Badminton 50p (2011)

Plenty of Badminton coins were struck, so the coin is easy to find and its condition matters most. A coin on which every small player is still sharp is worth more than one where the figures have worn flat, and the shuttlecock should show crisp edges. Coins kept in the Badminton coin card the Royal Mint sold to collectors, or in its coin cover, sell for more than coins from change, and packaging that has never been opened adds to that.

With 2,133,500 struck for circulation, the Badminton 50p is the joint 28th rarest of the 81 ranked 50p designs and has the joint 73rd lowest mintage of all 194 circulating UK designs. That puts it in the Scarce band, for mintages 1,000,000 to 2,499,999.

The next rarer 50p is the Fencing 50p, with 2,115,500 struck, and the next more common is the Equestrian 50p, with 2,142,500 struck.

Two things identify the Badminton 50p at a glance: one oversized shuttlecock on the left and a grid of tiny players on the right. Count the rows of figures, three players in each of the top three and a lone server at the bottom, with dividing lines between them. Above everything is the 2012 logo with its rings, and 50 PENCE curves along the base. The heads side carries the 2011 date, and no varieties are recorded.

Illustrator Emma Kelly came across the Royal Mint's London 2012 design competition by chance, in an advertisement in Design Week, and as a keen follower of the Olympics she decided to enter. She picked badminton because she knew she would enjoy drawing the shuttlecock. She approached the brief like any illustration commission, researching shapes and images online, then went to a local sports shop and bought a feathered shuttlecock to draw from. Wanting a human element as well, she added players to bring movement into the design and show a game being played. The finished reverse sets a large shuttlecock to the left of centre. Beside it, ten small figures demonstrate different stances, moves and racket positions in four rows: three in each of the top three rows and one player serving at the bottom. Lines between the rows suggest the court and the net. The London 2012 logo with the Olympic rings sits above, and the coin was issued dated 2011, with the Queen's head by Ian Rank-Broadley on the obverse.

It was one of the 30 coins in the Olympic set issued in 2011.