50 Pence - Elizabeth II Tennis Silver (2011)

We have no sold price for this coin yet. This range is the middle of what 12 similar coins sold for as issued: the same denomination and metal, struck within 5 years. Treat it as a guide, not a valuation.

• 50 Pence - Elizabeth II Archery – Silver (2011) £45.37
• 50 Pence - Elizabeth II Canoeing – Silver (2011) £17.77
• 50 Pence - Elizabeth II Cycling – Silver (2011) £24.86
• 50 Pence - Elizabeth II Hockey – Silver (2011) £20.00
• 50 Pence - Elizabeth II Rowing – Silver (2011) £29.99

About the 2011 50 Pence - Elizabeth II Tennis – Silver

The 2011 50 Pence - Elizabeth II Tennis – Silver is a collector 50 pence coin in the Olympic 50p (2011) series, struck in 92.5% silver. It weighs 8g and measures 27.3mm across. Reverse design: Tennis ball above net, London 2012 logo above, denomination below.

6,137 were struck.

Common questions

History and design

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

The Tennis 50p belongs to the set of 29 coins issued for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, one per sport, with reverses chosen through a public design competition. Its design was set out in a royal proclamation that came into force on 12 May 2010. Like the rest of the series it is dated 2011.

The Royal Mint's figures give a circulating mintage of 1,454,000, the fifth lowest of the 29. The four below it (Football, Wrestling, Judo and Triathlon) are bunched between 1,125,500 and 1,163,500, so Tennis stands a little apart: 290,500 more than Triathlon and 161,500 fewer than the next design up, Goalball.

In October 2024 the Royal Mint ranked it ninth among the ten rarest 50p coins in circulation. The 2018 Peter Rabbit and Flopsy Bunny coins, at 1,400,000 each, came between it and the four scarcer Olympic designs.

The reverse is by Tracy Baines, described by the Royal Mint as a sculptor and jewellery designer from Peterborough. The proclamation calls it "a tennis net and a tennis ball", with the London 2012 logo above and 50 PENCE below. The Royal Mint's own description is of a close-up view of a ball as it just clears the net, with attention given to the texture of the ball.

Baines told the Royal Mint Museum that she saw the competition in the Guardian with just over a week left, which made it "a last minute kind of panic". She submitted four designs and the tennis one won. She chose the sport mainly because her mother is "just a huge fan of it" and she had grown up with it.

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.