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Two different 50p coins were issued in 2004. The standard Britannia design and a commemorative coin to mark the 50th anniversary of Roger Bannister’s sub four minute mile.
The Standard Design:
Obverse Type 4 (bust design by Ian Rank-Broadley):
Reverse Type 3 (design by Christopher Ironside):
Mintage for Circulation: 35,315,500.
Collectability/Scarcity: 1 (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 also on some coins dated 2015. It was the fourth portrait of the Queen used on coinage.
The reverse design, by Christopher Ironside, shows Briannia seated. Britannia had appeared on at least one British coin denomination since the 1670s, and in fact long before that there were Roman coins showing the word ‘BRITANNIA’ and the helmeted female representation of Britannia to celebrate the Roman capture of Britain.
Commemorative 50p coin, Type 8: (info on coin type numbers here)
Obverse Type 4 (bust design by Ian Rank-Broadley):
Reverse Type (design by James Butler):
Mintage for Circulation: 9,032,500.
Collectability/Scarcity: 1 (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 also on some coins dated 2015. It was the fourth portrait of the Queen used on coinage.
The reverse design, by James Butler shows a runner’s legs with a stopwatch behind. In 1954 Roger Bannister ran the first sub four minute mile (in 3 min 59.4 seconds):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Bannister
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