Aquatics 50p
Circulation Mintage Figure: 2,179,000
Year of Issue: 2011
Artist: Jonathan Olliffe
The Aquatics 50p is one of the 29 designs issued into circulation as part of the London 2012 Olympics 50p theme. It depicts a swimmer in motion, partway beneath the surface of the water, alongside the London 2012 logo.
An early version of the design included water ripple lines that passed across the swimmer's face, but it was decided very early in production that this choice too greatly obscured the design. Though a small number of coins were issued with the original design, the vast majority show the swimmer's face unobscured. The relative scarcity of those pieces issued in the original design has resulted in a higher than usual number attempts at counterfeiting this design or its early iteration.
The Royal Mint held an open design competition for this series, and the Aquatics 50p was designed by artist Jonathan Olliffe. Jonathan also produced the Gymnastics 50p of the same series and has worked with the Royal Mint on other designs including the 2023 Britannia and the 2026 Lion and the Eagle bullion coins. The design shows the flow of water as the swimmer moves through it, and was a particularly interesting challenge for the designer. Read the full interview with Jonathan below.
Interview with the Artist
Aquatics: Jonathan Olliffe
What got you interested in the competition?
I chose to enter this competition as I saw it as a challenge, the aquatics one was a challenge because of creating the illusion of water on a coin.
Why did you choose aquatics for your design?
I chose aquatics because of the challenge that water posed in creating that illusion of water on a fifty pence coin. My background as a silversmith I feel helped in a sense of thinking about how engraving works and the illusion of the lines engraved into the metal and the simplicity of engraving.
What was the inspiration behind your idea?
My aquatics design derived from various imagery, images from books, old images which I felt was important for old images to come into my contemporary coin and general imagery from the internet as well; and just drawing and sketching, I went for a series of sketching different types of swimmers, swimmers in different positions in the water and trying to imitate water in various different ways and eventually arrived at engraved lines to create that illusion of water.
How does it feel to know your coin is going to be in the pockets of millions of people for years to come?
The thought that my coin is going to be released into circulation nationwide is extremely exciting especially for me as a silversmith, that connection with metal, it's like having a piece of art in someone’s pocket it’s very exciting.