50 Pence - Elizabeth II Table Tennis Gold Proof (2011)

About the 2011 50 Pence - Elizabeth II Table Tennis – Gold Proof

The 2011 50 Pence - Elizabeth II Table Tennis – 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 hands holding table tennis bats, with ball and table in background, London 2012 logo above, denomination below.

Common questions

History and design

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

The Table Tennis 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 1,737,500. Twelve of the 29 designs have lower figures and sixteen have higher ones, so it is the thirteenth scarcest of the series. It sits between Gymnastics (1,720,813) and Basketball (1,748,000). The scarcest design, Football, stands at 1,125,500 and the most common, Archery, at 3,345,500.

The reverse is by Alan Linsdell, described by the Royal Mint as a retired illustrator, and by his own account it was done in a hurry. Linsdell told the Royal Mint Museum that he set the competition advert aside, picked it up again the day before the closing date, and had to go out that afternoon.

With no time for research he sketched ideas in pencil on the side of a newspaper. To transfer the sketch to the entry template he took a yellow vase with a circular base from the window ledge and drew round it twice for the two bats. He then added handles, a hand on each, the table behind and a ball with a swoosh across it, and caught the first class post. He was, he said, "a bit surprised when it won".

The sport was an easy choice. Linsdell played from the age of eight to twenty-eight, including about three years for a team, and had returned to it after a heart problem ended his badminton.

The proclamation describes "two table tennis bats against the background of a table and net", with the London 2012 Paralympic logo above and 50 PENCE below. The obverse carries the fourth portrait of Queen Elizabeth II by Ian Rank-Broadley. The edge is plain.