50 Pence - Elizabeth II Judo Gold Proof (2011)

About the 2011 50 Pence - Elizabeth II Judo – Gold Proof

The 2011 50 Pence - Elizabeth II Judo – Gold Proof is a collector 50 pence coin in the Olympic 50p (2011) series, struck in 91.67% gold. It weighs 15.5g and measures 27.3mm across. Reverse design: Two judo players in action, London 2012 logo above, denomination below.

Common questions

History and design

This is a collector version of the 50 Pence - Elizabeth II – Judo. The history below is that coin's; the mintage, varieties and collecting notes on its page do not apply to this strike.

The Judo 50p is one of 29 designs issued for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, one for each sport, chosen through a design competition open to the general public. The royal proclamation setting out the designs came into force on 12 May 2010, and the coin is dated 2011.

The Royal Mint's figures give a circulating mintage of 1,161,500. That is the third lowest of the 29, behind only Football (1,125,500) and Wrestling (1,129,500), and a whisker under Triathlon (1,163,500). The most common design, Archery, was struck in almost three times the number, at 3,345,500.

When the Royal Mint listed the ten rarest 50p coins in circulation in October 2024, Judo was fifth. The four above it were the 2023 Atlantic Salmon, the 2009 Kew Gardens, and the Football and Wrestling coins from the same Olympic series.

The reverse is by David Cornell, described by the Royal Mint as a painter and sculptor, and it was selected from more than 30,000 public submissions. Cornell was no newcomer to coins. He had worked for the Royal Mint as an engraver, and the Mint's design records also credit him with the 1998 NHS 50p. He entered four designs and Judo, his favourite subject, was the one chosen.

The subject was personal. Cornell did competitive judo in his twenties and reached brown belt. In a contest for his black belt he was thrown, refused to make a break fall so as not to concede the point, landed on his shoulder and had to give the sport up. He told the Royal Mint Museum that the coin shows that throw, and called his feelings about judo "a hate, love relationship". The image goes back to a plaster model he made early in his move from engraving to modelling.

The proclamation describes the reverse as "a depiction of a judo throw", with the London 2012 logo above and 50 PENCE below. The obverse carries the fourth portrait of Queen Elizabeth II by Ian Rank-Broadley. The edge is plain.