Wrestling 50p (2011)

Wrestling had one of the lowest circulation mintages among the London 2012 sports coins, so circulated examples carry a clear premium over the common designs. Wear still shifts the price: look for sharp outlines on the two bodies and distinct rings on the mat. Brilliant uncirculated coins from the Royal Mint's Wrestling coin card or coin cover sell for more again, above all in unopened packaging.

With 1,129,500 struck for circulation, the Wrestling 50p is the fourth rarest of the 81 ranked 50p designs and has the 42nd 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 Football 50p, with 1,125,500 struck, and the next more common is the Judo 50p, with 1,161,500 struck.

Look for two wrestlers locked together on a round mat, one lifted upside down with legs kicking up towards the logo. The curved stands of an arena fill the background. That sets it apart from the Judo 50p, where the throw happens against a plain field above a single floor line. The Olympic rings sit in the logo; no varieties of the wrestling design are on record.

Roderick Enriquez, a graphic designer from London, chose wrestling for its history. He saw it as a well-respected sport that represents both the ancient and the modern Olympic Games, and he wanted his coin to carry that link. Wrestling was contested at the ancient Games in Greece and at the first modern Games in Athens, and today both Greco-Roman and freestyle are Olympic sports. Winning took him by surprise, since he knew a vast number of entries had been sent in. He was especially delighted as a Filipino-British designer, because he believed London 2012 should be hosted by people from many cultural backgrounds, and his success reflected that. His reverse catches the two wrestlers in the middle of a throw: one has hoisted the other so that his legs point into the air above the pair. They grapple on a round mat, and the curved tiers of an arena rise behind them.

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