Roger Bannister 50p (2004)

In circulated condition the Bannister 50p trades at face value, because it was struck in large numbers for circulation and is still easy to find. The extra value sits in the collector versions: the brilliant uncirculated coin in its Royal Mint pack, the silver proof, the silver proof piedfort and the gold proof, which is the most valuable of them. The 2009 and 2019 set coins are priced separately, and a coin kept in its original capsule or pack is worth more than a loose one.

With 9,032,500 struck for circulation, the Roger Bannister 50p is the 64th rarest of the 81 ranked 50p designs and has the 140th lowest mintage of all 194 circulating UK designs. That puts it in the Uncommon band, for mintages 2,500,000 to 9,999,999.

The next rarer 50p is the Paddington at St Paul's 50p, with 9,001,000 struck, and the next more common is the Tom Kitten 50p, with 9,500,000 struck.

Look for a pair of running legs over a large stopwatch face, with 50 PENCE beneath. Bannister's name does not appear anywhere on the coin, which is why many people call it the runner 50p. It is the modern small size, dated 2004 on the heads side. A coin with the same design dated 2009 or 2019 came from a collector set and was never in circulation.

Known varieties of the Roger Bannister 50p, all listed among the UK error coins and varieties:

• 2019 reissue: Struck again dated 2019 with the fifth portrait for the brilliant uncirculated 50 Years of the 50p sets. Not issued for circulation.
• 2009 anniversary set reissue: Struck again dated 2009, with Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait, for the 16-coin set issued in October 2009 to mark 40 years of the 50p, in cupro-nickel and as silver proof, gold proof and gold piedfort. Not issued for circulation.

On 6 May 1954 Roger Bannister, then a medical student aged twenty-five, ran a mile at the Iffley Road track in Oxford in just under four minutes, the first person to do so. The Royal Mint marked the fiftieth anniversary in 2004 with this 50p. James Butler's reverse leaves out the runner's face entirely. It shows only the lower half of a running athlete, his legs set in front of a stylised stopwatch whose hand stands just short of four minutes. Bannister's name is not on the coin; the tails side carries only the value 50 PENCE below the runner and Butler's small JB monogram. Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of the Queen, with his initials IRB beneath it, is on the heads side. The design was struck twice more for collectors: in 2009, in the set of sixteen 50p designs for the coin's fortieth anniversary, and in 2019 for the 50 Years of the 50p sets.