Judo 50p (2011)
The Judo 50p shows one judo player throwing another, a move its designer David Cornell knew from the mat. It went into circulation with a 2011 date and is one of the scarcer coins in the London 2012 sports set, which is why so many people look for it in their change. It is one of the 31 Olympic 50p coins and one of the 172 50p designs struck since 1969.
Judo 50p value
- Circulated
- typical £10, range £9 to £13
- Uncirculated
- typical £15, range £11 to £24
Worked out from 19 published prices (13 price guides, 4 sold-price reports and 2 dealer prices), each condition from its own prices, checked in September 2026.
Rarity rank 5 of 81 ranked 50p designs, rarest first
Rarity: ScarceJudo had one of the smallest circulation runs in the London 2012 set, so even a worn coin sells well above the plentiful sports. Condition still counts: crisp folds in the jackets and a clean floor line lift the price, while scratches across the open background pull it down. Coins from the Royal Mint's brilliant uncirculated Judo coin card or the Judo coin cover fetch more than change finds, most of all with the packaging unopened.
Judo 50p mintage and rarity
With 1,161,500 struck for circulation, the Judo 50p is the fifth rarest of the 81 ranked 50p designs and has the 43rd 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 Wrestling 50p, with 1,129,500 struck, and the next more common is the Triathlon 50p, with 1,163,500 struck.
How to spot a Judo 50p
Look for two figures in judo jackets, one being thrown so that they are upside down with feet in the air while the other bends over them. A single line marks the floor beneath the pair, and the rest of the background is bare. The Olympic rings sit inside the 0 of the logo at the top. The Wrestling 50p also shows a throw, but its fighters are in an arena on a round mat. No varieties of this throw design have been recorded.
Judo 50p design
David Cornell was already a coin designer when the London 2012 competition was announced, and years earlier he had worked at the Royal Mint as an engraver. He sent in four designs, and the one picked was judo, his favourite sport. He had fought competitively in his twenties and reached brown belt. In the contest for his black belt he was thrown, and rather than break his fall and concede the point, he came down on his shoulder and hurt it so badly that he had to stop. The throw on the coin is that same throw. He describes his feelings about judo as love and hate: he hated having to stop, but still loves the sport. The idea was older than the competition: when he was moving from engraving to modelling at the Royal Mint, he had roughed the throw out in plaster to prove he could model, and he went back to that early piece.
It was one of the 30 coins in the Olympic set issued in 2011.
Judo 50p specifications
- Denomination
- 50p
- Year
- 2011
- Type
- Commemorative
- Issue
- Issued for circulation
- Series
- London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic sports
- Occasion
- The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games
- Designer
- David Cornell
- Composition
- Cupro-nickel
- Weight
- 8 g
- Diameter
- 27.3 mm
- Shape
- Seven-sided
- Edge
- Plain
- Obverse
- Elizabeth II, fourth portrait by Ian Rank-Broadley
Judo 50p questions
Is the Judo 50p rare?
It is one of the scarcer London 2012 sports coins. Very few designs in the set were struck in smaller numbers for circulation, so it is a good find in change.
Who designed the Judo 50p?
David Cornell, a former Royal Mint engraver who competed in judo until a shoulder injury in a black belt contest forced him to give it up.
Was the Judo 50p released into circulation?
Yes. It was issued for general circulation dated 2011, and the Royal Mint also sold it in brilliant uncirculated quality in a coin card and a coin cover.