50p coins with London Olympics theme
The Royal Mint highlights the celebration of London Olympics 2012 by releasing an edition of the 50 pence coin, with the football’s offside rule explained on the back side.
The designer Neil Wolfson says “If I had 50p for every time someone asked what the offside rule was, then I would be very rich.”
In United Kingdom there were an estimated 28 million coins circulating as of 30 March 2010.
The fifty pence (50p) coin was first introduced in year 1969, replacing the old ten shilling note. However, in the 1990s the size of the 5p, 10p and 50p coins were reduced. Therefore the oldest 50p coins in circulation are from 1997.
The Royal Mint is the body with permission to mint (manufacture) coins in the United Kingdom. Since 2009 the Royal Mint operates as a company through Royal Mint Ltd, with an exclusive contract with HM Treasury to supply all coinage for the UK. The Royal Mint Limited is 100% owned by HM Treasury (more known as just ‘The Treasury’).
