Most types have been searched year by year only since October 2026, so later years are still filling in. Use the grade table below for a price by condition across all years.

About the 2009 50 Pence - Elizabeth II – Athletics

The 2009 50 Pence - Elizabeth II – Athletics is a collector 50 pence coin issued from 2009 to 2011, struck in copper-nickel. It weighs 8g and measures 27.3mm across. Reverse design: Child's drawing of a youth vaulting over a bar, London 2012 logo above, denomination below.

Mintage figures are recorded for 2 years between 2009 and 2011, 2,243,722 coins in all. 2009 is the scarcest date, with 19,722 struck.

Common questions

History and design

The Blue Peter 50p is the first of the London 2012 sport designs and the only one dated 2009. Its reverse won a competition run by the children's television programme Blue Peter, which the Royal Mint says drew more than 17,000 entries.

A royal proclamation in force from 16 October 2009 authorised a 50p for the Games with a single reverse, an athlete clearing a high jump bar, in cupro-nickel and in gold. The Royal Mint Museum records that the first issue of the design was struck in 2009 and was available only in a special presentation pack. The Royal Mint's mintage figures list no Athletics 50p for 2009, so none went into circulation.

The design came back two years later as one of the 29 Olympic and Paralympic sport coins dated 2011. That coin is a separate, circulating issue of 2,224,000, the second highest of the 29 in the Royal Mint's figures. This entry is the 2009 pack coin.

No Royal Mint sales figure for the pack was found. Coin Hunter records 19,722 sold and Check Your Change 19,751, while Change Checker says 100,000 packs were issued.

The reverse is by Florence Jackson, who was nine years old, and whom the Royal Mint Museum describes as the youngest ever designer of United Kingdom coinage. It shows a high jumper clearing the bar, drawn in what the Royal Mint calls a simple and expressive style, with the London 2012 logo above and 50 PENCE below.

The obverse carries the fourth portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, by Ian Rank-Broadley, with the date 2009. The edge is plain.

Collecting notes

Check the date before anything else. A 2009 date marks the pack coin. A 2011 date marks the coin struck for circulation, which shares the reverse and is far more common, however a listing describes it.

No recognised varieties or mint errors are documented for this coin.

Coin Hunter and Check Your Change both record the 2009 coin as sold in Blue Peter branded packs with no circulation issue. The October 2009 proclamation also provided for a gold 50p with the same design.

Athletics was joined by a second design before the full series was settled: a proclamation in force from 10 December 2009 added the cyclist in a velodrome used on the Cycling 50p. The scarcest of the 2011 circulating coins is the Football 50p.