50 Pence - Elizabeth II 4th portrait Fencing (2011)

About the 2011 50 Pence - Elizabeth II – Fencing

The 2011 50 Pence - Elizabeth II – Fencing is a circulating 50 pence coin in the Olympic 50p (2011) series, struck in copper-nickel. It weighs 8g and measures 27.3mm across. Reverse design: Two fencers in action, London 2012 logo above, denomination below.

2,115,500 were struck.

Common questions

History and design

The Fencing 50p is one of 29 coins issued for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, one for each sport, with designs chosen through a competition open to the general public. The fencing design was among those authorised by a royal proclamation in force from 12 May 2010, and all of the coins are dated 2011.

The Royal Mint's figures give a circulating mintage of 2,115,500. That is the tenth highest of the 29, between Cycling (2,090,500) and Badminton and Volleyball (2,133,500 each). Nineteen designs were struck in smaller numbers, so by mintage this is one of the more common coins in the set.

The reverse is by Ruth Summerfield and was chosen from more than 30,000 public submissions. The proclamation describes it simply as "two figures fencing". One fencer lunges forward in attack while the other holds a contrasting stance, with the London 2012 logo above and 50 PENCE below.

Summerfield told the Royal Mint Museum that she saw the competition advertised in a newspaper during a night shift at the hospital where she worked, and drew the design on her breaks. She does not play sport herself. A friend who fences gave her the idea, and she wanted a sport "where the body makes interesting and dramatic shapes" because that would translate well onto a coin.

Speaking to the Museum again in 2022, she ranked winning alongside completing a marathon and gaining a medical degree, and said she plans to leave her gold version of the coin to a goddaughter who has taken up fencing.

The obverse carries the fourth portrait of Queen Elizabeth II by Ian Rank-Broadley, in which she wears the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara. The edge is plain.

Collecting notes

No recognised varieties or mint errors are documented for this coin. Marks, discolouration and flattened detail on a circulated example are wear, not errors.

On a used coin, check that the outlines of the two figures and their swords are still crisp.

The May 2010 proclamations also provided for the fencing design in gold and in silver. Those coins share the design but are separate from the 2,115,500 struck for circulation.

The coin was struck for general circulation and can still turn up in change, though perhaps less often than the mintage suggests. Summerfield said in 2022 that she checks every 50p she is given and has never received her own design, and that she thinks "a lot have been taken out of circulation by collectors". The next design down by mintage is the Cycling 50p.