In January 2009 the Royal Mint launched its biggest ever competition, inviting the British public to design a series of new 50p coins. Thousands of excellent designs were received from all over the UK, featuring all 29 sports of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The best designs were selected and now they’ve been made into coins for you to collect as lasting mementoes of London 2012.

The designer of the Football coin

Neil Wolfson of London designed his coin in the hope that it would encapsulate football in a simple image. As the offside rule is a perennial talking point, the image is designed to provoke discussion, which was what he was aiming for. Neil is currently working as a production journalist.

Collect all 29 50p coins

Available to purchase now are all 29 of the 50p coins. The London 2012 Sports Collection comprises 29 50p coins representing the 29 sports of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Each coin design was chosen from a national competition of over 30,000 entries and finally made into a 50p coin. Keep an eye out for the London 2012 50p coins in your change. It will be great fun to collect all of the 29 coin designs in circulation, but remember, they’ll be very rare so it could take you a long time to get them all!

Take a look at the 29-coin collection