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For the 29 London 2012 Olympic 50p commemorative coins, see this page.
Two different non Olympic 50p designs were made dated 2011, but only one of those was made in high enough numbers to be intended for circulation. The coin with the standard (new) design featuring the bottom section of the Royal Coat of Arms was only issued and sold in Royal Mint year-sets. The commemorative coin for 2011 marks the 50th anniversary of the World Wildlife Fund.
Obverse Type 5 (bust design by Ian Rank-Broadley):
Reverse Type 4 (design by Matthew Dent):
Mintage for Circulation: None (56,007 were sold in ‘BU’ year-sets).
Collectability/Scarcity: 3 (for scale details see here)
The story behind the design:
The obverse portrait of the Queen by Ian Rank-Broadley was used on all UK coinage from 1998 to 2014 and for some 2015 coins. It was the fourth portrait of the Queen used on coinage. For the new design 50p coins the design on the reverse is best suited for a coin with its ‘point’ facing downwards, so to accommodate this the obverse has also been rotated.
The reverse design, by Matthew Dent shows the bottom part of the shield of the Royal Coat of Arms.
Commemorative 50p coin, Type 16 (info on coin type numbers here):
Obverse Type 4b (bust design by Ian Rank-Broadley):
Reverse Type (design by Matthew Dent):
Mintage for Circulation: 3,400,000.
Collectability/Scarcity: 2 (for scale details see here)
September 2016: A little ripple of hype and frequent use of the phrase ‘3rd rarest 50p in circulation’ etc has led these to consistently sell for more than face value on ebay recently! They have sold for anything from near face value to £10+. I have no idea how many of these sales are genuine, but they certainly all appear to be average used coins from circulation. It’s a popular design, but there are 3.4 million of them out there! If you want one to keep, find a perfect one, as in my opinion quality always stands the test of time.
The story behind the design:
The obverse portrait of the Queen by Ian Rank-Broadley was used on all UK coinage from 1998 to 2014 and for some 2015 coins. It was the fourth portrait of the Queen used on coinage. The reverse omits the denomination, so this is instead shown in the obverse, below the Queen.
The reverse design, by Matthew Dent shows silhouettes of flora and fauna and features the WWF panda logo in the centre. The WWF was founded in 1961 to protect endangered wildlife:
https://www.wwf.org.uk/who-we-are
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