The rare 50p coins featuring Olympic swimmers that sell for £10,000
- Some commemorative coins produced for the London 2012 Olympics are rare
- The original accidentally incorporated wavy lines obscuring the swimmer’s face
- Only 600 were released before the mistake was spotted and the coin re-minted
Rare 50p coins featuring Olympic swimmers are selling for hundreds or even thousands of pounds online.
One sold for £410 last week and a similar version sold for £10,100 in June.
Some 29 sports featured on the commemorative coins produced for the London 2012 Olympics. But the original accidentally incorporated wavy lines obscuring the swimmer’s face (below).
Valuable: The original accidentally incorporated wavy lines obscuring the swimmer’s face
Only 600 were released before the mistake was spotted and the coin re-minted.
Until the five-figure record price was reached on eBay in June, rare ‘wavy lines’ coins were selling for £800.
It is not the only 50p piece that attracts collectors – but many are perfect specimens.
In 2016, a set of Beatrix Potter coins was issued to mark 150 years since the author’s birth. A Peter Rabbit coin in this set has sold for £1,000.
Another sought-after 50p is the 2009 example with an image of the Kew Gardens pagoda, which changes hands for £200. Just 210,000 examples were made to commemorate the botanical gardens’ 250th anniversary.