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

About the 2011 50 Pence - Elizabeth II – Taekwondo

The 2011 50 Pence - Elizabeth II – Taekwondo 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 taekwondo players in action, London 2012 logo above, denomination below.

1,664,000 were struck.

Common questions

History and design

The Taekwondo 50p is one of 29 designs issued for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, one for each sport, with the designs chosen through a competition open to the public. The royal proclamation describing this design came into force on 12 May 2010, and every coin in the series is dated 2011.

The Royal Mint's figures give a circulating mintage of 1,664,000. Seven of the 29 designs are lower, so Taekwondo is the eighth scarcest in the series by mintage. It sits in a tight group, just above Shooting (1,656,500) and just below Handball (1,676,500).

That was not low enough for the Royal Mint's October 2024 list of the ten rarest 50p coins in circulation. The last place went to Goalball at 1,615,500, some 48,500 fewer than Taekwondo.

The reverse is by David Gibbons. He told the Royal Mint Museum that he came across the competition "quite by accident" on the Royal Mint website while buying coins to mark the birth of his granddaughter. He entered five sports and picked taekwondo and triathlon as "more abstruse and more difficult sports" that fewer people would attempt. He had never taken part in taekwondo himself.

Gibbons started from the seven-sided shape of the coin and first drew a single figure "with flailing arms and legs", which he felt did not work. The idea of adding a second figure in the distance came to him overnight. He then watched a local taekwondo group to get the helmet and costume right, and altered one of the costumes after feedback from the Royal Mint's committee.

The proclamation describes the result as "two athletes engaged in Taekwondo", with the London 2012 logo above and 50 PENCE below. 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.

Gibbons took trouble over the helmets and costume, so check that they are still crisp on both figures, including the second figure set further back.

The proclamation also provided for the design to be struck in gold. Any precious-metal versions share the design but are separate from the 1,664,000 struck for circulation.

The coin was struck for general circulation and can still turn up in change. The other combat sports in the series are scarcer: see the Judo 50p and the Wrestling 50p.