Rarity rank #3

Aquatics (Lines Across Face) 50p Coin

2011 · London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games · Circulating

Price Guide: £250.00

Aquatics is one of the 29 coins in the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic 50p sports series, each depicting a different sport on the reverse. Struck in 2011 ahead of the Games, the Aquatics design shows a swimmer viewed from above, rendered in a distinctive linear style shared across the series.

Early in production, a batch of (around 600) coins was struck with the swimmer's face obscured by horizontal design lines that were meant to represent water but instead looked like an error - some entered circulation before the design was corrected. Royal Mint sources and collector communities commonly put the number of "lines through face" or "lines across the face" coins that reached circulation at only a few hundred, making it one of the most talked-about modern 50p rarities; the corrected standard Aquatics design has a much larger circulation mintage and is worth close to face value. If you have an Aquatics 50p, check whether the lines cross the swimmer's face (rare, sought-after) or sit clear of it (the common, corrected version).